So I pushed for Our Endless Numbered Days to be a book of the month a couple of times but failed. Disgruntled I went off and bought it for myself only for it to take months to get to my 'next on the shelf'.
The book is based on 8 year old Peggy/Punzel who is taken by her father to a hut in the woods and told by him that a disaster has happened resulting in only them left in the whole wide world.
If I'm honest I didn't expect the book to take the turn that it did (trying to not give too much away to those of you who haven't read it already) and I struggled with where the book ended up. Parts of the book were difficult to read and I'm still struggling as to where I stand with the book nearly a week after finishing it. I'm not sure I liked it but I'm not sure I didn't.
The beginning of the book confused me. Numerous subtext was hinted at that the reader wasn't entirely aware of and I'm not sure I got to the bottom of it all by the end. I also found the setting hard to place, Ute was German yet I took the book initially to be in America, only to find out it was in England and to end up in France.
James was clearly a very disturbed person, why then would Ute up and leave? Because of Oskar? possibly but the lack of contact was difficult to understand from an otherwise seemingly caring mother.
I guessed about Reuben early on, noting Punzel spotted him shortly after any argument/trauma. This is apparently a common early guess by readers so I'm thinking maybe Fuller wanted the reader to know, why? The extent that things went with Reuben surprised me - how far must Peggy's mind have gone?
I found the ending jumbled (as no doubt Peggy's mind would have been) but it left me unsatisfied as I didn't really feel anything had been resolved. I'm aware this could well have been deliberate but I couldn't get away with it and wanted some sign that Peggy's mind would be capable of being healed.
I basically wasn't prepared for the book to cover the issues it did thinking naively it was going to be more of a thriller/survival book. Despite having read widely about every kind of issue it left me uncomfortable and I cant work out whether it was the topic that made me not like the book or whether it was the book itself? Still not decided whether it's staying on the shelf.
The book is based on 8 year old Peggy/Punzel who is taken by her father to a hut in the woods and told by him that a disaster has happened resulting in only them left in the whole wide world.
If I'm honest I didn't expect the book to take the turn that it did (trying to not give too much away to those of you who haven't read it already) and I struggled with where the book ended up. Parts of the book were difficult to read and I'm still struggling as to where I stand with the book nearly a week after finishing it. I'm not sure I liked it but I'm not sure I didn't.
The beginning of the book confused me. Numerous subtext was hinted at that the reader wasn't entirely aware of and I'm not sure I got to the bottom of it all by the end. I also found the setting hard to place, Ute was German yet I took the book initially to be in America, only to find out it was in England and to end up in France.
James was clearly a very disturbed person, why then would Ute up and leave? Because of Oskar? possibly but the lack of contact was difficult to understand from an otherwise seemingly caring mother.
I guessed about Reuben early on, noting Punzel spotted him shortly after any argument/trauma. This is apparently a common early guess by readers so I'm thinking maybe Fuller wanted the reader to know, why? The extent that things went with Reuben surprised me - how far must Peggy's mind have gone?
I found the ending jumbled (as no doubt Peggy's mind would have been) but it left me unsatisfied as I didn't really feel anything had been resolved. I'm aware this could well have been deliberate but I couldn't get away with it and wanted some sign that Peggy's mind would be capable of being healed.
I basically wasn't prepared for the book to cover the issues it did thinking naively it was going to be more of a thriller/survival book. Despite having read widely about every kind of issue it left me uncomfortable and I cant work out whether it was the topic that made me not like the book or whether it was the book itself? Still not decided whether it's staying on the shelf.
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