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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I feel like I could talk about life in Venice now, the descriptions are so evocative. I enjoyed the story and having gay main characters kept my interest. Four stars because it's kind of predictable and also because Clay and Nick needed a bit more steam if you know what I mean.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A case where the overly descriptive text, a jumbled structure, frustrating lack of focus with the POV, and a main character that lacks any sympathy or awareness make for a lackluster read. The twists were too obvious and the inability to stay rooted in the actual present when avoiding the use of internet or technology in general hinder what could have been a fun read.
The story focuses on Nick and Clay as they try to achieve a fairly simple con a deserving target and traces how they got to this point.
The structure was jarring, in how the first couple of chapters follow Nick and his arrival to Venice before switching to Mew York and his past relationship with Ari, before switching back to Venice in Clay’s POV. The shifts don’t really have any flow and the lack of cohesion works to the story’s detriment.
The problem with the split narrative is that it highlights the novels flaws. Nick is the most annoying protagonist I’ve read in a while. He’s self centered and clueless and almost narcissistic to a point. And despite the love he says he has for Clay, he acts on his most greedy impulses. He laments having to hide his relationship with Clay, but this is because he’s cheating on his boyfriend with him or having to go along with the con HE came up with. I don’t mind a flawed, messed up character, but Nicks lack of awareness and his aw shucks behavior makes him even more annoying. And the fact that we never really see him learn something. His arc feels incomplete and undeserving. I was actively rooting against any kind of happy ending for him.
On the other side of it, Clay took a second to warm up to, but he was the far more interesting character. I didn’t want to leave his chapters. I appreciated his story with Freddy and understood his issues with West. Even his love for Nick, I could go along with it even if I didn’t get it. I do agree with other reviews that the novel only skimmed the surface the issues he had due to his race and it never really went any deeper with how his struggles as a Black gay man.
And while I understand the richness of Venice as a character of its own, it seemed obsessed with hitting you over the head with obsession with the Italian town. This story could have been streamlined by excising the pages of unneeded elaborate description. Especially if the town was only gonna barely factor into the story. It felt like we were hearing the antagonists own descriptions of the city.
The other weird component was how this story was set in 2020, and yet still seemed like it was set in the early 2000s. The lack of research or use of the internet made the plot holes feels too glaring. Setting in the past may have worked to enhance the novel.
The twists were broadcast a little too easily and Nick should not have been a primary focus. The story was okay, but you can tell the author really wanted to write a story more in line with Freddy’s generation and maybe that would have been the better route.
The story focuses on Nick and Clay as they try to achieve a fairly simple con a deserving target and traces how they got to this point.
The structure was jarring, in how the first couple of chapters follow Nick and his arrival to Venice before switching to Mew York and his past relationship with Ari, before switching back to Venice in Clay’s POV. The shifts don’t really have any flow and the lack of cohesion works to the story’s detriment.
The problem with the split narrative is that it highlights the novels flaws. Nick is the most annoying protagonist I’ve read in a while. He’s self centered and clueless and almost narcissistic to a point. And despite the love he says he has for Clay, he acts on his most greedy impulses. He laments having to hide his relationship with Clay, but this is because he’s cheating on his boyfriend with him or having to go along with the con HE came up with. I don’t mind a flawed, messed up character, but Nicks lack of awareness and his aw shucks behavior makes him even more annoying. And the fact that we never really see him learn something. His arc feels incomplete and undeserving. I was actively rooting against any kind of happy ending for him.
On the other side of it, Clay took a second to warm up to, but he was the far more interesting character. I didn’t want to leave his chapters. I appreciated his story with Freddy and understood his issues with West. Even his love for Nick, I could go along with it even if I didn’t get it. I do agree with other reviews that the novel only skimmed the surface the issues he had due to his race and it never really went any deeper with how his struggles as a Black gay man.
And while I understand the richness of Venice as a character of its own, it seemed obsessed with hitting you over the head with obsession with the Italian town. This story could have been streamlined by excising the pages of unneeded elaborate description. Especially if the town was only gonna barely factor into the story. It felt like we were hearing the antagonists own descriptions of the city.
The other weird component was how this story was set in 2020, and yet still seemed like it was set in the early 2000s. The lack of research or use of the internet made the plot holes feels too glaring. Setting in the past may have worked to enhance the novel.
The twists were broadcast a little too easily and Nick should not have been a primary focus. The story was okay, but you can tell the author really wanted to write a story more in line with Freddy’s generation and maybe that would have been the better route.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When I started this novel, I sped along, caught up in the possibilities and promises of its compelling beginning.
Then, not too far in, as the filling in of backstory and character details happened, it became, for me, less and less believable, and as that happened, it seemed to move ever more slowly.
An exploration of morally ambiguous characters, and what drives people to despicable, desperate behaviors can be thrilling, or, at least, interesting. In this case, it didn't feel to me as if the characters had sufficient cause to behave in the ways they did, committing acts it felt to me as if they NEVER would have done, acts belonging to far less moral, far more conscience-free people --- and never did there seem reason/forceful enough circumstance for these people to turn into such horrors.
Nor, in the one case, where it was sort of hinted they were naturally so-inclined, did that really seem tenable either.
Thus the outrageous events/behaviors not fully grounded in adequate foundation, felt false, and so less interesting than they might have been.
Also, the facile ending was both entirely too convenient and suddenly fast-pace again after a few hundred pages of much slower plotting.
Then, not too far in, as the filling in of backstory and character details happened, it became, for me, less and less believable, and as that happened, it seemed to move ever more slowly.
An exploration of morally ambiguous characters, and what drives people to despicable, desperate behaviors can be thrilling, or, at least, interesting. In this case, it didn't feel to me as if the characters had sufficient cause to behave in the ways they did, committing acts it felt to me as if they NEVER would have done, acts belonging to far less moral, far more conscience-free people --- and never did there seem reason/forceful enough circumstance for these people to turn into such horrors.
Nor, in the one case, where it was sort of hinted they were naturally so-inclined, did that really seem tenable either.
Thus the outrageous events/behaviors not fully grounded in adequate foundation, felt false, and so less interesting than they might have been.
Also, the facile ending was both entirely too convenient and suddenly fast-pace again after a few hundred pages of much slower plotting.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes