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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Not as fantastic as The Savage Detectives, but apparently this was one of the novels he wrote leading up to that one, so I will cut him some slack.
I read a serialized version in the Paris Review over the course of several months, so this made it hard to maintain the flow of the story. I know this writer has received a ton of critical acclaim; however I found this book to be only fair. The main character is a war strategy game enthusiast who holes himself up in a hotel along the coast of Spain and slowly loses his mind, girlfriend, etc. I guess there just wasn't much "there" there.
There were parts of this book where I was engaged and intrigued, but I was mostly bored. There were points when I pretty much stopped paying attention and thought, "well, I might as well finish it..." So... Yeah.
The climax in particular was so anticlimactic that I was confused about what had just happened, wondering if I had missed something.
I finished it, at least!
The climax in particular was so anticlimactic that I was confused about what had just happened, wondering if I had missed something.
I finished it, at least!
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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Why do adult books have to be written with such awful characters? Why do they have to have barely any plot or the plot that they do have is confusing. I confess I haven’t read a lot of books in the adult fiction world, maybe a handful or so, but I’m starting to think I’m not going to enjoy the genre. Either that or I’m going to have to be a bit more selective of what I do pick. A prime example of why is this book right here. What an awful waste of time. I wasted so much time reading this book.
The main character, Udo, is just awful. I wrote, in my notes, that he was something else but I’m going to try and be a little nice. A little bit anyway. He’s pretentious and thinks he’s better than everybody because he’s this world renowned game player. I still haven’t figured out what kind of game he plays because the author didn’t explain it properly. I assume it’s like Dungeons and Dragons with World of Warcraft mixed in? All I truly know is that it has something to do with World War II. Maybe it’s like Stratego?
I could go on and on about Udo but I won’t. Suffice to say, the dude sucks. I want to talk about the plot or lack thereof. There was no plot. In the synopsis, it mentions how Udo is trying to find his missing friend and discovers some secrets along the way. The plot gets solved in 100 pages, leaving the rest of the book to just flounder. I basically read about Udo cheating on his girlfriend, complaining about his girlfriend, playing a game with a man who was facially disfigured and obsessed over this man. I have no idea why I continued to read this book when I could have just stopped.
Overall, this wasn’t good in case my scathing review didn’t clear that up. There was no plot. The mystery was solved in the first 100 pages. The MC was horrible and treated everyone around him like garbage. One of the critical elements of the book wasn’t explained properly. It was just a serious waste of time. Good thing I only paid one US dollar for this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood