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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
I was sucked so far into this book with it's premise and Western feel. It was tense enough that I could not stop reading at points. My only complaint was that it felt a teeny bit predictable. I honestly didn't even mind being able to decipher where things were going / how they played out because the story was so fun and fast paced. A really good fun read.
Mixed bag
I’m really torn on this book. I came close to quitting a few times, mostly because of the pace and the repetitive language. (Apparently in this universe, the only curses that exist are “hell’s heaven” and “pig shit” and they get said CONSTANTLY). Other than that, I found the characters and premise intriguing enough to want to finish. If you get through the first half, it does pick up a bit.
I’m really torn on this book. I came close to quitting a few times, mostly because of the pace and the repetitive language. (Apparently in this universe, the only curses that exist are “hell’s heaven” and “pig shit” and they get said CONSTANTLY). Other than that, I found the characters and premise intriguing enough to want to finish. If you get through the first half, it does pick up a bit.
I've had this on my TBR for ages and I've only just now gotten around to reading it. Carol has a condition that renders her near-dead, and the only people who know how to tell whether she's alive is her husband who pretends she's dead to gain inheritance...and a past lover, now infamous outlaw. When the outlaw catches wind that she's fallen into a coma, he also discovers that someone is trying to keep him and his old flame separate by way of dangerous outlaw Smoke, who will stop at nothing to burn him.
This was just SO good. Told from the perspectives of our main cast, the town deputy, and various characters met throughout the way, including that of Rot, who wants nothing more than to claim Carol and render James Moxie, the outlaw, guilty. While in Howltown, what Carol calls the coma, she attempts to move and alert others to the fact that she's alive--she, more than any other character, has stake in succeeding at her goal.
Malerman's novel is fast-paced, well-written, and filled with romance, violence, and everything in between.
This was just SO good. Told from the perspectives of our main cast, the town deputy, and various characters met throughout the way, including that of Rot, who wants nothing more than to claim Carol and render James Moxie, the outlaw, guilty. While in Howltown, what Carol calls the coma, she attempts to move and alert others to the fact that she's alive--she, more than any other character, has stake in succeeding at her goal.
Malerman's novel is fast-paced, well-written, and filled with romance, violence, and everything in between.
This book is very good. It's the first Western I have ever enjoyed.
Interesting storyline with humor sprinkled around. A few sections in first half are boring and drag on too long.
The ending was sort of cute but the book was so repetitive it was almost painful.
Well here's a first for me: abandoned at 87% with around 40 pages to go.
I know. I know.
I never thought I would drop a book so close to the end, but I've dragged myself through the last 100 pages and I'm not capable of doing another 40. To be fair, I largely attribute this to the fact that it's October and I desperately want to get into a good horror novel for Halloween. This book is widely mislabeled as horror, likely due to the author's most successful work Bird Box, which I love and adore.
This is not horror. This is Sleeping Beauty as a Western. There are a number of people who will adore this book. I might even adore it, given a different frame of mind. The prose is solid, and the premise intriguing. It's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination - though it does have some holes and oversights that attributed to my loss of interest.
Namely: Why is Carol so loved? Uhhh, why is her husband even framing his wife? It's vaguely mentioned that he's tired of living in her shadow, but is that really all? His motivations for doing what he did were incredibly vague. Ultimately, Carol's character is set aside to allow a large cast of male characters to take over, and that's kind of disappointing given the promise of a female centered novel the title suggests.
I'm literally in the middle of the book's climax as I set it down, but I have no vested interest in these characters or their outcomes. Perhaps I'll come back around to finish this one day. Perhaps not.
I know. I know.
I never thought I would drop a book so close to the end, but I've dragged myself through the last 100 pages and I'm not capable of doing another 40. To be fair, I largely attribute this to the fact that it's October and I desperately want to get into a good horror novel for Halloween. This book is widely mislabeled as horror, likely due to the author's most successful work Bird Box, which I love and adore.
This is not horror. This is Sleeping Beauty as a Western. There are a number of people who will adore this book. I might even adore it, given a different frame of mind. The prose is solid, and the premise intriguing. It's not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination - though it does have some holes and oversights that attributed to my loss of interest.
Namely: Why is Carol so loved? Uhhh, why is her husband even framing his wife? It's vaguely mentioned that he's tired of living in her shadow, but is that really all? His motivations for doing what he did were incredibly vague. Ultimately, Carol's character is set aside to allow a large cast of male characters to take over, and that's kind of disappointing given the promise of a female centered novel the title suggests.
I'm literally in the middle of the book's climax as I set it down, but I have no vested interest in these characters or their outcomes. Perhaps I'll come back around to finish this one day. Perhaps not.
I requested to review this book because I just adored Bird Box, but it also sounded unique (just like Bird Box). I was not disappointed. Apparently, I am a Josh Malerman fan.
The book begins with Carol and her husband, Dwight, at the funeral of Carol's friend, John Bowie. John is the only person outside of the couple who knew about Carol's "condition," and Carol is concerned that should she go under and something happens to Dwight, she might be in trouble. Carol's "condition" is unique - she goes into a coma for a short period of time, whereupon her heart and breathing slow to the point where a less-than-observant doctor could very well declare her dead. She can hear everything going on around her, but can't move although she feels as though she is falling the entire time. How terrifying! She refers to it as Howltown, as she hears a "wind" blowing. After returning from John's funeral, she is arguing with Dwight about telling the maid, Farrah, about it. Before telling Farrah about her condition but after mentioning a youthful liason with the outlaw James Moxie, Carol falls into the coma. But things are different this time - Dwight pretends that this time, she is dead.
Dwight, and his confidant Lafayette, put into work a plan to keep Carol "dead." But the plan has lots of holes. To start with, Carol only stays in the state for 2-4 days so she must be buried quickly. Then Farrah notifies James Moxie of her "death." When Moxie returns the telegram stating that she is not dead, Dwight intercepts it. So an assassin is dispatched to stop him from reaching town. But not just any assassin. Smoke is a mentally unstable crippled killer, both legs having been severed by his previous outlaw accomplices. The undertaker becomes suspicious and visits the sheriff as the doctor stating Carol's cause of death seems to not exist. The sheriff can't see where anything is wrong, but just knows something is. Then Dwight is worried about the assassin and has someone follow the crazy Smoke. Also working for Dwight is an entity known only as Rot, who appears at the most inopportune times. Not quite sure what or who he is, except he is not good.
Dwight is a horrible, despicable man. He talks to Carol like she's still alive and listening (because she is), all the while pretending to be the grieving widow and pushing to get her funeral done as soon as possible so she won't get up before she's buried. I just really wanted something bad to happen to him. Something very, very bad. I liked James Moxie very much. Not just a former outlaw, he is something of a legend because of a trick pulled years ago that established his name. He has since retired, but as soon as he gets the telegram, he flees to the Trail to set Carol free. I also really liked Farrah. Much of what she did took courage, as she was just a simple housegirl. But she had no problem contacting Moxie, nor speaking about her suspicions of Dwight to the sheriff. And what she did near the end...
Unbury Carol is almost a western, almost a fantasy, almost horror. All I can tell for sure is that it's an enjoyable ride through another time and place, and well worth it. An incredibly entertaining read.
The book begins with Carol and her husband, Dwight, at the funeral of Carol's friend, John Bowie. John is the only person outside of the couple who knew about Carol's "condition," and Carol is concerned that should she go under and something happens to Dwight, she might be in trouble. Carol's "condition" is unique - she goes into a coma for a short period of time, whereupon her heart and breathing slow to the point where a less-than-observant doctor could very well declare her dead. She can hear everything going on around her, but can't move although she feels as though she is falling the entire time. How terrifying! She refers to it as Howltown, as she hears a "wind" blowing. After returning from John's funeral, she is arguing with Dwight about telling the maid, Farrah, about it. Before telling Farrah about her condition but after mentioning a youthful liason with the outlaw James Moxie, Carol falls into the coma. But things are different this time - Dwight pretends that this time, she is dead.
Dwight, and his confidant Lafayette, put into work a plan to keep Carol "dead." But the plan has lots of holes. To start with, Carol only stays in the state for 2-4 days so she must be buried quickly. Then Farrah notifies James Moxie of her "death." When Moxie returns the telegram stating that she is not dead, Dwight intercepts it. So an assassin is dispatched to stop him from reaching town. But not just any assassin. Smoke is a mentally unstable crippled killer, both legs having been severed by his previous outlaw accomplices. The undertaker becomes suspicious and visits the sheriff as the doctor stating Carol's cause of death seems to not exist. The sheriff can't see where anything is wrong, but just knows something is. Then Dwight is worried about the assassin and has someone follow the crazy Smoke. Also working for Dwight is an entity known only as Rot, who appears at the most inopportune times. Not quite sure what or who he is, except he is not good.
Dwight is a horrible, despicable man. He talks to Carol like she's still alive and listening (because she is), all the while pretending to be the grieving widow and pushing to get her funeral done as soon as possible so she won't get up before she's buried. I just really wanted something bad to happen to him. Something very, very bad. I liked James Moxie very much. Not just a former outlaw, he is something of a legend because of a trick pulled years ago that established his name. He has since retired, but as soon as he gets the telegram, he flees to the Trail to set Carol free. I also really liked Farrah. Much of what she did took courage, as she was just a simple housegirl. But she had no problem contacting Moxie, nor speaking about her suspicions of Dwight to the sheriff. And what she did near the end...
Unbury Carol is almost a western, almost a fantasy, almost horror. All I can tell for sure is that it's an enjoyable ride through another time and place, and well worth it. An incredibly entertaining read.
2.5 rounded to 3. Interesting premise but it doesn't really focus on Carol and instead focuses on all the men in her life so she's really more of a passive agent in a story that's supposed to be about her. Also wasn't a super big fan of each chapter being from a different character's perspective. The sci-fi western was interesting but didn't really get a lot of world building within it.