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A review by lukutikka
Kantika by Elizabeth Graver
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It’s a difficult story to tell - one based on real life, because it often doesn’t have the rhyme nor reason to it and seldomly forms into a story. But Graver writes her grandmother and family alive on the pages, experiences laid bare with a loving touch. I liked the addition of other focus point - characters, although the placement did feel jarring at times. Sometimes the writing of the disabled character, Luna, in particular felt a bit overdone but overall I felt that the portrayal had a lot of love and heart in it, like the novel itself. All the pieces of Ladino in the book, very much enjoyed.
Moderate: Body horror, Antisemitism, and War
Minor: Ableism