13.10.24
I was bewildered about the point of this book. As with The Rachel Incident, what's interesting about young adults behaving like teenagers? It was readable enough but not particularly well written - I often had to stop and reread passages to work out who was doing what and when. The perfect tense exists for a reason and that reason is clarity.
(This also belongs to a subset of contemporary books with a prejudice against people with no siblings. Usually, kids are quite happy to be only children and their parents are quite happy to have only one. It is not going to mess anyone up or make them somehow incomplete.)
09.10.24
I think people are getting the concept of an unreliable narrator mixed up with the concept of plot twists. Nothing that happened in this story (within a story within a story) was much of a surprise - information was just withheld and filtered by the narrator. Which made the story more engaging than a third-person omniscient narrator would have been, even if it was, overall, totally farfetched.
03.10.24
Despite the sometimes clunky phrasing, despite having too many characters, despite the confusing plot with an ending that had me asking, "OK, but what about...?", despite not being a fan of gory horror, despite the moral messaging that was as subtle as, well, a vampire, I kind of loved this. The tone, the pacing, the ethical grey areas, the setting and above all the clever worldbuilding all had me caught up in this alternative - yet maybe not so alternative after all - universe.
29.09.24
I didn't really get the point of this book. It read as if it was semi-autobiographical but that doesn't make the tedious non-dramas of self-indulgent young adults who behave like children any more interesting or deep. The quality of the writing was fine but I was left thinking, so what?
And I've only just realised the also-disappointing All Our Hidden Gifts is by the same author.
26.10.24
I have no memory of buying this so I read it - and I only remembered I'd read it after finishing the book I'd read after it, a few days later, which isn't a good sign. It was fine - amusing, with good worldbuilding, but the story was confusing and not particularly exciting for a YA adventure. It was (Fforde's adult fantasy/satire) Shades of Grey lite.
21.09.24
Vampires, sure, I can suspend my disbelief about them. The coincidences and continuity errors, though? No way. Also, while the author tried hard to present the female lead as an independent and successful career woman (who amusingly brought down the villain with her accountancy superpowers), these types of books follow a problematic formula of 'woman tamed by monster' that I can't buy into.
46%
14.09.24The 1990s seems like yesterday but this book has aged like a fax machine. Was it really so toxic then - both literally (so much smoking!) and metaphorically (so much unremarked sexism, sizism, racism)? It's also interesting to note that popular books were badly written with two-dimensional characters even then.
06.09.24
Looks like a beach read, reads like literary fiction that happens to be both layered and fun. Not psychologically complex but vividly written, the claustrophobic south of France in August the strongest character of all.
65%
31.08.24I thought this would just be throwaway fun but it turned out to be one of the best things I've read this year. Well enough written that the exposition didn't seem forced, serious enough for the funny parts to be very funny, and a vivid enough insight into a weird wealthy world to be educational and entertaining. The 'murder mystery', such as it was, hardly seemed necessary.
26.08.24
The problem with a book emulating Georgette Heyer is that it's not Georgette Heyer. Even if you try not to compare, you can't help thinking that Heyer wouldn't explain every thought and action, wouldn't focus so much on exposition, that her heroine wouldn't need rescuing quite so much, that her characters would sparkle and the grasp of social etiquette would be stronger. (Also it would be properly edited and proofread - this had several iffy editorial moments.) I mean, this is fun and has a strong historical basis that didn't shy away from the gritty lives of the poor but it needed a stronger basis and more differentiation from Heyer to really break free. (Note that I've also given a couple of Heyer's books 51/52%.)
20.08.24
There's a thin line between brilliant and terrible, and this story walks it, occasionally dropping a foot on both sides. The angst! The yearning! The refreshing reinterpretation of masculinity and male relationships that nevertheless continues to disregard the role of women so that the few female characters were entirely nominal! The evocative and distinctive voice that needed a much stronger editorial intervention to tighten up an often-meandering narrative! Overall, it was a better novel than The Extraordinaries, but then that was for a very different readership.
18.08.24
Well written and challenging but not ultimately satisfying. It was probably meant to be a realistic portrayal of trauma, but the meandering, unfocused narrative made it hard to understand - or sympathise with - the protagonist's behaviour. Why didn't she even have a therapist when surely that's mandatory in Hollywood?
Am I awake? I'm not sure after reading this fever-dream of a novel. Utterly bonkers.
Disappointingly, after a strong opening to the series, this was confusing, impossible to work out the murderer and, surprisingly, not particularly well written. And it's lucky that nobody ever finds out the main character's coincidental links with the cases.
(I often wonder, with police procedurals, how people know what to call the investigator: "Oh, Acting Detective Superintendent Officer, do have a cup of tea.")
At what point is a romantic comedy classed as literary fiction? Well, calling it 'Romantic Comedy' immediately sets it up as knowingly self-referential - and it is, to some extent. Then there's all the dialogue, where clever people swap witty one-liners and their views on modern feminism. And it's clearly the result of a lot of research on how 'Saturday Night Live' is made (the sketches sounded achingly unfunny). But it's also quite sweet and engaging, lacking much in the way of conflict, apart from a couple of awkward conversations. None of this is bad - I enjoyed it much more than Prep - but it did feel a little loose and episodic, without any real exploration of what it might be like date/marry rich celebrity. And, as has become clear, I don't have much patience for pandemic-related storylines.
This was a fun premise, mostly well executed. The observational humour is the real highlight (the author clearly notes down funny real-life encounters) but the concept and implications of having random husbands is examined from every possible angle - and, pleasingly, never explained. It almost makes up for the lack of real plot and character development.
(Why were references to the pandemic needed when this was hardly gritty realism?)
"What did I just read?", as the young people like to say. I enjoyed the writing style and the ideas but I had no idea what was going on most of the time. I think that was intentional, to some extent, but it did mean that nuances and any deep messages were lost, considering it was supposed to be a comment on Mormonism. Still, points awarded for offering something different.
17.07.24
And the last of my holiday reads was also the last in this intriguing trilogy. For a romantasy author, Black doesn't shy away from politics and power and the ways they can be manipulated by those who have power and those who don't (yet). And her main character is, interestingly, both skilled in scheming and clueless in relationships. But it was still a bit 'chuck everything at it and see what sticks', and there were a few elements about the ending that didn't quite work.
