I had read and enjoyed Setterfield's previous work, The Thirteenth Tale, and so was greatly anticipating a new book from her after such a long time. HI had read and enjoyed Setterfield's previous work, The Thirteenth Tale, and so was greatly anticipating a new book from her after such a long time. However, this did not hold any of the appeal I was expecting. I read more than half of the book....nearly to page 200...then in the interest of keeping sane....gave myself permission to skim the rest rather than continue reading each minute, boring word. As a review, I will say that this book had potential but it was just not realized in a way that I could enjoy. The author obviously did what she wanted to do, but as a reader, I could not remain invested in characters for whom I felt almost nothing. This is a gothic, ghost tale. Black and dark. Morbid and depressing. Unfortunately, there is very little to care about at all, almost everyone we are introduced to dies and by the time I started skimming, I wished ALL the characters were dead so I could reach the end and move onto something that was less sleep inducing....more
I was offered this book as a ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my opinion/review.
Many, many readers on Goodreads, Amazon...wherever....have raved aboI was offered this book as a ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my opinion/review.
Many, many readers on Goodreads, Amazon...wherever....have raved about the wonderfulness of this book. It is part of a book trend going on now, called "New Adult". As I understand it, this genre offers young adult/new adult characters with themes this age group experiences or is interested in, but with more mature relationships, descriptions and language. I have given this genre a fair chance, kept an open-mind and tried not to let my age deter me while reading books in this category. However, it is evident that this type of book is just not one I can enjoy. I am too aware of the triviality of most plots within this genre. Characters act in ways that are silly and immature, unrealistic, and basically inspire massive amounts of eye rolling and dumbfounded incredulity on my part. Not that I am too cool for school or whatever, I just can not relate at all to the scenarios and characters pervading these books.
This story was a good case-in-point. We have a girl who has had just too many bad things transpire in her short life. From a boyfriend dying - in a car crash, no less -,parents divorcing, a best friend suddenly becoming her worst enemy after said best friends boyfriend hits on our girl....right after rescuing her from a almost assault and rape attack when she is careless enough to go off alone with a guy she just met, and this is just the opening chapter! Girl leaves on a impromptu Greyhound bus trip....meets guy, who we will later find out has some serious bad luck as well,..... and after days getting to know each other on the road, decides to join forces on a epic road trip.
I did manage to finish the book, but when all was said and done, the story, though a decently written one for the most part, had absolutely no redeeming factors for me. I never connected emotionally with the main players, never felt their story was "authentic" -if you will- to reality, and had no opinion regarding how the story turned out or what happened to the characters. ...more
The synopsis for this story was intriguing, but never portrayed some of the themes that are explored. I did try this story. I persistently read until tThe synopsis for this story was intriguing, but never portrayed some of the themes that are explored. I did try this story. I persistently read until the 100th page ...which is my personal rule for giving a book a fair shot before I give up. It's not badly written, in fact, the descriptive imagery created as well as the emotions the author is able to elicit are very well done. I just felt very unconnected to the main characters and the plot line that was being created. I could imagine where the story was headed and just could not read further.
I was provided a digital arc by NetGalley for my honest opinion....more
I did finish this book, but all along I was wondering what the point was. All I took from this book was an image of a desperately weak man who managed I did finish this book, but all along I was wondering what the point was. All I took from this book was an image of a desperately weak man who managed to screw up his life by continuously making horrible choices and not having the strength to change his path.
Maybe I am judging it too harshly, but I could not sympathize with his struggles or care about his bad breaks when they were all so clearly self-inflicted. It was a rambling mess, hard to read due to the lack of quotation marks and such, but mainly just cold and without any real feeling for me.
Luckily, I bought it deeply discounted as an e-book on Amazon, so I only wasted a couple of dollars and a few hours. The time is what I regret the most, since it would have been better spent on something that actually meant something to me when I finished....more
I did not finish this, so I can not make a clear assessment of it's worth. I was not enjoying it and had a number of other books I knew I would enjoy I did not finish this, so I can not make a clear assessment of it's worth. I was not enjoying it and had a number of other books I knew I would enjoy waiting to be read, so I gave up on it pretty quickly. That is not fair to the author, yet it was not keeping my interest and I felt like I did give it a good try....more
I borrowed this one from the library and made it about halfway through before finally giving up on it. It had an interesting plot, it seemed, yet I waI borrowed this one from the library and made it about halfway through before finally giving up on it. It had an interesting plot, it seemed, yet I was never engrossed by it. It may be quite a good book, if I had managed to finish it, but at the time it just did not seem worth the time....more
For whatever reason I just could not connect with this book. I read the first half over a number of days and when I would pick up the story again, it wFor whatever reason I just could not connect with this book. I read the first half over a number of days and when I would pick up the story again, it would take awhile for me to figure out what was happening. Not the fault of the book, of course, just the only way I could read it at the time due to Holidays etc,. Anyway, I never felt much of anything about the story or characters. I ended up skimming the second half just to finish. Maybe I will try it again some other time....more
This book might have been OK if it had not have started out with so many glaring discrepancies. Within the first 30 pages we have a tumbler of water iThis book might have been OK if it had not have started out with so many glaring discrepancies. Within the first 30 pages we have a tumbler of water in one paragraph becoming soda a few paragraphs down; Chinese takeout BBQ spareribs becomes leftover curry when she sits down to eat dinner.....and I could go on and on. I skim-read the rest of the story, just to see what happened but it didn't redeem the book for me. Scottoline kills off most of her main characters adversaries and ties up plot ends in unimaginative, neat little bows. A blurb on the front of the book by another well-known author claims this is Scottoline's "best book yet!" Maybe, I'm too critical, but if this is her best, then I can't take any worse. This is my first and most likely last book by this popular author....more
I had a difficult time with this book. It was an interesting premise that just never scratched the surface for me. I would have enjoyed it perhaps if I had a difficult time with this book. It was an interesting premise that just never scratched the surface for me. I would have enjoyed it perhaps if the story had of been from Kath's POV. I would have liked to hear her story in her own thoughts and words because as Ms. Lively tries to convey, we often don't really know who someone really is or what they really feel as well as we think we do. I'm sure this is a very good example of show instead of tell so reworking the POV would have defied that logic. However the emotion that connects me to a book was certainly missing and I agree with some other reviewers who described her writing as cold. Props to her though for keeping me reading through numerous pages of detail regarding landscape design and historical cultures and teaching me about a subject I never really cared to learn about. Her writing is fine......just not my usual style....more