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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This is just okay. It took forever to get going, and even once I got motivated to keep going / finish it, it still never quite gels. It was also incredibly obvious that the whole book was building toward some big twist at the end.... So whatever. It's fun as a riff, a different kind of take on your typical mystery novel, and I can see the themes that Atkinson is really interested in (and has expanded upon in other books), but ultimately this is just a little unsatisfying.
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie #2)
By Kate Atkinson, Narration by Robin Atkin Downes
I had no idea when I started this audiobook that I was listening to the abridged edition of this story. I never opt for abridged editions but since I started it and couldn't find the unabridged audiobook at my library I kept going, knowing I was missing a lot of the story. This abridged edition is six or so hours long while the unabridged edition is over fourteen hours long so that's a lot of something left out of the book I heard. I already have the unabridged third audiobook in the series downloaded so I will move on to that one but when I can fit it in, I'm going back to read the entire unabridged edition of this book.
The crime and action in this story is not something I could sum up easily and I won't try. I just want to comment on what Brodie in this abridged edition. I consider him an easy to like character and he's very funny. Actually the author's way of letting us into the inner thoughts of most of the characters allows them all to be funny in one way or another. There I was laughing amongst all the splattered blood and body parts and feeling bad for it but couldn't help it.
Back to Brodie. As likeable as he is, he does feel sorry for himself a lot. Here he is, having inherited lots of money from a late client before this book started, getting to live in the area he dreamed of living when he retired. But he's kicking himself for living off inherited money and not working when all he needs to do is find something he'd like to do that allows him to be a working man. Instead he's sightseeing alone and thinking about how his relationship with his girlfriend seems to work better when they aren't around each other as much as they are now. In fact, now that they are living together while she's preparing for a play, it seems like they see each other and communicate less than when they live far apart.
Then there is the fact that somehow Brodie continually seems to be standing over bodies, dead or alive, with a weapon or two in his hand and/or covered in blood. He's really not thinking things through very well. Maybe he's spending too much time using his thought processes on feeling sorry for himself.
I enjoyed the book a lot and look forward to reading the unabridged edition at a later date. This series makes me laugh despite all the depressing and horrible things going on and it has some really interesting characters. Brodie is a character I want to see again and I have a feeling he's always going to be in the middle of messes, made by him or others. I'm so glad I've found this author and look forward to book three in the series.
Thank you to my library and Libby for this audiobook.
By Kate Atkinson, Narration by Robin Atkin Downes
I had no idea when I started this audiobook that I was listening to the abridged edition of this story. I never opt for abridged editions but since I started it and couldn't find the unabridged audiobook at my library I kept going, knowing I was missing a lot of the story. This abridged edition is six or so hours long while the unabridged edition is over fourteen hours long so that's a lot of something left out of the book I heard. I already have the unabridged third audiobook in the series downloaded so I will move on to that one but when I can fit it in, I'm going back to read the entire unabridged edition of this book.
The crime and action in this story is not something I could sum up easily and I won't try. I just want to comment on what Brodie in this abridged edition. I consider him an easy to like character and he's very funny. Actually the author's way of letting us into the inner thoughts of most of the characters allows them all to be funny in one way or another. There I was laughing amongst all the splattered blood and body parts and feeling bad for it but couldn't help it.
Back to Brodie. As likeable as he is, he does feel sorry for himself a lot. Here he is, having inherited lots of money from a late client before this book started, getting to live in the area he dreamed of living when he retired. But he's kicking himself for living off inherited money and not working when all he needs to do is find something he'd like to do that allows him to be a working man. Instead he's sightseeing alone and thinking about how his relationship with his girlfriend seems to work better when they aren't around each other as much as they are now. In fact, now that they are living together while she's preparing for a play, it seems like they see each other and communicate less than when they live far apart.
Then there is the fact that somehow Brodie continually seems to be standing over bodies, dead or alive, with a weapon or two in his hand and/or covered in blood. He's really not thinking things through very well. Maybe he's spending too much time using his thought processes on feeling sorry for himself.
I enjoyed the book a lot and look forward to reading the unabridged edition at a later date. This series makes me laugh despite all the depressing and horrible things going on and it has some really interesting characters. Brodie is a character I want to see again and I have a feeling he's always going to be in the middle of messes, made by him or others. I'm so glad I've found this author and look forward to book three in the series.
Thank you to my library and Libby for this audiobook.
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Fantastic - interesting plot, good characterisation, and some great twists at the end
Kate Atkinson is just not for me. I keep wanting to say to her, "Ok now we've had a few pages of imagining / backstory so can't we just get on with it?"
Her writing is a pleasure to read. If you like the genre she is a must read