Each of Us a Desert

well ok. one of my favorite books ever. don't touch me i'm emotional that i'll never get to experience the first read of this book again.

what a beautiful story that had many stories within it. i loved the main character's voice, one so reliant on the known but also craving an escape from the life she's been given. the idea of taking other people's stories, filled with their mistakes and lies and atrocities, to give to a god for forgiveness and protection was beautifully executed and absolutely moving. the stories xochitl receives throughout the books are sure to stay with me for some time.

i can see where the writing style doesn't work for some, especially with the use of spanish for certain terms and the very classic fairy tale-esque prose. but i loved it. i was enchanted by this book from the first page, its magical story nearly impossible to put down. i am so sad it's over, but so happy to have gotten to know it.

I made it 65% of the way done, but I could not finish this. I really loved the first 100 pages! It was such an interesting world and I loved the framing narrative of everything told in a prayer to the god of this story. I appreciated the religion the author developed.
After page 100 it fell flat for me. I think the decision to richly establish side characters and then abandon them for far more poorly drawn side characters was strange. It was hard to feel connected to the new side characters as quickly as the story required. I felt the same way about the establishment and very quick removal of one of the major antagonists. It was such a strange choice. The book felt split into two parts in a way that really left it hard to engage with the second half.
The writing of women in this book was fairly uneven. I didn't love how often the main characters period came up, again it seemed another strange choice.
The main thing was that the plot after about 100 pages in seemed to meander in a way that didn't make sense. A lot of the moments that should be tense felt lacking in tensions.
Honestly, there was a lot of really good and interesting ideas, but some plotting choices and pacing issues that detracted too much for it to work for me.