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Entre Extraños (2011)

by Jo Walton(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

8490063966 (ISBN13: 9788490063965)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

RBA Libros

review 1: This one grew on me slowly.It's a character study of a girl on the brink of adulthood, going to a boarding school she hates, surrounded by people she can't relate to. She buries herself in voracious reading of science fiction books. Oh, and she can see faeries and do magic — although this shown in a way that makes it unclear whether these are supernatural powers or childish delusions.Nothing of consequence happens in the first half. Every chapter I thought "this is boring, maybe I'll abandon this book." And yet I found it a page-turner and kept reading.She is at that age where she has her life run by adults (family, teachers) but is ready to be independent. She carefully plays their games, jumping through the hoops the adults set out for her. But this is just killing tim... moree until she can be on her own and build the life she wants.In retrospect, I think I found it so compelling because I can strongly relate to the protagonist. She's smart and weird. The people around her spend all their mental energy on things she doesn't understand or care about, and in turn the things she puts her mental energy into are incomprehensible by most others.At one point another character recognizes this, and says to her: "You don't get a lot of chance to talk to people about things that matter to you, do you?" This hit home for me in a very personal way.By the end I found this book very satisfying. My only complaint is that every character other than the protagonist is one-dimensional.
review 2: Not a compelling story despite the description above and other reviewsI don't find that characters that constantly quote classic sci fi authors to be intrinsically interesting and the obsession with magic struck me more as a coping mechanism for past tragedy and broken home dynamics. I half expected that the relationship with Wim, the boyfriend, would reveal her self delusion and conclude with a different type of hospital stay. vs the Harry potter style battle with her witchy mother .. Alas the author insisted otherwise, pushing the theme that magic great and very small was everywhere in in ordinary things. I gave two stars for reproducing the petty jealousies of boarding school. less

Download links for: Entre extraños

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