A review by afi_whatafireads
The Details by Ia Genberg

dark emotional fast-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

4.25

"Per The Details, that openness to the now is all there is. Look closely and every moment becomes dense with meaning, unfolding backward and forward in time as it makes us who we are. There is no one whole—“ the whole is loose at the edges,” she noted in one interview—all we have are those fraying threads, flapping in the wind, and the complex ways they tie fast to each other."


Reading this book was a journey in itself and whilst it may be not for everyone, it somehow worked for me.

Divided into four parts and told by a nameless narrator as she was down by fever and reminiscing her life, we follow through the life of a person that is her through the four people in her life. Like the title, the four people will make up the details in which will paint a portrait of a person of what she is and who has she become. A seemingly mundane story but also one that reflects a lot on what it is to be a writer, a reader and more importantly, finding parts of yourself in the reflection of others.

I loved how there is a sense of reflection for each person that she had told the story from. And its distinctive to the reactions and the way she grows as a person and how each people in the book affects her differently. From Johanna, to Niki to Alejandro and Brigette. Its a recollection of one's life through the lenses of others and how as readers, it also portrays how the people in our lives affects us too. It can be through the books that we read, or a specific cleaning product, an album or a song or simply just our behaviours that we picked up solely by being near the person. Its in the eccentrities and life and the workings of youths in finding themselves in a world that wants you to conform to society's normal.


“That's all there is to the self, or the so-called 'self': traces of the people we rub up against. I loved Joanna's words and gestures and let them become part of me, intentionally or not. I suppose that is at the core of every relationship and the reason that in some sense no relationship ever ends.”


And one other main theme that I love about this book is on the different types of mental health and how - when undiagnosed - it can lead to behaviours that we find toxic, deranged and will be even called crazy. I love how the author goes into how she had gone through the different types of mental conditions with the people in her life and its one that can still be a taboo subject for some. Not only that, the author had also bring forward the sense of strong readership with her characters that uses books and writing as a medium to let them loose and become their own self. It gives us a sense of comradeship that comes with being able to also understand the characters feelings. The author's writing that is both long-winded at some but is also mundane in every sense makes this a book that I breezed through a night.

A novel that I didn't expect to like but came to love anyways. Its in the every day things and the reflections of the people from the people around you that makes up the character that is you. Definitely an interesting read and (I teared up at the end), and one that I will recommend if you're in need of something complex but light.