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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
2.5 - the writing is rather pretty, but the characters and plot never really come together, so what was the point? I had heard this compared to Tartt’s Secret History, which was pretty misleading.
tw: rape
I have a lot to say about The Incendiaries and it's kind of all been jumbled in my mind since I finished reading this last night.
The book alternates between three viewpoints: Will, who we see most of the plot through, Phoebe, who we get a little extra background from, but mostly see what Will sees, and John Leal, who has super short passages that I really didn't think contributed to the book. John Leal creates the cult that Phoebe joins and Will tries to save her from, albeit unsuccessfully.
John's short passages really pulled me out of the narrative, especially since there isn't really any attempt to develop him as a character. They seemed more like quick bits slapped together to jump from place to place.
I felt like there was a hole once I finished this, and while I understand that these are not characters to root for, the narrative felt really unfulfilling. Regardless of whose viewpoint the book is at, it stays a distance away from the characters, so the emotional ending took me by surprise. You really can't avoid getting involved with the characters for 200 pages, and then try to make the ending connect.
A lot of the book deals with the fact that Will is disillusioned with religion and Phoebe finds herself in the cult, which I know relates to how the characters interact with each other, but staying back from such an emotional subject meant that I didn't connect with anything that was going on.
Also, I noticed that most top reviews do not talk about the rape scene, so I wanted to go into that a bit:Will rapes Phoebe in their apartment and it's the final straw that drives her to leave him. Since we see most of the book from Will's perspective, there's a little remorse, but it's very light and I feel like the casual way it's treated could definitely be triggering for readers. A mutual friend brings it up again towards the end, showing that it is a big deal, but it's glossed over for a lot of the second half and I personally felt uncomfortable in the way that Will was written, especially in having the rapist be the main protagonist. I don't have all the words to describe it, but it felt enabling in an uncomfortable way that I really wasn't expecting.
Overall, I get what this was going for, but it really wasn't my thing. I didn't connect with it at all, so I wouldn't say "maybe it'll work for you" - there isn't any strong part of this that I'd recommend.
I have a lot to say about The Incendiaries and it's kind of all been jumbled in my mind since I finished reading this last night.
The book alternates between three viewpoints: Will, who we see most of the plot through, Phoebe, who we get a little extra background from, but mostly see what Will sees, and John Leal, who has super short passages that I really didn't think contributed to the book. John Leal creates the cult that Phoebe joins and Will tries to save her from, albeit unsuccessfully.
John's short passages really pulled me out of the narrative, especially since there isn't really any attempt to develop him as a character. They seemed more like quick bits slapped together to jump from place to place.
I felt like there was a hole once I finished this, and while I understand that these are not characters to root for, the narrative felt really unfulfilling. Regardless of whose viewpoint the book is at, it stays a distance away from the characters, so the emotional ending took me by surprise. You really can't avoid getting involved with the characters for 200 pages, and then try to make the ending connect.
A lot of the book deals with the fact that Will is disillusioned with religion and Phoebe finds herself in the cult, which I know relates to how the characters interact with each other, but staying back from such an emotional subject meant that I didn't connect with anything that was going on.
Also, I noticed that most top reviews do not talk about the rape scene, so I wanted to go into that a bit:
Overall, I get what this was going for, but it really wasn't my thing. I didn't connect with it at all, so I wouldn't say "maybe it'll work for you" - there isn't any strong part of this that I'd recommend.
This was just one of the most boring books. Made worse by the terrible narrator on audible.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
sad
kinda disapointing, i liked the premise of this very much when i read the synopsis but i feel like the book doesn´t match it, some of the things mentioned in the blurb only happened almost 90% into the book.
- the way it was narrated also felt very confusing to me, and it was just not my style, i´m not a fan of super short chapters.
- i don´t really like the way the themes were treated, it was such a short book that i felt like some of the topics were written in a shallow way? i really like the idea of thinking about religion, fanaticism, north korea, but in the end of the book it seemed like it didn´t approach any of these at lenght, even the rape scene and aftermath didn´t feel like it got enough attention (maybe that was the intention?).
- i feel like i wwould like a novel with the same plot but a super different execution, the ideas were cool but it was just not my syle.
- the way it was narrated also felt very confusing to me, and it was just not my style, i´m not a fan of super short chapters.
- i don´t really like the way the themes were treated, it was such a short book that i felt like some of the topics were written in a shallow way? i really like the idea of thinking about religion, fanaticism, north korea, but in the end of the book it seemed like it didn´t approach any of these at lenght, even the rape scene and aftermath didn´t feel like it got enough attention (maybe that was the intention?).
- i feel like i wwould like a novel with the same plot but a super different execution, the ideas were cool but it was just not my syle.
Sobering, haunting, and complicated. A slow burn without resolution for characters seeped in uncertainty yet desperately searching for the certain. To summarize, I'll quote Laura Miller's July 23, 2018 review in the New Yorker: "Faith --its loss, its kindling, and its susceptibility to being twisted into something monstrous--is Kwon's theme here, but so is grief, which often drives us to faith's arms." I'll echo other reviews in saying I wish we had more of Phoebe's inner life, especially towards the end of the novel. In general, I wanted more: more explanation, more understanding of why Will, Phoebe, and John did the things they did. But much of the novel's impact lies in its powerful scarcity. I'll be sitting with it for a good long while.
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
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes