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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
2004 X-Zibit voice: "Yo, I heard you like meta-storytelling..."
I went into this without knowing anything; I hadn't even read the blurb on the back. 10/10 way to experience this book.
I love books that take me on a rollercoaster ride. No explanation, no handholding, just vibes and wild turns.
It's a little small town mystery, a little violent thriller, a little girls being spooky and a little Lord of the Rings in its bazillion endings.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I went into this without knowing anything; I hadn't even read the blurb on the back. 10/10 way to experience this book.
I love books that take me on a rollercoaster ride. No explanation, no handholding, just vibes and wild turns.
It's a little small town mystery, a little violent thriller, a little girls being spooky and a little Lord of the Rings in its bazillion endings.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself.
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book gave me whiplash in the best possible way
I wouldn't call Looking Glass Sound a strong work from a solely technical perspective - the prose works, but isn't much to write home about, the characters are interesting, but can be a little flat (partially intentionally), some sections tend to drag on too long and the pacing in general can be difficult - I felt like I was waiting for the beginning to end, and the ending rushed past me in a blur - but the way that Ward uses progressively deeper layers of plot and intrigue to make you continually doubt the novel in front of you is so, so deeply compelling to me. This book is confusing in the way a hall of mirrors is confusing: the moment-to-moment experience of reading it follows pretty clearly, but the more you try to stop, to think about where you are, to attempt to put the pieces together or make guesses at the mystery, to understand what is 'true' and 'false', the more difficult this becomes. I think this is the book's absolute biggest strength. I kept reading because I wanted a way out of the maze, and there was absolutely not one. Various perspectives perpetually slingshot you closer and farther from the central series of murders - it asks you who has the right to write or read about this type of terrible act, who has the right to feel something about it, and clearly sets up its own cast in these terms, and then begin revealing the layers to each of these characters to complicate it, over and over again. Wilder found the bodies in the cave, but was obsessed with writing about them even without knowing about them. Sky's obsession appears voyeuristic and vulture-like, looking for something to make a story out of, until the final reveal says that he has more of a right to it than even Wilder. Wilder writes himself into Skye's perspective to understand what he did, who is in fact Pearl who is writing herself into Wilder's perspective to abdicate herself of guilt for her theft and his death, which is Harper's construction...and the layers continue, on and on. It's a deeply compelling way of writing about true crime, and asking questions about how and why things get sensationalized, and by who. The answer that Ward proposes is that the obsession is allowed in people who were close to it, and those people are dragged down by that obsession again and again.
If it hadn't been for the deep confusion this novel produces, I would have thought the end was too neat, too convenient and pat. A mysterious child that is, somehow, the exact way to bring together the disparate protagonists, to allow Pearl to be redeemed and Harper to not feel guilty. A reconciliation between Pearl and Harper when their division is the hard center at so many of the other nested novels. An obsessed author who is told that she has to write about something different, she has to move on, she has to write books that explore other parts of her life - it's a threat, but isn't it still the perfect thing for Pearl to hear? But this, too, does not feel real. This is too neat in the way that the end of Pearl's novel was too neat, it's doing this because it's a novel too. Whether that novel is the one in your hands while you're reading or some still-nested layer I don't know, but I could feel that that overdrawn ending was a doubt in and of itself, some further layer of being trapped by your own work, some other way for guilt to not let go of you. Leaves with a delightful feeling of dread and a delightful little matryoshka doll to wonder over in your head after you walk away.
If it hadn't been for the deep confusion this novel produces, I would have thought the end was too neat, too convenient and pat. A mysterious child that is, somehow, the exact way to bring together the disparate protagonists, to allow Pearl to be redeemed and Harper to not feel guilty. A reconciliation between Pearl and Harper when their division is the hard center at so many of the other nested novels. An obsessed author who is told that she has to write about something different, she has to move on, she has to write books that explore other parts of her life - it's a threat, but isn't it still the perfect thing for Pearl to hear? But this, too, does not feel real. This is too neat in the way that the end of Pearl's novel was too neat, it's doing this because it's a novel too. Whether that novel is the one in your hands while you're reading or some still-nested layer I don't know, but I could feel that that overdrawn ending was a doubt in and of itself, some further layer of being trapped by your own work, some other way for guilt to not let go of you. Leaves with a delightful feeling of dread and a delightful little matryoshka doll to wonder over in your head after you walk away.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Do you like to hate your MC bc boy to I have a layered mystery for you!
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was so meta! My first book by this author and didn’t know what I was in for. Honestly, I would get frustrated with the layers at times and just wanted things to wrap up. That is my biggest complaint.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No