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A review by directorpurry
The Listeners by Leni Zumas
2.0
I'm a little conflicted about this book. I've had it for a long time; I actually got it when the author was a guest at a writing camp I attended in high school. But maybe it was too avant-garde for my taste.
Towards the end, with building up to a revelation in the climax, it reminded me a bit of Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (A book I love.) but I didn't feel like it had the same force or inevitability of that novel.
One of the most frustrating things about this book is the way characters are introduced. Which is to say, they aren't. Names are mentioned frequently but it took me well past page 150 to really understand who ANYONE attached to the names was.
I give this book pretty good points for synesthesia in the sisters and I thought it conveyed that well - but now I'm going to take away a few of those points for the reliance on shock prose. I HATE media that relies solely on shock. In my personal opinion, the worst was about a third of the way in. At the beginning, there are some excerpts from fan letters people had sent to Quinn's band in the past. One of them is from a neo-Nazi group but is never again addressed. I did not understand the reason or need for the inclusion of anti-semetic language and it played no part in the story or message as far as I could tell. It was pretty upsetting to see, to be honest.
Towards the end, with building up to a revelation in the climax, it reminded me a bit of Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (A book I love.) but I didn't feel like it had the same force or inevitability of that novel.
One of the most frustrating things about this book is the way characters are introduced. Which is to say, they aren't. Names are mentioned frequently but it took me well past page 150 to really understand who ANYONE attached to the names was.
I give this book pretty good points for synesthesia in the sisters and I thought it conveyed that well - but now I'm going to take away a few of those points for the reliance on shock prose. I HATE media that relies solely on shock. In my personal opinion, the worst was about a third of the way in. At the beginning, there are some excerpts from fan letters people had sent to Quinn's band in the past. One of them is from a neo-Nazi group but is never again addressed. I did not understand the reason or need for the inclusion of anti-semetic language and it played no part in the story or message as far as I could tell. It was pretty upsetting to see, to be honest.