3,75🌟 Me ha gustado mucho haber leído esta obra. La historia de Cyrano es divertida, entretenida, romántica y hasta ridícula a veces.

De lo mejor ha sido la escritura, es muy bella. Rostand hace unos versos preciosos e ingeniosos. También es muy graciosa, reí en alto varias veces y hasta le mandé a mi hermana frases para reírme con ella. Me encantó en especial la escena en la que Roxana rechaza a Cristián y la escena de Ragueneau con sus amigos poetas aprovechados. Además, es muy rápido de leer, lo acabé prácticamente en una sentada.

Lo que sí diría es que los personajes me dejaron un poco más fría de lo que me hubiera gustado. No sentí una gran conexión con ellos y no sentí mucha emoción al final del libro. Hubiera deseado que se explorara más la personalidad compleja y los defectos de Cyrano.

En conclusión, una obra entretenida, muy graciosa y muy bien escrita, no es mi favorita ya que he leído otras que me han emocionado más y han tenido más impacto en mí pero aún así la he disfrutado. Además, creo que me gustaría mucho más si la viera representada, me encantaría verla en el teatro.

I was really excited for this one, but I didn’t end up absolutely loving it. For context, this book deals with issues very close to me. In my life, my family has dealt with 6 cancer diagnoses, 4 in a row in the last 5 years (this is the first year without a diagnosis!…. Knock on wood). My little cousin has a severe disability, my best friend’s (who is like a sister to me) brother also has an extremely severe disability. I also took care of my grandpa a lot when he was dealing with dementia, and there are some genetic (not as serious) chronic illnesses that run in my family. In conclusion… I am something of an expert on illnesses myself (is that reference totally outdated? lol). So these are topics that deeply interest me and when I got recommended this book by someone who really loved it I was super excited, which may have been the problem.

I loooooove the premise, I see some of the lower ratings saying they thought it was weird but that was not my case at all. I mean it was weird but in the best way possible. This is such a cool and creative way to talk about a very serious topic, a way which also gives it a bit of a lightness with the ridiculousness of the topic. The truth is I just didn’t connect as much as I hoped with the book. Which sucks and it is the worst criticism ever beacuse it’s not something tangible and it’s not even a real criticism at all. I don’t really know why, I don’t know if my expectations were too high or if, with the amount of these situations I’ve dealt with, I’ve kind of reached a cap with them and I need a very extraordinary story to change that? Maybe I’ve just reflected on these situations too much and therefore for a story to hit me the way it should it needs to present me something new, which I don’t think this did really. It just fell a bit flat for me.

I did enjoy the book, though. Again I genuinely think the premise was genius and I really liked our characters, especially Wren who I found interesting and complex, and Margaret, who was so cute but also incredibly resilient. The writing style was very beautiful too. And there were definitely some moments that did get me. Like Lewis and Wren’s last scene, changing their roles of dreamer and realist, that destroyed my heart. Also when Wren was hiding from Lewis during his attacks, the last part of Angela’s diagnosis and how that affected Wren and hers relationship, and even Wren’s last moments with Joy (which I think was a beautiful ending), those moments really hit home.

I do think the pacing/structure was a bit odd but I don’t think it was that big of deal. Like the first part of the Angela section felt like reading another book and I didn’t enjoy it as much, but I do think it was worth it in the end. I will say though, Lewis’ section, specifically the start, was super sad lol like it kind of made me feel really depressed, though it was made up by the hopefulness Joy made me feel.

Anyway, a 3.5 to me is not an awful rating by any means. A 3.5 means I liked this! Not my favourite book ever, not my least liked book ever by any means either, I enjoyed it. But with these type of sentimental, reflective, emotional stories, it has to really hit you, and it just kind of missed the mark a bit for me. Either way I can definitely understand why so many people love it and hold it in their hearts, and I definitely hope it’s helped others deal with their issues regarding illnesses and caregiving, and I hope it’s given others a sense of being understood. That, I think, is the most important part of a book like this, knowing that you’re not alone.