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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
this novel is weird and dark and brilliant. it's about identity, connection, spirituality, faith. a young woman joins a cult, becomes completely immersed in it and in doing so, grows apart from her boyfriend. he feels completely alienated but he also wants to save her from this cult.
I'm still mulling over how I feel about this one. I wish it could have been more. The premise was engaging, but the intensely introspective nature and cold writing style made it tough to see through to the end. I almost wish for a sequel that would tie up some of the loose ends.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was definitely a case of me and the book just not fitting together.
I didn't really enjoy the way it was written, the characters' are such that there's none that are particularly likeable (and I enjoy having at least one person to cheer for), and I think it just wasn't what I was expecting.
A real shame as I had high hopes for this one but, it wasn't to be.
I didn't really enjoy the way it was written, the characters' are such that there's none that are particularly likeable (and I enjoy having at least one person to cheer for), and I think it just wasn't what I was expecting.
A real shame as I had high hopes for this one but, it wasn't to be.
This should really be 2.5 stars. I picked it up as part of the Book Riot "Reader Harder" challenge; the NYPL had it for the "read a book about obsession" item.
CW/TW: A brief discussion of sexual assault in the review.
I thought at first that I would be into it. There are interesting things about the construction and execution. There are three points of view, one (or two-ish) main perspectives, and one (or two-ish) briefer glimpses into other points of view. The author works with verb tenses and occasional "intrusions" into the secondary perspectives to convey that, really, it is the main character, Will, who is telling all three stories. She then undermines this, though, revealing very late in the game that Will has access to a journal Phoebe left behind, so it's not (purely) his obsession that is driving his version of events.
The obsessions that Kwon sets up, though, are deeply unpleasant and really not effectively employed. Phoebe is pulled into a cult for . . . no particular reason. Yes, she has the crisis of breaking up with her previous obsession with becoming a premier concert pianist, and yes, she is (I guess) traumatized by her mother's death in a car accident that Phoebe is (sort of) responsible for, but that manifests in her partying in this weird John-Hughes-Meets-Truman-Capote privileged kid style, being initially put off by John Leal (the cult leader who is the third POV character), she is suddenly into it. Then she is suddenly (maybe?) very actively into bombing abortion clinics.
Will is obsessed with Phoebe. Oh. He's a recovering evangelical Christian, but mostly he is a a direct-from-every-single-book-movie-whatever college-aged dude who loses his shit over a girlfriend. Other than paying (occasional) attention to him and eventually deigning to have sex with him (of course, he's a virgin), Phoebe has no specific qualities to recommend her. Earlier on there is some attention devoted to the fact that unlike Phoebe, Will is broke and has "put on" a child of privilege persona as part of his attempt to escape from his former identity, but the author's attention to this is sporadic to the point of being offensive. Will doesn't even have a laptop, but he has the money to book sudden tickets from the east coast to LA, and to reroute himself through San Francisco. But it's Will who makes the off-hand observation that Phoebe can literally afford to be anti-choice because people like her will always have access to abortion. Absolutely true, but there's so little realistic attention paid to class, that this reads as just gross mansplaining.
But the real bottom-scraping of the novel is the off-handed inclusion of two sexual assaults. One is of a background character who ultimately (probably) commits suicide. The other is Will raping Phoebe, which is very much out of the blue and just . . . extremely poorly handled, as is everything about Will's intermittent performance of masculinity versus his spectator feminist ally-ship.
Hmmm. Maybe this just should have been a two-star . . .
Was on my list for a long time. If someone mentioned the whole casual rape thing to me before, maybe I would have left it on the shelf. Take heed ye who reads this review. Don't bother.
i wish the ending ending of this book didn’t feel so rushed, i think more explanation would’ve improved the ending a lot. but i’m glad i read it, even though it’s far from being a favorite.
I had a hard time with this book, and not just because the dialogue isn't set off in quotation marks.
DNF @ 50%
This had everything I loved in a book: literary prose, odd multi-character POV, cults, and a strange story. Kwon's style reminded me of [b:The Vegetarian|25489025|The Vegetarian|Han Kang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478196580i/25489025._SY75_.jpg|18449744] which I loved (review here) Perhaps that's why I didn't like it - I compared it too closely to everything else. I found the characters wholly unlikable, and not in the fun, love-to-hate kind of way. There also wasn't enough of an intriguing mystery to me to hold onto. For as short as this was, it shouldn't have taken me more than a day or two to get through. But I couldn't. Every time I had time to read, I found myself reaching for something else, even if it was longer, even if I wasn't in the mood. The writing was lovely, but the plot and the characters just weren't enough for me.
Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge: A book set on a college or university campus
This had everything I loved in a book: literary prose, odd multi-character POV, cults, and a strange story. Kwon's style reminded me of [b:The Vegetarian|25489025|The Vegetarian|Han Kang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478196580i/25489025._SY75_.jpg|18449744] which I loved (review here) Perhaps that's why I didn't like it - I compared it too closely to everything else. I found the characters wholly unlikable, and not in the fun, love-to-hate kind of way. There also wasn't enough of an intriguing mystery to me to hold onto. For as short as this was, it shouldn't have taken me more than a day or two to get through. But I couldn't. Every time I had time to read, I found myself reaching for something else, even if it was longer, even if I wasn't in the mood. The writing was lovely, but the plot and the characters just weren't enough for me.
Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge: A book set on a college or university campus
This book requires a trigger warning
Kwon’s narrative was crisp and clear and she builds a good sense of dread- but over all the book just left me feeling sick. Trigger warning of rape, suicide and terrorism.
Kwon’s narrative was crisp and clear and she builds a good sense of dread- but over all the book just left me feeling sick. Trigger warning of rape, suicide and terrorism.