The Rise & Fall of Great Powers: A Novel - Tom Rachman

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

 

I hadn't read Tom Rachman's first book, The Imperfectionists, but after I found out this book was about a woman owning a book shop, I wanted to read this. Just don't get your hopes up too high, because unfortunately there's very few book shop in this book.

 

There is however, an interesting story, that takes a while to unravel but kept me wondering exactly what happened in Bangkok and who are all these people involved. The ending wasn't completely satisfying, but I think it fitted the book.

 

I don't think this is a novel for everyone. In the beginning it was extremely slow, and especially the 2011-storyline had some troubles to keep my attention. But once it is clear something is going on, it didn't bother me any more. It was not a very easy or light read (perhaps I've just read too much YA lately) but an enjoyable one all the same. I just happened to be in my book shop last week (surprise!) and there The Rise And Fall Of Great Powers was the English book of the month.