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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Jacob Finch Bonner, once an up and coming author with his first novel being well received but with limited sales, his follow up books had been less than successful. He’s fallen on hard times, working as faculty at a run down Vermont college mentoring students on a low residency program. Most of the students have little talent and Jake is dialling it in as their teacher. One day, however, he decides to use another author’s plot to write a novel. A novel that goes on to become a talked about best seller. A novel that someone else knows is based on a stolen plot.
The narrative switches between the protagonist and excerpts of his best-selling novel. It’s a well written and well plotted novel with an original story. I enjoyed it, completing it in just a couple of days. There is a twist, although unfortunately I’d worked it out, so wasn’t much of a twist for me.
On a side note; I’m not sure the Welsh will be impressed with “…an entire English tour organised around the Hay-on-Wye festival.” though.
The narrative switches between the protagonist and excerpts of his best-selling novel. It’s a well written and well plotted novel with an original story. I enjoyed it, completing it in just a couple of days. There is a twist, although unfortunately I’d worked it out, so wasn’t much of a twist for me.
On a side note; I’m not sure the Welsh will be impressed with “…an entire English tour organised around the Hay-on-Wye festival.” though.
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good on audio as the going is slower through the first 75% of the book, so doing other things while listening helped. I enjoyed the ending but did see it coming. Pleased with the outcome though. And huzzah for a pleasant cat cameo character.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF. It was SO boring and repetitive I couldn’t even skim to finish. The stupid anguish of the main character was pathetic.
This was a well written thriller that managed to keep me guessing pretty much the entire time. The plot (hehe) was unique enough that I wasn't quite sure how things would ultimately pan out and the reveal at the end put a satisfying bow on a novel that was very entertaining the whole way through. Excited to see what the sequel (hehe) has in store.
So I maybe had high expectations for this, since the whole premise is a book with a plot no one has done before. That being said, I easily saw the ending “twist” because it seemed so odd that a woman with a good job would move across the country and marry a man she hardly knows without seemingly any hesitation. Also comparing the plot to Gone Girl really made it a bit obvious. I found the main character to be unlikeable, and couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at multiple instances for how pretentious and whiny he was. He came across as a pretentious narcissist who thought their writing was Gods gift to the world and I couldn’t feel sympathetic at all towards him. To be fair they seemed a fitting couple in that regard since they both had high opinions of themselves.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Maybe like 3.5, I read half in January and got bored so I forget some of it