Take a photo of a barcode or cover
2.49 AVERAGE
2.49 AVERAGE
I had to push myself to finish this one. Preview made this one sound interesting, like it was going to be a great, interesting read... not the case. I am not fan of writing that includes large, unnecessary words for fillers, and that is what most of this book contains, like it was the 30 page paper I had to write in college and had to think of any word under the sun to add in order to reach my word/page count. Was the book terrible... no, but would I recommend or read again... never.
Did Lucy Ives make Reddit mad or something? Why are there so many "did not finish" reviews tanking this perfectly good book?
It's a rare novel that I don't finish, but going through this one was like wading through a weedy garden. All the clever words hid a possibly interesting story.
Thank you net galley for the ereview edition of this book.
Thank you net galley for the ereview edition of this book.
Why oh why did I not read the reviews before buying this book? The premise made it sound fun and exciting and mysterious and quirky--but the actual book is verbose to the point of being painful. The narrator is like that one friend who talks and talks and talks, and doesn't seem to notice that your eyes are slowly drooping until suddenly in the middle of a sentence she just screams "fuck!" and then you jerk awake only to realize she's still talking and then it just goes on and on and on....
That is our heroine Stella for you, in a nutshell. She's selfish, two-faced, not very nice, and I just found her overall to be an unlikable character. Like, I get it, you're not content with your life and you feel personally victimized by every little thing that goes wrong, but that doesn't mean you get to be a total bitch about it.
How do I even begin to explain the plot? It's like a pretzel that has no beginning and no end. It just keeps on going and even halfway through the book, I'm still not sure what's going on. I know she works at a museum where she feels under-appreciated; I know she's awful to her mother; I know she is being stalked by her ex-husband while also being in love with a total jerkface who she works with; I know one of her coworkers died (and she seems to be deeply affected but to be honest I don't get their relationship to begin with); and I know she has set herself on this quest that makes no sense and isn't really explained. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.
One of my biggest issues with the book is the style of writing. I can tell Ives loves words, and she knows how to write a juicy sentence, but when it takes two and a half pages to describe the narrator's thoughts on a thing before she actually does it, you've lost me. I would post an example, but honestly the paragraphs are incredibly long and loquacious and I'm trying to finish this review before my boss sees me not working. A summary of such example: Stella is on her way to visit her mother, but it takes her four pages to get there because she needs to describe all of the reasons why she hates her mother and why she's having an existential crisis, and man she just can't stop thinking about Fred and his magic hands and how Bonnie probably knows about their one night stand and by the way did she mention she hates her mother?
This book has so much potential. Ives is not a bad writer. Heck, she published a book and I can barely get one paragraph down before I give up! Her characters have personality (even if I don't like most of them) and obviously the plot is going somewhere, but she's just so dang wordy. While I understand our heroine works at a museum and would therefore be bursting with knowledge, I immediately lose focus when it takes her two paragraphs to describe one small, minute detail, or when she info-dumps in this totally pretentious and unlikable way.
This makes it hard to appreciate that the book is technically a mystery. There's no action. We're always stuck in Stella's head and she's always stuck moaning about miserable life. If Ives pulled back a bit and went a little less heavy on the information overload, I think this would be a really enjoyable story. The plot is there, it just needs more structure and focus.
That is our heroine Stella for you, in a nutshell. She's selfish, two-faced, not very nice, and I just found her overall to be an unlikable character. Like, I get it, you're not content with your life and you feel personally victimized by every little thing that goes wrong, but that doesn't mean you get to be a total bitch about it.
How do I even begin to explain the plot? It's like a pretzel that has no beginning and no end. It just keeps on going and even halfway through the book, I'm still not sure what's going on. I know she works at a museum where she feels under-appreciated; I know she's awful to her mother; I know she is being stalked by her ex-husband while also being in love with a total jerkface who she works with; I know one of her coworkers died (and she seems to be deeply affected but to be honest I don't get their relationship to begin with); and I know she has set herself on this quest that makes no sense and isn't really explained. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.
One of my biggest issues with the book is the style of writing. I can tell Ives loves words, and she knows how to write a juicy sentence, but when it takes two and a half pages to describe the narrator's thoughts on a thing before she actually does it, you've lost me. I would post an example, but honestly the paragraphs are incredibly long and loquacious and I'm trying to finish this review before my boss sees me not working. A summary of such example: Stella is on her way to visit her mother, but it takes her four pages to get there because she needs to describe all of the reasons why she hates her mother and why she's having an existential crisis, and man she just can't stop thinking about Fred and his magic hands and how Bonnie probably knows about their one night stand and by the way did she mention she hates her mother?
This book has so much potential. Ives is not a bad writer. Heck, she published a book and I can barely get one paragraph down before I give up! Her characters have personality (even if I don't like most of them) and obviously the plot is going somewhere, but she's just so dang wordy. While I understand our heroine works at a museum and would therefore be bursting with knowledge, I immediately lose focus when it takes her two paragraphs to describe one small, minute detail, or when she info-dumps in this totally pretentious and unlikable way.
This makes it hard to appreciate that the book is technically a mystery. There's no action. We're always stuck in Stella's head and she's always stuck moaning about miserable life. If Ives pulled back a bit and went a little less heavy on the information overload, I think this would be a really enjoyable story. The plot is there, it just needs more structure and focus.
Not for me. I wanted to like this book given its stunning cover and intriguing summary, but found it to be a challenging slog despite the brief length. Ives' writing is far too pretentious to be enjoyable; I constantly had to reread sentences to fully comprehend what was happening. None of the characters are particularly compelling and a mere wisp of plot is present, which led me to wonder about the overall point of the story. One positive is that the tale allows for a peek behind the curtain at the world of art and curators, but that is not enough for me to recommend it.
Thanks to the First to Read program for providing me with an ARC of this title.
Thanks to the First to Read program for providing me with an ARC of this title.
slow-paced
challenging
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
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I could not disagree more on the reviews that found this to be difficult to follow or pretentious - this book had me cracking up so much. The author uses sarcasms and judgement as the main character’s defense mechanism - and you see this evolve throughout the narrative. It’s witty and fun and I would read it again. When the main character, Stella, recognizes that she hasn’t really been living for some time near the end and begins to stand up for herself…this is a lovely read that I would absolutely recommend.