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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It wasn’t awful but it did drag on, the ending was very obvious the whole time, and everyone either wants to fuck each other or kill each other. It kept my attention tho, so
I think this book had the potential to be a favorite but it just didn’t fully deliver. There was a lot going on and a lot of that I wasn’t really vibing with. But the theatre aspect and the heightened level of intrigue really worked with me. The ending was not surprising but it was also just left in the middle of serious conflict and then it was an end scene situation… not my favorite.
Wow. I read Temper in one sitting and am left a little breathless by the ending. The plot centers around a play also called Temper that is going to be performed in Chicago. It’s a small play - only 2 characters in the production and minimal props/scenery.
Reading this book felt a lot like watching that type of intimate, small theater play as well. It really makes you question - how far could you be pushed to go? How would you react if someone was pushing all your buttons?
This is not a feel good read. I didn’t like any of the characters at all - but was still compelled to keep reading and see what they would do next. And then that ending. I wish this had been a play - and I could walk out into the real world with my companions and discuss what we just saw.
Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy.
Reading this book felt a lot like watching that type of intimate, small theater play as well. It really makes you question - how far could you be pushed to go? How would you react if someone was pushing all your buttons?
This is not a feel good read. I didn’t like any of the characters at all - but was still compelled to keep reading and see what they would do next. And then that ending. I wish this had been a play - and I could walk out into the real world with my companions and discuss what we just saw.
Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy.
Dark. Really Dark.
Excellent writing and so much tension.
Excellent writing and so much tension.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Indifferent Honest is an indie, non-eq theater company in Chicago, famous for its bold, edgy productions and its perennial leading man, Malcolm Mercer. When Kira Rascher, a struggling actress in her early 30s, auditions for their world-premiere production of Temper, she thinks she can handle Malcolm’s mercurial and intense direction. What she doesn’t account for is the theater’s executive director, Joanna Cuyler, and the lengths they will push each other for their art.
This book was complicated for me. I think the blurb sold it more as a conflict between Joanna and Kira, when really it all revolved around Malcolm, and that felt like the more boring choice. Everyone who’s ever worked in the theatre knows bad men willing to hurt anyone in order to elevate their craft, and I was hoping that Temper would reinvent that and take the power and mystique away from the abusive auteur. It didn’t, and that made aspects of the book feel too obvious. However, I still enjoyed much of it, and I thought Fargo did a great job creating two unlikable but still compelling female narrators, and the perspective switch between each chapter actually worked to the book’s favor. 3 out of 5 stage slaps.
dark
tense
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
dark
emotional
tense
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
Thanks, I hate it.
There’s certainly audience for this but that audience is not me. It’s actually almost unfathomable that the same person that wrote this wrote They Never Learn, which I loved. I guess maybe if you are an actor or love stories set in that world you may like this, but it just did nothing for me. It felt like the equivalent of watching a bad, low-budget indie drama with very little payoff. The characters were shallow and unlikable, the story lacked substance or depth, and ultimately nothing really happened? 2 stars for being super queer/bisexual and glorious in that right, and for the dark backstory with lots of potential (but does also fall flat and end up being totally irrelevant), but everything else can go.
There’s certainly audience for this but that audience is not me. It’s actually almost unfathomable that the same person that wrote this wrote They Never Learn, which I loved. I guess maybe if you are an actor or love stories set in that world you may like this, but it just did nothing for me. It felt like the equivalent of watching a bad, low-budget indie drama with very little payoff. The characters were shallow and unlikable, the story lacked substance or depth, and ultimately nothing really happened? 2 stars for being super queer/bisexual and glorious in that right, and for the dark backstory with lots of potential (but does also fall flat and end up being totally irrelevant), but everything else can go.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced