slushy mushy fillings
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Initially this seemed an intriguing atmospheric thriller of some subtlety. In the end it degenerated into a farce...Lara Croft meets Mission Impossible. Even the central character - intially interesting -became unbelievable especially after the bizarre and ridiculous sex act.
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A struggle from start to finish
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I found this book incredibly hard going. It promised a lot from the reviews I had read and I was keen for something a little out of the ordinary. It certainly scored highly on that score! A lonely Greenlander living in Denmark sets about investigating the death of her only friend - a young boy, also with Greenlandic blood, neglected by his alcoholic mother - and discovers intriguing connections with a serious of mysterious expeditions to Greenland dating back more than 30 years.
On the positive side in many places the writing is extraordinary and incredibly vivid. The book is clearly thoroughly researched and the central premise - that someone's in-depth knowledge of snow, ice and the benefits of intuition can be used to solve a murder mystery - is a refreshing change from other novels of this ilk. There are many interesting characters and Smilla herself is likeable and tenacious, despite objectively seeming to be someone who would be very difficult to like in real life.
However, as with other readers, I found it difficult to keep track of the characters and by the final third of the book was so lost in the geography of the action (knowing nothing about ships or their layout and nothing of the history between Denmark and Greenland) that it was a laborious effort to work out what was going on and where. It felt like wading waist-deep through snow (without any thought to how it was formed or what type it was!).
The final death knell was the disappointment of the ending, especially after having worked so hard to get there. I won't ruin it; it ruins itself.
As a work of literature, this book is fantastic. But as a thriller, it's appalling.
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A book to be read in winter!
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This is a complex crime novel. At its heart is Smilla, a feisty independent woman. Her Inuit ancestry makes her very much an outsider in Denmark - the iciness of the winter is reflected in her perceived coldness of the Danes around her. When her seven year old Greenlander neighbour, Isaiah dies she is convinced it is not an accident and sets out to find the truth.
There are some great characters in the book - all well drawn: Jakkelson, Lukas, Isaiah. The dialogue is sparky and often funny. The descriptions of ice and snow are brilliant, as are the flashbacks to life with her mother in Greenland. The pages are scattered with Inuit words which gave an added layer of authenticity and there are some wonderful descriptions of ice and snow (and Smilla's affinity to them both)
The earlier parts of the book are brilliant and made compelling reading. Unfortunately as the plot becomes more and more convoluted it developed into a sort of sci-fi thriller and the ending is a bit of an anti-climax.
A book to be read in winter curled up in a warm place drinking hot chocolate!
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Different and interesting
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I liked this because of the descriptions and fine details. Obviously this does not appeal to a lot of people who demand more than that from a thriller. Although it moves along at a slow pace I still was interested in the story. The plot does require concentration. The story really is an old one, about a bunch of guys hiding a secret and bumping off those that find out. More or less. The story does slide into X- files territory at the end. In fact there is an X-files episode set in the arctic about some nasty worms. The end could have been better.
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Too confusing for words
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I am 3/4 of the way through the book and have decided to give it up. The story started out fine, very intriguing, but soon developed into plots that I couldn't work out what was happening at all. Was she on a boat or not? Was the mechanic with her or not? I even looked at the page numbers in case some had dropped out and I'd missed a vital twist in the story. Maybe I'll go back to it after my next book, I like to finish even when I'm not really enjoying the read. Shame.
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