A review by stephanieluxton
You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann

dark mysterious 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? No

2.0

This book is about a screenwriter, his actress wife, and their young daughter to rent a secluded air bnb in the mountains for a long term getaway so our main character can work on his screenplay. No, it's not like The Shining. Anyways, some strange things start happening. The family thinks maybe they should leave? But they don't. I'm not going to spoil it.

The general storyline and what we find out is actually happening is fun - lots of potential there. Unfortunately I didn't like the way it was written. I just found out this story is translated from german so it may be possible that some of the story's life was lost in translation? There's very little punctuation in this book. No quotations so you need to really pay attention to decipher the dialogue. The book is written in the form of a journal so sometimes stops mid sentence then picks up again on something different. It read a little dry.

The book ends basically just as things are starting to get super interesting. Fortunately it wasn't a long book so i don't regret reading it. I do feel like it didn't live up to it's raw potential.
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