Scan barcode
jamiedarlin's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Antisemitism
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Representations: https://trello.com/c/riOkOBY6/91-west-heart-kill-by-dann-mcdorman
I honestly don't even know where to begin with this review. This book was absolutely batshit insane and was one of the most unique books I've ever read. Trying to explain it would 1) be impossible and 2) make it seem worse than it is. On paper, if you list out everything this book does it sounds like a complete mess. In execution however, somehow it works. I have no idea how it works but in my opinion it does.
Don't go into this book blind - this doesn't mean spoil yourself on twists and the puzzles and such - know how esoteric it gets with the multiple different writing styles and make sure you have pencils/pens, paper and sticky notes to mark pages at the ready! You, as the reader, are very much a part of the story as much as any of the other characters. The narrator - essentially the voice of the author - switches between fiction and non-fiction (The interjections of the history of murder mysteries and such where quite interesting) and the book overall uses countless different writing styles. First person, third person, second person - even plural third person(?? the only way I can describe that lol) - and more.
The characters - some you'll love, some you'll hate. A fair few you'll really hate. But that's also part of the point, many of these characters weren't designed to be loveable. Character development is complicated - partially due to the writing styles and partially because of how short of a time-frame this is set over (thursday, friday, saturday, sunday) - but there is certainly some from some of the characters especially during the final climax.
It's not perfect, there's a fair few flaws. For one, the constant writing style changes can be confusing at first and with so many characters it can be hard to remember who everyone is. I had to write down a list of everyone and who they where, what they did, etc just to remember (though I think that is what you're intended to do to be fair). The puzzle as well was incredibly complicated and required a few logic leaps - some information also gets withheld from the reader which was a bit fustrating and sort of lessened one of the parts of the ending for me as I just didn't get it before the reveal. Some of the non-fiction parts as well - while most of them felt incredibly random in placement some did piece together and make sense as you read on - they just felt like "why is this here?" I learnt a fair bit (I'm not a major reader of murder mysteries and/or classics either) and certainly got interested in a fair few books just because of this book, but like why is some of this in here? Like did I really need to learn about Oulipo to understand more of the book's story?
It's funny in parts as well, which is well placed and helps bring up the mood a bit quite nicely. The clues are - mostly - well laid out and make sense. While there are some leaps in logic and some clues feel a tad unnatural, you can trace them back and see how it all connects pretty easily. The twists and reveals are parts of the puzzles so they're not fully intended to be like major suprises/completely unpredictable. There's certainly some unpredicable-ness however, and since I wasn't smart enough to be able to solve everything myself, some of the reveals where a suprise.
I think overall, it's well worth a read. It's an incredibly unique piece of literature and I think everyone from murder mystery buffs to people new to the genre would enjoy it. Just don't expect an easy read!
Representations: https://trello.com/c/riOkOBY6/91-west-heart-kill-by-dann-mcdorman
I honestly don't even know where to begin with this review. This book was absolutely batshit insane and was one of the most unique books I've ever read. Trying to explain it would 1) be impossible and 2) make it seem worse than it is. On paper, if you list out everything this book does it sounds like a complete mess. In execution however, somehow it works. I have no idea how it works but in my opinion it does.
Don't go into this book blind - this doesn't mean spoil yourself on twists and the puzzles and such - know how esoteric it gets with the multiple different writing styles and make sure you have pencils/pens, paper and sticky notes to mark pages at the ready! You, as the reader, are very much a part of the story as much as any of the other characters. The narrator - essentially the voice of the author - switches between fiction and non-fiction (The interjections of the history of murder mysteries and such where quite interesting) and the book overall uses countless different writing styles. First person, third person, second person - even plural third person(?? the only way I can describe that lol) - and more.
The characters - some you'll love, some you'll hate. A fair few you'll really hate. But that's also part of the point, many of these characters weren't designed to be loveable. Character development is complicated - partially due to the writing styles and partially because of how short of a time-frame this is set over (thursday, friday, saturday, sunday) - but there is certainly some from some of the characters especially during the final climax.
It's not perfect, there's a fair few flaws. For one, the constant writing style changes can be confusing at first and with so many characters it can be hard to remember who everyone is. I had to write down a list of everyone and who they where, what they did, etc just to remember (though I think that is what you're intended to do to be fair). The puzzle as well was incredibly complicated and required a few logic leaps - some information also gets withheld from the reader which was a bit fustrating and sort of lessened one of the parts of the ending for me as I just didn't get it before the reveal. Some of the non-fiction parts as well - while most of them felt incredibly random in placement some did piece together and make sense as you read on - they just felt like "why is this here?" I learnt a fair bit (I'm not a major reader of murder mysteries and/or classics either) and certainly got interested in a fair few books just because of this book, but like why is some of this in here? Like did I really need to learn about Oulipo to understand more of the book's story?
It's funny in parts as well, which is well placed and helps bring up the mood a bit quite nicely. The clues are - mostly - well laid out and make sense. While there are some leaps in logic and some clues feel a tad unnatural, you can trace them back and see how it all connects pretty easily. The twists and reveals are parts of the puzzles so they're not fully intended to be like major suprises/completely unpredictable. There's certainly some unpredicable-ness however, and since I wasn't smart enough to be able to solve everything myself, some of the reveals where a suprise.
I think overall, it's well worth a read. It's an incredibly unique piece of literature and I think everyone from murder mystery buffs to people new to the genre would enjoy it. Just don't expect an easy read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Misogyny, Child death, Gore, Ableism, and Suicide
amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Blood, Cursing, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Infidelity
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, War, and Domestic abuse
ejmealer's review
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Novel Plot Warning: dog death.
WHK promised intrigue and murder with a twist, and delivered confusion and two murders, two deaths, and unnecessary conflagration. In an effort to pay homage to all the great (and I do mean ALL) mystery writers of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, McDorman loses his own voice and story. Moments that the narrator spoke directly to the reader mocked the arm-chair sleuth for thinking ahead or attempting to solve the puzzle (with phrases amounting to "surely, you think, this is how it would play out"), instead of just letting the plot narrate and instruct. There are interesting sections on the history of the murder mystery as a play or novel, and how various authors tackled scenes, but everything was so overladen with a pretentiousness, and the sections were so randomly interspersed through the novel, that instead of truly adding to the narrative it served more as a distraction.
McDormans journalistic background is felt in those sections and I would rather have read an entire nonfiction book about the history of the mystery novel. If the plot had been more developed and only told as a third-person, I would rather have read that. The denouement was done in an interesting format but resulted in a "whomp-whomp" of "I read the whole thing... for this?"
WHK promised intrigue and murder with a twist, and delivered confusion and two murders, two deaths, and unnecessary conflagration. In an effort to pay homage to all the great (and I do mean ALL) mystery writers of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, McDorman loses his own voice and story. Moments that the narrator spoke directly to the reader mocked the arm-chair sleuth for thinking ahead or attempting to solve the puzzle (with phrases amounting to "surely, you think, this is how it would play out"), instead of just letting the plot narrate and instruct. There are interesting sections on the history of the murder mystery as a play or novel, and how various authors tackled scenes, but everything was so overladen with a pretentiousness, and the sections were so randomly interspersed through the novel, that instead of truly adding to the narrative it served more as a distraction.
McDormans journalistic background is felt in those sections and I would rather have read an entire nonfiction book about the history of the mystery novel. If the plot had been more developed and only told as a third-person, I would rather have read that. The denouement was done in an interesting format but resulted in a "whomp-whomp" of "I read the whole thing... for this?"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Car accident, Ableism, Racism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Blood, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Gun violence, Animal death, Domestic abuse, War, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia
More...