13.08.25
The only engaging and empathetic character in this mildly amusing but entirely plotless novel was New Zealand. I wanted less of the twentysomethings behaving like tiresome children and more of the secretly complex country.
Showing posts with label 51. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 51. Show all posts
A Civil Contract - Georgette Heyer
18.03.25
Some reviewers enjoy the more serious approach to relationships (and class and politics) that make this a rather untypical Heyer but it bored me and lacked the light touch of the better Heyers. The male lead was totally unsympathetic, and the female lead remained as dull as she first appeared. The class clashes were handled awkwardly - although the vulgar new-money father was one of the few vivid (if overdone) characterisations.
The Truth About Melody Browne - Lisa Jewell
15.01.25
This was better than Ralph's Party but it was still poorly written (can't an item of clothing be described without naming its brand?) with a lot of unquestioned assumptions about what makes a family. Lots of babies, apparently, which, well, yeah, taken literally, it is. Oddly for a novel of this type, found family, while valuable, came much further down the value chain than blood relations, even if those relations failed you.
My Vampire Plus-One - Jenna Levin
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.
Magpie - Elizabeth Day
I listen to Elizabeth Day's podcast, 'How To Fail' and, while I wouldn't be as crass as to say, 'Here's an example!', this is not a particularly successful novel. It seemed poorly planned and plotted, and not only were the (universally unlikable) characters inconsistent and unconvincing but so was the genre - it seemed to be heading for a thriller and then suddenly it was just a dull domestic drama. It certainly wasn't unsettling, gothic or terrifying, as billed (billed! Magpie! Ha!).
Apparently, I had similar thoughts about another Day novel.
Death on Cromer Beach - Ross Greenwood
26.03.24
This really put the procedure into police procedural. The author clearly did his research and wanted us to know it. If only he had put the thrill into thriller as well. Still, the local (to me) setting added a little something and my town, which is usually ignored, even got a dishonourable mention.
Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey
The quality of the writing was indeed really good. But not the awful, self-obsessed narrator, who did female characters as much of a disservice as those written by the male authors I've read recently. There was no conflict or plot or anything relatable to anyone who's not a white middle-class 20-something living in Toronto. It just went on and on. And on. And on a bit more.
Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
51%
I've struggled with Moreno-Garcia's style before - it feels awkwardly translated even though it was originally written in English. This story was also awkward - "walk through rooms, hallucinate, argue, repeat" with a final few chapters that didn't make sense. Not at all creepy, anyway, and, the colonial point was lost as the baddies could have been any nationality, as long as they were outsiders.
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
01.01.23
This book is so popular that my library reservation took three months to come through in the form of an enormous hardback. But I might as well have stood in line to be hit over the head with it, so heavy-handed is its execution. So women were disrespected in the 1950s - we get the point but the descriptions are so exaggerated they fail to ring true. Apparently also children were Roald Dahl's Matilda, you could become a champion rower by reading, not rowing, dogs were basically people who couldn't speak and people were, including and especially the main character, unlikeable and entirely unsympathetic.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix
13.08.22
Garth Nix is a prolific and experienced (Australian) writer, so it's odd that this urban fantasy could have been so much better. The British characters all speak like Americans (but throw in uniquely British references to remind us that they aren't) and, despite explaining everything to each other at least three times, it's still not clear what's going on most of the time. The plot is a series of self-contained set-pieces that don't really hang together. It doesn't seem to have been proofread. Oh, and here's yet another book that is set 40 years ago purely to overcome plot points that would be made redundant by mobile phones and the internet.
I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron
51%
Nora Ephron was probably great fun to hang out with, full of wicked gossip and wry advice, but I'm not sure her writing entirely lives up to the hype. Her very specific brand of humour, based on her affluent New York lifestyle, is hard to relate to (as I found with her novel, Heartburn). There are some laughs but even more 'so whats?'.
Sylvester - Georgette Heyer
51%
Copy and paste what I said abut False Colours and Faro's Daughter. Because it was even slightly less memorable than them.
Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
08.04.21
I would never have chosen to read something so unrelentingly bleak but, hey, this won the Booker Prize, and was the first choice of my new reading group so sometimes the challenge is worthwhile. Not in this case. It was heavy in every sense: weighed down by endless, meaningless adjectives, metaphors and similes, by the interchangeable sex-and-power-hungry men, by the interchangeable weak-and-untrustworthy women, by its lack of nuance, by layer upon layer upon tedious layer of Bad Things Happening. A grim semi-autobiographical novel isn't automatically a good novel.
Half Bad - Sally Green
01.09.20
This YA fantasy thriller is notable for its gritty Britishness, as a direct challenge to You Know Who, but ultimately it felt unfinished and underdeveloped, as if an early draft had been sent to the publisher. I think setting up first novels as the start of a series does them a disservice.
The Return of Norah Wells - Virginia Macgregor
07.03.20
This is sometimes called 'The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells' and that would have been a better title, as the lack of realistic reactions by sympathetic characters is indeed astonishing. It's hard to be engaged when nothing rings true.
How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran
21.07.19
Being the same age as the narrator, a '90s indie-kid and a long-time fan of Caitlin Moran, I'm basically the target audience for this (officially not but clearly very) semi-autobiographical novel. So imagine my disappointment to discover that it isn't actually very good. Goes to show that pithy journalism doesn't automatically translate into witty fiction, emotional connection and three-dimensional characters.
Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi
14.04.19
Well, I enjoyed the African folklore aspects of this much-hyped YA novel, which are achingly rare in English-language literature. But it just wasn't very well written. Derivative on a macro level (Last Airbender and Hunger Games echoes abound), and stilted on a micro level (far too many repetitive adjectives) so that, despite all the fights and death, it was actually rather boring and unsubtle.
Come to the Edge - Joanna Kavenna
26.09.18
Not as funny or memorable as the cover reviews make out.
The Pilgrim of Hate - Ellis Peters
06.01.18
Superhero monk? Check. Thwarted lovers? Check. Murder? Check, sort of. Mystery? Check, slightly. Endless descriptions of 12th-century politics? Check, unfortunately.
Dead Man's Ransom - Ellis Peters
27.03.17
Who shot the sheriff? Well, no-one because it's 1141. But who suffocated him? Who cares? Cadfael will find out and the lovers will be together. Utterly forgettable, unfortunately.
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