Lala BooksandLala's Reviews > The Leaving
The Leaving
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This story has 2 mysteries: where these kids have been for the past eleven years, and what happened to Max - the one kid still missing. The concept was so fascinating to me, but while the journey to get there was almost bearable, the reveal to both mysteries was extremely unsatisfying.
That's basically what I took away from this book. And since I've already dedicated too much time (aka 432 pages) to this story, I don't have the desire to write a well structured, thought out review. So here are some bullet points of what I didn't enjoy.
• The choice to only have 2 of the 6 missing characters get chapters. I really didn't understand this decision. It felt lazy, and if your fear was that you lacked the ability to create 6 distinct voices, maybe you shouldn't have had 6 missing kids. There was literally no reason that it couldn't have just been those 2 kids who went missing - we got no insight into the other kid's lives anyway, they served absolutely no purpose.
• The choice to write this in third person. I feel like it would have been much stronger if we actually had the characters narrate.
• The writing style. It was cringe worthy. It was also confusing because the words were all artsy, swirling around the page and put in boxes and what not, but then the "voice" of the chapters were identical. This gimmick helped distinguish whose chapter was whose, but then shouldn't the rest of the chapter read like a different person each time?
• The timeline being linear. There could have been a psychological element to this if we got flashbacks, especially if we didn't know what time frame we were reading. Especially if they were from Max. A missed opportunity for sure.
• The love stories. Were they really necessary? The love triangles were such a waste of time, and some of the romances (*cough cough Avery's) were so painfully unrealistic. I never connected to any of the characters, let alone their love lives.
• The concluding of everything. We never got answers for a LOT of stuff, and the things we DID get answers for, were beyond boring. There were a few plot twists that got my attention, but overall everything left me saying, "Really? That's it?" All the mystery got wrapped up in 10 pages, and not in a good out-of-nowhere catch-you-off-guard kind of way.
*Galley provided by the publisher
That's basically what I took away from this book. And since I've already dedicated too much time (aka 432 pages) to this story, I don't have the desire to write a well structured, thought out review. So here are some bullet points of what I didn't enjoy.
• The choice to only have 2 of the 6 missing characters get chapters. I really didn't understand this decision. It felt lazy, and if your fear was that you lacked the ability to create 6 distinct voices, maybe you shouldn't have had 6 missing kids. There was literally no reason that it couldn't have just been those 2 kids who went missing - we got no insight into the other kid's lives anyway, they served absolutely no purpose.
• The choice to write this in third person. I feel like it would have been much stronger if we actually had the characters narrate.
• The writing style. It was cringe worthy. It was also confusing because the words were all artsy, swirling around the page and put in boxes and what not, but then the "voice" of the chapters were identical. This gimmick helped distinguish whose chapter was whose, but then shouldn't the rest of the chapter read like a different person each time?
• The timeline being linear. There could have been a psychological element to this if we got flashbacks, especially if we didn't know what time frame we were reading. Especially if they were from Max. A missed opportunity for sure.
• The love stories. Were they really necessary? The love triangles were such a waste of time, and some of the romances (*cough cough Avery's) were so painfully unrealistic. I never connected to any of the characters, let alone their love lives.
• The concluding of everything. We never got answers for a LOT of stuff, and the things we DID get answers for, were beyond boring. There were a few plot twists that got my attention, but overall everything left me saying, "Really? That's it?" All the mystery got wrapped up in 10 pages, and not in a good out-of-nowhere catch-you-off-guard kind of way.
*Galley provided by the publisher
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Reading Progress
May 16, 2016
–
Started Reading
May 16, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 16, 2016
– Shelved
May 16, 2016
– Shelved as:
thriller-mystery
May 16, 2016
–
32.78%
"I thought we were going to get all 6 (5) character's POVs. So far only 2. Is it going to switch to the others or is it just going to be these 2...and why? because they're a couple and we need a romance element?"
page
138
May 16, 2016
–
34.2%
"Instead of the THREE other abducted kids getting pages..Avery is. Is it just because she's the missing boy's sister OR because she's an important piece of the puzzle. I'm betting on the latter."
page
144
May 17, 2016
–
47.03%
"how long are we going to ignore her mom saying "do you remember anything bad that happened before? about me?" or whatever it was. come on!"
page
198
May 17, 2016
–
47.27%
"She was 5! I HAVE a 5 year old. How do we know she wasn't mispronouncing something that SOUNDED like the word "leaving""
page
199
May 17, 2016
–
49.88%
"ooooh so they must have known they were about to have their memories wiped.."
page
210
May 22, 2016
–
71.5%
"I feel like the mystery of Max is SO obvious, that I hope I'm wrong."
page
301
May 22, 2016
–
77.91%
"I'm still holding out hope that the author chose these 2 narrators out of the 5 missing kids for a reason, and not just because the love triangle makes it interesting."
page
328
May 22, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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♔ VEE ♔
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rated it 2 stars
Jun 22, 2016 05:09PM
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