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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Happy Pub Day to @jaclyngoldis and The Main Character (my #1 mystery suspense /thriller of 2024)
This book was seriously so fun with so many moments where my jaw literally dropped and my mind kept guessing!
✨Bullet Pointed Mini Review:
🇮🇹Lux All-Expenses Paid Italian Trip
😩Strained relationships
🧐Twists and turns
👥Shady Caracters
⌨️Reclusive Disgraced Elderly Author
✨Multiple POVs
🎭Lots of D R A M A
🕰️Multiple Time Periods
Thank you to @atriabooks @atria thrillers for the review eARC and the gifted finished copy!!
#themaincharacter #jaclyngoldis #atriabooks #atriathrillers #AtriaPartner #thatbookbetchhh
This book was seriously so fun with so many moments where my jaw literally dropped and my mind kept guessing!
✨Bullet Pointed Mini Review:
🇮🇹Lux All-Expenses Paid Italian Trip
😩Strained relationships
🧐Twists and turns
👥Shady Caracters
⌨️Reclusive Disgraced Elderly Author
✨Multiple POVs
🎭Lots of D R A M A
🕰️Multiple Time Periods
Thank you to @atriabooks @atria thrillers for the review eARC and the gifted finished copy!!
#themaincharacter #jaclyngoldis #atriabooks #atriathrillers #AtriaPartner #thatbookbetchhh
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
I loved this author’s first thriller novel, The Chateau so I wanted to love this book as well. The Main Character is inspired by Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express. It is well written and has some fantastic twists, especially towards the end. However, this book is not going to be for everyone. There are multiple narrators (5!) and two different storylines/time frames, which can make it a little confusing and hard to keep up with (especially if you typically read/listen to multiple books at the same time). Overall, the book was good, but in my opinion, not outstanding. I would recommend it if you enjoy complex stories that explore friend and family relationships that take place on an extravagant vacation.
Thank you @atriabooks for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you @atriabooks for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
DNF @ 27%
This sounded so intriguing, but the train stalled out for me:
The characters sound the same even in their thoughts.
The perspectives of Rory's friends and family didn't add to the story. It was rehashing what Rory had already filled us in on.
The dialogue was stilted. Didn't sound like how people actually converse. Clunky transitions between energy or emotion. Like a pause and suddenly 'No!...don't leave!!!!" that was jarring.
Overdoing the So Much To Say Doesn't Say Anything Ever trope. Plus toddler-style pouting and attention seeking, passive aggressive justifications, and all around each twist/problem seventeen different ways. So much tell, so little letting the reader experience it.
For such a cool setting, the ambience was lacking. We get details when a new room is entered or when the train stops or starts, but otherwise it's easy to forget they're on a train as it's so bogged down in conversing and inner monologues.
Ultimately, if I can skim a few pages and it's just more of the same reiterating and circling back on itself, I know it's not for me.
Format: Library Digital
This sounded so intriguing, but the train stalled out for me:
The characters sound the same even in their thoughts.
The perspectives of Rory's friends and family didn't add to the story. It was rehashing what Rory had already filled us in on.
The dialogue was stilted. Didn't sound like how people actually converse. Clunky transitions between energy or emotion. Like a pause and suddenly 'No!...don't leave!!!!" that was jarring.
Overdoing the So Much To Say Doesn't Say Anything Ever trope. Plus toddler-style pouting and attention seeking, passive aggressive justifications, and all around each twist/problem seventeen different ways. So much tell, so little letting the reader experience it.
For such a cool setting, the ambience was lacking. We get details when a new room is entered or when the train stops or starts, but otherwise it's easy to forget they're on a train as it's so bogged down in conversing and inner monologues.
Ultimately, if I can skim a few pages and it's just more of the same reiterating and circling back on itself, I know it's not for me.
Format: Library Digital
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This murder mystery is prime escapist reading, especially for anyone who has dreamed of traveling the coast of Italy by train. With nods to Agatha Christie and plenty of picturesque scenery, there's a lot to like here for readers looking for a page-turner with summer travel vibes. Plus: a sub-plot set in the USSR in the 1980s, with historical details based on the author's own family's experiences, which I found fascinating. Regarding style, the writing is repetitive in places and leans heavily on metaphors which can feel trite. The story is told through the perspectives of multiple characters, although not equally and some characters are not fully fleshed out or carried through the entire book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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
slow-paced
I thoroughly enjoyed this wild (train) ride of a book. The concept was unique and the story was heavily character driven. There were so many mysteries to unravel as the story went on and I was left with a sense of closure at the end that I desperately needed after all the unanswered questions that were posed throughout the book! I also really appreciated the Agatha Christie vibes and the travel theme. This book is a perfect summer read!
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-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:
Complicated
I didn't much like this.
It was too complicated, bogged down in multiple reveals. This storyline wanted to explore antisemitism in Russia and the US, which is frankly the only successful part of this novel for me.
I was bored about 60% in and confused and unsure if I cared enough to finish. As I rarely dnf books, I finished it, hoping the end would redeem the story.
I think a decent story was available from the chosen plot, but it did not develop in this novel.
The author states in the afterward that the antisemitism in the story was based on her father's own experiences. I'm glad that was included, personal experiences of bias are extremely important.
I'm against antisemitism. Zionism, on the other hand, is a foot soldier for white supremacy and colonization. I do not support the state of Israel. It has no right to exist. The Holocaust was awful but not a pass to commit genocide or steal from others. I am Black, and my freedom is inextricably tied to that of the Palestinians. During Black Lives Matter protests, Palestinians told us how to be safe because the police in the US used the same terror tactics on protesting citizens that the Israeli army uses on Palestinians.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Asè
It was too complicated, bogged down in multiple reveals. This storyline wanted to explore antisemitism in Russia and the US, which is frankly the only successful part of this novel for me.
I was bored about 60% in and confused and unsure if I cared enough to finish. As I rarely dnf books, I finished it, hoping the end would redeem the story.
I think a decent story was available from the chosen plot, but it did not develop in this novel.
The author states in the afterward that the antisemitism in the story was based on her father's own experiences. I'm glad that was included, personal experiences of bias are extremely important.
I'm against antisemitism. Zionism, on the other hand, is a foot soldier for white supremacy and colonization. I do not support the state of Israel. It has no right to exist. The Holocaust was awful but not a pass to commit genocide or steal from others. I am Black, and my freedom is inextricably tied to that of the Palestinians. During Black Lives Matter protests, Palestinians told us how to be safe because the police in the US used the same terror tactics on protesting citizens that the Israeli army uses on Palestinians.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Asè
Thank you @atriabooks & @netgalley for sending this book for review. Opinions are my own.
I loved Jaclyn Goldis’s last book, The Chateau. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with this one as much but there were elements I enjoyed.
Like The Chateau, The Main Character has five points of view – Rory, her three friends, and famous novelist Ginerva who writes books based around real people that she adapts into her main characters. After her novel about Rory is done, Ginvera sends Rory and Rory’s brother, best friend and ex-fiance on an Italian train trip. Secrets begin to unfold and Ginerva promises to reveal all when they get to their final destination. However, Rory is concerned this trip will play out like one of Ginerva’s murder mysteries and we know from the beginning that someone dies on the train.
This book was pretty slow for the first 75% but picked up as I read to see who had died and what everyone’s secrets were. The author’s note makes it clear that this was a personal novel. A lot of her father’s childhood hiding his Judaism in the Soviet Union is given to Rory’s dad. I enjoyed the Jewish representation, especially about a time and location I don’t think is often captured in novels. However, I think as a result, she tried to do too much to make everything fit the narrative, and some things felt a bit random.
Sadly, some of the quotes about Jews being persecuted are again relevant today, as antisemitism is rising. Against this backdrop and reading this book around Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, this quote rings true: “Jews had a moral responility to save one another – because, by and large, no one else in the world could be relied upon to do so.”
I will definitely read Jaclyn Goldis’s next novel, The Safari. I love her writing and the exotic settings of her books.