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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Okay, I wanted to love this so much because this book had the buzzwords for me (cults, no plot, religious trauma). Unfortunately, there was just something here that fell flat for me overall and I can't quite pinpoint it. I found Kwon's writing to be very profound and I really enjoyed the prose within this novel. Kwon toys with perspectives in here and while there are "three" POV chapters, the way they are written is very interesting. As mentioned, the plot is very thin and honestly, I really enjoy meandering within a book and simply reading about the characters daily lives. I didn't need a plot because I was just happy to explore how our two main characters joined the impending cult. When the plot did start to happen, I just found it to feel weak and rushed in comparison to the more slow paced nature of the beginning.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
sad
slow-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 cult in an American college, a student who was an Evangelical Christian but has lost his faith, another student who feels responsible for her mother's death, add in a bit of angst and terrorism and you have 'The Incendaries'.
It all sounds great, and up to a certain point it was. For some reason it did not quite hang together for me. Maybe there were too many narrators? Or maybe there were too many lies and questions hanging in the air.
I was frustrated by the John Leal character. Did he really know Phoebe's father? Did those things in Korea really happen to him? Again after the terrorist event I was confused by Will's trip to Phoebe's father's church - was is shut up because he was in league with John Leal? Was is shut because the father was grief stricken? Was it ever open? Was John Leal her father? My mind is working overtime!
I so wanted this to be great but somehow it just misses, but I think R O Kwon has the potential to write a real humdinger.
It all sounds great, and up to a certain point it was. For some reason it did not quite hang together for me. Maybe there were too many narrators? Or maybe there were too many lies and questions hanging in the air.
I was frustrated by the John Leal character. Did he really know Phoebe's father? Did those things in Korea really happen to him? Again after the terrorist event I was confused by Will's trip to Phoebe's father's church - was is shut up because he was in league with John Leal? Was is shut because the father was grief stricken? Was it ever open? Was John Leal her father? My mind is working overtime!
I so wanted this to be great but somehow it just misses, but I think R O Kwon has the potential to write a real humdinger.
this book was recommended to me by me, allegedly, as in somebody with nearly the same name as me came into the library & asked my coworker to thank me for recommending them this book, even though i had done no such thing, anyway,
i'm intrigued by kwon's prose, it comes across very academic/intellectual, & having now read both of her books (if in reverse order) that is accentuated by the ever presence of this college, as setting, as birthplace of relationships, the college is everything to these characters & they would be fundamentally different without it as their backdrop... & the anti-dprk propaganda? no matter how it is halfheartedly written off as the lies of an aspiring cult leader... what's going on there?
something could be said here about certain men's faithlike devotion to & dependence on women w/o ever really engaging them as people let alone interrogating gender, will is presented from all perspectives but julian's as a "good guy", & also he assaults the girl he claims to love & then still claims to love her—phoebe functions as will's new god into whom he must pour so much devotion that one or both of them inevitably comes out burned, & jejah is phoebe's new piano... or something... god shaped holes abound, & i wonder at how those w no ties to christianity might fill them in kwon's worldview...
i'm intrigued by kwon's prose, it comes across very academic/intellectual, & having now read both of her books (if in reverse order) that is accentuated by the ever presence of this college, as setting, as birthplace of relationships, the college is everything to these characters & they would be fundamentally different without it as their backdrop... & the anti-dprk propaganda? no matter how it is halfheartedly written off as the lies of an aspiring cult leader... what's going on there?
something could be said here about certain men's faithlike devotion to & dependence on women w/o ever really engaging them as people let alone interrogating gender, will is presented from all perspectives but julian's as a "good guy", & also he assaults the girl he claims to love & then still claims to love her—phoebe functions as will's new god into whom he must pour so much devotion that one or both of them inevitably comes out burned, & jejah is phoebe's new piano... or something... god shaped holes abound, & i wonder at how those w no ties to christianity might fill them in kwon's worldview...
Beautiful writing. I can't wait to read more of her stuff.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just didn't really enjoy this book. The prose was just a bit too much and the characters didn't seem quite right. Maybe it was the voice/prose that made it all a little less engaging.
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced