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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Gute Idee, aber der Autor macht es sich oft sehr einfach, zu einfach, wenn es darum geht, Plotlöcher zu stopfen.
I am rarely as disappointed in a book as I was with this one. I don’t even know where to begin...
First of all, why is George so naive?? It didn’t really bother me at first, but it gets worse throughout the book. And he doesn’t even seem to learn...
Second, don’t get me started on Irene...
Third, I kept waiting for a plot twist, but I never felt like I got it. And that ending... It made it all worse. It’s like there’s a really good plot twist wrapped up in there somewhere, but Swanson just didn’t bother to unwrap it. Such a shame.
First of all, why is George so naive?? It didn’t really bother me at first, but it gets worse throughout the book. And he doesn’t even seem to learn...
Second, don’t get me started on Irene...
Third, I kept waiting for a plot twist, but I never felt like I got it. And that ending... It made it all worse. It’s like there’s a really good plot twist wrapped up in there somewhere, but Swanson just didn’t bother to unwrap it. Such a shame.
All the way through, this felt like a padded novella, and the acknowledgement at the end confirms this.
Superfluous descriptive prose added to pad this out only ends up making it drag, totally destroying and atmosphere built up by the storyline.
Full review here: http://moodycowbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/april-review-round-up-or-holidays-and.html
Superfluous descriptive prose added to pad this out only ends up making it drag, totally destroying and atmosphere built up by the storyline.
Full review here: http://moodycowbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/april-review-round-up-or-holidays-and.html
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Pages 200-350 were fun but the rest was just sloooowwwwww
This one really wasn't for me. There didn't really seem to be much consistency in the plot beyond everything coming back to Liana's grand master plan.
I feel like the explanations for what happened were to convenient and the sequence of events seemed rather choppy to me.
I feel like the explanations for what happened were to convenient and the sequence of events seemed rather choppy to me.
there is something about swanson’s books that just doesn’t work for me.
i want to enjoy them, even like or love them, the plot always sounds fantastic, the beginnings are so promising but between the 50-100 page mark they start to go down hill for me and the ending is always utterly frustrating.
this book had the extraordinary pleasure of combing all the things i do not enjoy in crime books together.
now i do admit that that’s not really the author or the books fault! it’s mine! personal reading tastes do make and break a reading experience and it can be the worlds best book but if you don’t like how it’s done it will not be your personal favorite!
this book clearly falls into that category for me.
what tropes are those, you might ask?
- the gullible man that gets blinded by a beautiful woman/girl they meet years and years ago but feel as if there’s still something there!
- the super manipulative woman that is able to wrap EVERY man in too close proximity around her pinky without even trying or opening her mouth. her sheer presence is enough!
- crime left unsolved and completely unexplained and in many ways completely senseless and unnecessary crimes that make me question what the entire point even was because it could have made more sense without the murder?
- open endings in crime books
just not my thing!
if i take the time to read a mystery? i want the thing solved and wrapped up in a need little bow at the end!
so clearly this book was already ranking up negative points early on in the book.
but it didn’t get better for me at all mostly because the writing was pretty poorly done?
it was very graphic in moments that were not necessary to be as descriptive and simply written that way (to me at least) to give this short little crass shock moment of “did thy ready just say that? “was that really just written that way?” and not to add anything at all to the story!
now don’t get me wrong! i might not curse up a storm like a sailor personally but i am an american football fan and if you get introduced to anything in that sport it’s cursing and vulgar language!
so it’s not that i mind cursing and crass language.
but at the same time i don’t need to get a description of the color of his pee and the a conversation about it, even if it’s just a couple of sentences! i just don’t! not my kind style!
clearly another point against the book and me getting along - the writing.
and other where the characters.
i don’t know if at a certain point around page 50-52 i just mentally gave up on the book and just read it to finish it? and because of that the characters to me felt utterly underdeveloped and sloppily build up, if they even where build up to be actual thought out characters with individual specific human characteristics?
i am not a hundred percent sure which one it is.
i am guessing a mixture of me giving up and sloppy character development since that would fit with the rest of the book experience i had.
all in all?
not great.
there is potential but it’s not meet anywhere and the plot wasn’t my cup of tea so the entire book didn’t do it for me.
still if you love a very quiet mystery more focused on a character then actual crime and don’t mind ruff writing?
go for it!
if you need more? if you want actual not necessary fast paced but still some action actual bit of a crime thrill in there?
skip this one!
i want to enjoy them, even like or love them, the plot always sounds fantastic, the beginnings are so promising but between the 50-100 page mark they start to go down hill for me and the ending is always utterly frustrating.
this book had the extraordinary pleasure of combing all the things i do not enjoy in crime books together.
now i do admit that that’s not really the author or the books fault! it’s mine! personal reading tastes do make and break a reading experience and it can be the worlds best book but if you don’t like how it’s done it will not be your personal favorite!
this book clearly falls into that category for me.
what tropes are those, you might ask?
- the gullible man that gets blinded by a beautiful woman/girl they meet years and years ago but feel as if there’s still something there!
- the super manipulative woman that is able to wrap EVERY man in too close proximity around her pinky without even trying or opening her mouth. her sheer presence is enough!
- crime left unsolved and completely unexplained and in many ways completely senseless and unnecessary crimes that make me question what the entire point even was because it could have made more sense without the murder?
- open endings in crime books
just not my thing!
if i take the time to read a mystery? i want the thing solved and wrapped up in a need little bow at the end!
so clearly this book was already ranking up negative points early on in the book.
but it didn’t get better for me at all mostly because the writing was pretty poorly done?
it was very graphic in moments that were not necessary to be as descriptive and simply written that way (to me at least) to give this short little crass shock moment of “did thy ready just say that? “was that really just written that way?” and not to add anything at all to the story!
now don’t get me wrong! i might not curse up a storm like a sailor personally but i am an american football fan and if you get introduced to anything in that sport it’s cursing and vulgar language!
so it’s not that i mind cursing and crass language.
but at the same time i don’t need to get a description of the color of his pee and the a conversation about it, even if it’s just a couple of sentences! i just don’t! not my kind style!
clearly another point against the book and me getting along - the writing.
and other where the characters.
i don’t know if at a certain point around page 50-52 i just mentally gave up on the book and just read it to finish it? and because of that the characters to me felt utterly underdeveloped and sloppily build up, if they even where build up to be actual thought out characters with individual specific human characteristics?
i am not a hundred percent sure which one it is.
i am guessing a mixture of me giving up and sloppy character development since that would fit with the rest of the book experience i had.
all in all?
not great.
there is potential but it’s not meet anywhere and the plot wasn’t my cup of tea so the entire book didn’t do it for me.
still if you love a very quiet mystery more focused on a character then actual crime and don’t mind ruff writing?
go for it!
if you need more? if you want actual not necessary fast paced but still some action actual bit of a crime thrill in there?
skip this one!
I won an ARE (Advance Readers Edition) back in 2014 before it was published from a goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. I have a tendency to win (and buy) books and not read them for awhile. The library (my crackhouse) just has so many temptations.
I have to say that I had high hopes for this book and unfortunately they were not met. I understand this was an ARE but there were some major editing errors. One chapter alone had George on Sunday, then Tuesday, then Monday on what was supposed to be the same day. He was supposed to be at work then not cause it was Sunday then was because it was then Tuesday. Granted, little errors but still, it made it hard to follow. The premise of the book is great but the writing made it hard to believe that George would do all this for some chick he spent only a semester with in college. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into it, especially because George seems so stupid to do what he did. Jane/Liana/Audrey was such an obviously manipulative bitch that makes it seem difficult to believe that anyone would join her.
I have to say that I had high hopes for this book and unfortunately they were not met. I understand this was an ARE but there were some major editing errors. One chapter alone had George on Sunday, then Tuesday, then Monday on what was supposed to be the same day. He was supposed to be at work then not cause it was Sunday then was because it was then Tuesday. Granted, little errors but still, it made it hard to follow. The premise of the book is great but the writing made it hard to believe that George would do all this for some chick he spent only a semester with in college. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into it, especially because George seems so stupid to do what he did. Jane/Liana/Audrey was such an obviously manipulative bitch that makes it seem difficult to believe that anyone would join her.
George had passed that age when he could reasonably expect to fall madly in love with someone and raise a family, or to take the world by storm, or to have anything surprising lift him out of his day-to-day existence.
Eh. Didn’t love this one. I didn’t like the main character, I thought he was boring and desperate and his story didn’t interest me at all, I didn’t care about anything that happened to him. He was so naive and overtrusting, I found it hard to feel bad for him when it was his fault he got into every sticky situation he got into.
Liana Decter seemed one-dimensional somehow. She was manipulative and just a shitty person and there’s not much of an explanation as to why she takes advantage of George when there wasn’t bad blood between them. According to George, their relationship was the best relationship to ever exist, and yet Liana has no problem throwing him under the bus and possibly getting him sent to jail. She’s just this unfeeling criminal mastermind and I wanted to know why.
I also found the book kind of boring compared to the other Peter Swanson books I’ve read. It’s clear this is his debut, it felt like it didn’t hold a candle to the others. I might be in the minority here because I saw a lot of reviews raving about this book, but I don’t recommend The Girl with a Clock for a Heart.