Amazing story

What a beautiful novel. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so strongly emotionally attached to characters in a book. Excellent story and a fascinating look at ETA conflict from the view of both victims and perpetrators of the violence. Wonderful

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Incredible

One of the best books I’ve listened to in a long time, heartbreaking, enlightening incredible x

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Heartfelt

A really enjoyable yet thought provoking book, set against the backdrop of ETA along with all the trials and tribulations it brought to families on all sides of the conflict. It explores the power of family ties and friendships. Definitely recommend.

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3 people found this helpful

poor

poor story gave up 1/4 way through , narrator was depressing, had to find another book to cheer myself up!

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I really tried but the story just kept disappointing me

I am writing this review after six hours of listening, the point at which I finally gave up. I really wanted to like this novel, the author received some awards, and I like novels in a political setting with family plots (Isabel Allende...), Plus, I have been to the Basque country and engaged with the history of the conflict there and was really keen do dive deeper.
But it was disappointing.

The novel feels like a soap opera, the characters are clunky and predictable and six hours in they haven't changed. They are "pretty" or brutish, smart, withdrawn, entrepreneurial or poor ... each one can be summarised with a single adjective and the writing lacks nuance, psychological insight and it doesn't evoke any empathy. The wealthy Basque industrialist who is assassinated in spite of his generosity to the poor is "good" and anyone in ETA is inherently "bad". Nor moral dilemmas, no reasoning, no shades of grey. The plot just trundles along like an old car mid-speed on a straight road with no real surprises.

My second issue is connected with the first. I don't know how the rest of the book plays out but so far the description of ETA has been entirely one dimensional. The boys who joined ETA were thugs since their childhood days when they enjoyed killing birds for no reason, children born violent, seemingly inherently evil and most of all really stupid.
(The even have to forcefully enlist help to write the ETA banners).

Like so many other conflicts, the Basque fight for independence is a case of "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist". There is not doubt that the Basque struggle was violent but there is a historical context that has given rise to it, yet in the first six hours the novel fails in a monumental way to explore this. There is no mention of the violence of the Spanish state (a brief allusion to the violent Franco dictatorship, easily missed ...) and there is zero attempt to explore the motivation of the boys who join ETA (they are just stupid and violent) ...

The fact that the sister of one the ETA fighter marries a policeman who represents the Spanish state is a plot point that stays unexplored (she falls in love with him because the scent of his Eu de Cologne precedes him every time he approaches in spite of the fact that he sounds so arrogant that even her best friend dismisses him.

And so - six hours in - i have learned nothing unexpected that could have given me any new insight or understanding and with disappointment, i give up.

i would have liked to like this book.

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