Novels I started but didn't finish in 2024

These are novels I got partway through - in some cases, halfway through - but didn't manage to finish. A couple just weren't very good but with most I simply lost interest and preferred to spend my reading time on something more compelling.

In alphabetical order by author:

• Rouge - Mona Awad
• The Christmas Murder Game - Alexandra Benedict
• The Silent Bride - Shalini Boland
• Our Holiday - Louise Candlish
• The Fascination - Essie Fox
• They Are the Hunters - Faith Gardner
• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon - Kimberly Lemming
• The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings - Joanna Nadin
• The Bandit Queens - Parini Shroff
• Cahokia Jazz - Francis Spufford: I had high hopes for this after loving Golden Hill, and it was well written and intriguing but I just couldn't get into it. I hung on to the library book for months before finally admitting defeat.

I've also not been able to finish anything by Joanne Harris, John Marrs or Maggie O'Farrell.

The Drowned City - K J Maitland

Didn't finish

I'd never heard of the Severn Tsunami, but apparently it devastated the area in which I grew up 400 years ago. But that fascinating fact wasn't enough to keep me reading this gritty book - I couldn't cope with the graphic suffering and violence, and I didn't care about the bland protagonist. I also didn't care for the weird narrative jumps from third person to first and back again.

A Marvellous Light - Freya Marske

Didn't finish

I almost abandoned this in the first chapter, as soon as the Edwardian aristocrats started to speak like modern Americans - how did an editor let that get through? - but read on in case the story made up for it. It didn't. The characters were interchangeable and nothing much happened except endless exposition. When I realised I was skimming chapters, it was clearly time to stop. I didn't even care enough to get as far as the sex scenes.

(One blurb - thankfully only just spotted - recommends it for fans of Georgette Heyer. Er, it has absolutely nothing in common with Heyer except perhaps being Rich British Historical People Problems.)

Babel - RF Kuang

 

Didn't finish

I really wanted to read this but it was too much of a workout - both in terms of the library hardback weighing about as much as a small dog, and also in terms of it being really boring. 

After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell

 

Didn't finish

What a relief to realise I didn't have to keep reading this dull, oddly written book. Perhaps my tolerance for literary fiction has diminished but the headhopping, the time jumping and the constant change of tenses was just annoying, and the characters and plot weren't engaging enough to make up for it.

Normal People - Sally Rooney

Didn't finish

A couple with no discernible personality traits other than self-absorption have lots of sex. That's it. I was waiting for something to actually happen but in the end I couldn't be bothered to find out if anything ever did.

Homegrown Hero - Khurrum Rahman

Didn't finish

This original, promising and essentially well-written novel could have been excellent if it had been properly edited and proofread. However, the continuity and factual errors (as well as the punctuation and occasional spelling issues) made it too much work to get further than halfway. It's odd and a little concerning that a mainstream publisher didn't appear to care about quality control checks.

The Last of the Greenwoods - Clare Morrall

Didn't finish

That's two novels running I couldn't finish - at least they were both library books. This one was particularly disappointing, as I enjoyed Morrall's When the Floods Came. But this was so dull and laboured that I realised I didn't care what mysteries might be revealed if I read on. Great cover, though.

Elijah's Mermaid - Essie Fox

Didn't finish

I was hoping to have a short mermaid season (a short season of  mermaid book reviews, not a season of not-very-tall mermaids - how can you measure their height if they don't stand up?). But this was unreadable so never mind.

Birdcage Walk - Helen Dunmore

Didn't finish

I'd been wanting to read this for a while but, after a few chapters, I had to accept that I'd changed my mind. All rather unpleasant, and with nothing and nobody worth rooting for. Interestingly, I didn't get on with the only other Dunmore novel I've read, either.

Memory of Water - Emmi Itäranta

Didn't finish

I read about half of this and didn't actively dislike it, but I lost the desire to pick it up again. An intriguing concept, and it's impressive that the author wrote it in both English and Finnish, but ultimately it's rather dull and preachy.

Different Class - Joanne Harris

Didn't finish

I wanted to find out exactly when the misdirection promised on the cover was going to materialise but it was so slow that it almost went backwards and I ran out of patience.

The Shining - Stephen King

Didn't finish

Somehow I've got through my reading career without encountering any Stephen King. And this novel has moments of brilliance, both in terms of the quality of the writing and the psychological disquiet. But it was so hard-going that I forced myself to read it in small batches until I realised I really didn't have to. Will I read more King? Hmm, maybe, but there are many other writers I'd rather try first.

A Siege of Bitterns - Steve Burrows

Didn't finish

Just admire the striking cover and don't bother opening the book. It's dull and confusing and the characters have no character but what really made me stop reading was the weird determination to capitalise types of bird. Seeing Crow and Bittern clog up the page is simply too distracting. I bet the copy editor and the author had strong words over that particular stylistic decision.

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Didn't finish

I persisted with this book as the author does with her hawk, hoping I'd get on with it if I just tried harder. But there comes a point when you have to admit you're bored and unengaged and you just need to fly free.

Human Traces - Sebastian Faulks

Didn't finish
10.09.15

This started out promisingly, with vivid descriptions and a feisty-yet-historically convincing heroine, but it soon became flabby and dull. I read about half of it but, when I realised I couldn't go to the reading group meeting that would discuss it, I didn't see the point in battling on.

The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry

Didn't finish
25.11.14

Stephen Fry is good at lots of things, and is no doubt an interesting and entertaining chap, but this earlyish novel is slow, dull and generally unreadable. Even the lure of being set near my home couldn't hold me.

Wool - Hugh Howey

Didn't finish
19.06.14

This was promising, with a clever, intriguing opening. But it was so slow that it almost went backwards, and the pattern of 'introduce a character, make reader like them, kill them off' soon got annoying and disruptive. And its status as the first in a trilogy put me off - whatever happened to standalone science fiction and fantasy books?

The Stockholm Octavo - Karen Engelmann

Didn't finish
16.09.13

When writers want to share their painstaking research into obscure bits of history, a novel isn't always the right format. I had no idea what was going on. What a relief when I realised that I didn't have to wade through the whole thing.

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

Didn't finish

28.06.13

I don't usually review books I don't finish, but then I don't usually make a decision to stop reading a book. I'd got to page 362 of this one - less than halfway through but still representing a waste of time not to record it. It's so in need of a decent structural edit that I had to check it wasn't self-published. It's basic stuff. Changes from 1st to 3rd person narrative betray a lack of confidence in the chosen delivery. Characters - good or bad - that you can't relate to don't hold your interest. A love story and an imagined world that don't ring true - well, there are other books on my To Read book that are a better use of my sparse time.