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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
A sensitive portrait of a young male loner. And it resonated, as someone who spent much of the last six months (and few years) dealing with physical rehab and the isolation of medical conditions.
I just finished reading this and I feel like I need to immediately reread it so that I can understand what happened, but I also never want to read it again because I feel so dark and depressed after finishing it. Both well-written and confusing, at the same time.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Every little story in this heart breaking novel opens a window into the armour that people build around them and teaches us how to look beyond their scars and inside the same white van that everyone drives.
This is a hard book to review! I feel exactly the way my friend Kevin does. The first most of the book was quiet and plotless and nonlinear, and I couldn't wait to find out more about the game this dude was writing, the "accident" that happened when he was seventeen, etc etc. There wasn't much of a plot but that's okay because I don't need plot, really. Since present day and a few years ago and twenty years ago are intertwined (with no indication of where in time we are at any given paragraph; that's okay too though, I don't mind that sort of thing, though many people do) it's the kind of book where you almost can't wait to get to the end, so that you can go back and start at the beginning again, and see how everything fits together.
Except that the ending is a dud, and there are at least three threads that go nowhere. Maybe the lesson is "life isn't a movie, sometimes things are unresolved!" But this is a book, dude.
So it was like a solid four whilst I was reading it, and dropped to a two at the very end. I don't even know if I'd recommend it to anyone. Pretty disappointing.
(Oh, but P.S. the cover design is simple yet fascinating. I spent a lot of time looking at it and tilting it in the light to make the title stand out. Killer design.)
Except that the ending is a dud, and there are at least three threads that go nowhere.
Spoiler
What was the significance of Chris? Whatever happened to Lance? How come nothing ever came of the dudes in the liquor store parking lot?So it was like a solid four whilst I was reading it, and dropped to a two at the very end. I don't even know if I'd recommend it to anyone. Pretty disappointing.
(Oh, but P.S. the cover design is simple yet fascinating. I spent a lot of time looking at it and tilting it in the light to make the title stand out. Killer design.)
I liked this book. I think it was beautifully written. However, its 'in-reverse' style is a bit too 'precious' for it to be an epic work.
I really liked Sean's first-person narration. The simplicity of the prose, and the richness of his inner-world made a wonderful counterpoint.
Then came the 'running-in-reverse'. I found it a bit too artistic. And in the end, Sean's motivation for The Dirty Deed, to me remained a cipher. The 200-page wind-down was disproportionate to the finale.
Also, omitting the arty chapters (in particular, the more-than-once geographical laundry lists, which add little to the narrative) would make this work is really a 'fat' novella, not a novel.
So, I liked this story. The prose was admirable. However, I think the author would have had a better story, if he'd thought he didn't think hed had to be an artiste.
I really liked Sean's first-person narration. The simplicity of the prose, and the richness of his inner-world made a wonderful counterpoint.
Then came the 'running-in-reverse'. I found it a bit too artistic. And in the end, Sean's motivation for The Dirty Deed, to me remained a cipher. The 200-page wind-down was disproportionate to the finale.
Also, omitting the arty chapters (in particular, the more-than-once geographical laundry lists, which add little to the narrative) would make this work is really a 'fat' novella, not a novel.
So, I liked this story. The prose was admirable. However, I think the author would have had a better story, if he'd thought he didn't think hed had to be an artiste.
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lovely flow, and the ending hits like a hammer
I feel like listening to this book in an audio format is causing me to miss out on part of it. Some people on Goodreads have rated it 5 stars and seem to have rave reviews, and I'm worried that if I keep listening to it I will miss that feeling. I plan to read it in a couple weeks when I get it from my library.