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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
not for me, i just hated the narrator and didn't care for the story.
A wild book, and if I'm being honest, the story really loses its coherence in the final 10%. But, there's enough fun parallels / inversions to make that incoherence worth the trip. "Trip" being the key word. The book -- as I feel like most reviews have let on -- is an exploration of meta-fiction. A book within a book. A book that acknowledges you're reading a book. Some of that structure is interesting, and a lot of it feels like the kind of thing an MFA would try to beat out of you. Even though LOOKING GLASS SOUND isn't 100% successful in its aims, I respect the attempt and at how close Ward sticks the landing. For me, the emotional tendrils mostly started snapping under the weight of the concept. And there's a lot here that's interesting to say about True Crime, about authorship, about the life of trauma (and maybe the trauma of life too? *strokes chin in pretentious way*) delivered in a way that doesn't feel overly didactic. I'd rather an author try to sneak something by me rather than beat me over the head with their themes, and that's what we get here. Is 4/5 too high? Maybe, but I had a good time and would want to talk about this one with someone who's already read it.
2.5 stars
Looking Glass Sound is one of those cases where the book is probably better than the audio. I struggled a lot with the male narrator’s female voices. The accents were off as well. That being said, if you’re looking for a summer/campfire ghost story kind of vibe, this is likely up your alley.
*Thanks to MacMillan audio for this advance listener copy for review
Looking Glass Sound is one of those cases where the book is probably better than the audio. I struggled a lot with the male narrator’s female voices. The accents were off as well. That being said, if you’re looking for a summer/campfire ghost story kind of vibe, this is likely up your alley.
*Thanks to MacMillan audio for this advance listener copy for review
A book brave enough to ask the question, what the fuck is wrong with autofiction writers. I am unsure of a) what the answer is and b) if I liked this. Ms Ward u are an interesting critter
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
maybe i just "didn't get it" just cos i thought all of the mind bends were just unnecessary. the constant twists and turns that has everyone raving just made the book a lot more confusing and difficult to follow.
The atmosphere was top tier and with all those plot twists ugh, I loved this.
The only reason it’s not a 5 star is because it got a little repetitive in the middle, but regardless I think this is catriona ward’s best book.
The only reason it’s not a 5 star is because it got a little repetitive in the middle, but regardless I think this is catriona ward’s best book.
3.5
Not bad but not my favourite Catriona Ward book.
Not bad but not my favourite Catriona Ward book.
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I actually have beef with this book. This was genuinely up there as one of the worst books I have ever read. It started out fine, with a cool and coastal vibe and a twisted mystery and child friendships. And I do think I would have liked it if that was the whole thing. But then it switches to reveal that everything you just read was a book within a book. And I was initially annoyed, but also it was like fine whatever because it was still within the same timeline. Then we got a cool gay college romance and the main character tries to work through some trauma. And the book within a book thing was him writing about what happened to him to work through it. And then he gets betrayed by his friend/lover, which was fine. And a time skip happens and reveals that he went on to marry a woman and get divorced and then he reconnects with the college frenemy and they kind of reconcile because they need each other and because the main character is going blind . BUT THEN! It becomes ANOTHER layer of a book within a book! And the betrayer/lover character is revealed to actually be a woman who has been writing the book we have been reading the whole time. And the gender swap actually sucks because it practically erases any LGBTQ+ rep this book had. So now the book doesn't even have that going for it. Literally I still don't understand what the point of switching her gender was.
Another thing that I hated was that many times throughout the book, side characters attempt to do magic/rituals and it never works, nor does the book even try to imply that magic really exists in the reality of this book. But then at the very end, it gets revealed that Wilder, the main character, has actually been dead this whole time and died when he was young and Sky, the frenemy character, did actual real magic to trap his soul in the pages of the book you have been reading and Wilder's rhyme game that the reader has been seeing in between chapter has actually been Wilder's soul the entire time. Like what? Hopefully I am not the only one who is just stunned at how terrible that all is. Genuinely this was a bad read, with many many narrative and character flaws.
Listened to on Libby.
Another thing that I hated was that many times throughout the book, side characters attempt to do magic/rituals and it never works, nor does the book even try to imply that magic really exists in the reality of this book. But then at the very end, it gets revealed that Wilder, the main character, has actually been dead this whole time and died when he was young and Sky, the frenemy character, did actual real magic to trap his soul in the pages of the book you have been reading and Wilder's rhyme game that the reader has been seeing in between chapter has actually been Wilder's soul the entire time. Like what? Hopefully I am not the only one who is just stunned at how terrible that all is. Genuinely this was a bad read, with many many narrative and character flaws.
Listened to on Libby.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Self harm, Suicide, Murder