A review by jayjm94
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It certainly has its moments and clearly the author is talented. However, I’ve read many many challenging books in my day, ranging from classics to modern books that are heavily stylized or just extremely long and this book still takes the cake for most difficult to follow as far as just visualizing what is literally happening moment by moment. At times it’s beautifully and painfully written, however editing would have been amazing. Any amount of subtlety would’ve been amazing. Any amount of commitment to the reader understanding exactly what’s unfolding before them would’ve been amazing. I understood the plot and sequence events, but got very frequently bogged down by metaphor after flowery metaphor. It’s not an accessible read. I enjoyed the take on mermaids for sure, but the ending was not earned in the slightest. 
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