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slowreadersclub 's review for:
Heather, The Totality
by Matthew Weiner
Heather, the Totality is the debut novel of Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, and is the tale of a wealthy family living in New York and a psychopathic young man. At 144 pages, it’s more of a novella than a novel so it’s a pretty quick read!
The plot is relatively straight-forward but enjoyable, but I did not like Matthew Weiner’s writing style at all; I found that the paragraphs were so choppy and often seemed quite random, that for me, the story just didn’t really flow properly. I guess this kind of writing style may work better for screenwriting, but as a book, I just don’t think it works as well.
That being said, I did like what the book was actually about quite a lot, it was a great idea, and that is what kept me reading until the end. There are certain parts of the story that are really exciting, particularly those around the young man and his upbringing, which are quite dark and rather disturbing.
However, I do feel that Matthew Weiner could have taken his story so much further; a deepening of both the storyline and the characters would have made this book brilliant! The information that you find out about each of the characters seem to be slightly brushed over, giving the reader more of a quick overview of them rather than any deep understanding of their behaviours. The characters just don’t seem to be fully realised to the potential that they could have been, and this was probably the most disappointing part for me.
I’ve given this book two out of five stars because despite it’s many flaws, it is still an okay read.
*** I was give a free copy by Netgalley for reviewing purposes in exchange for my honest review. ***
The plot is relatively straight-forward but enjoyable, but I did not like Matthew Weiner’s writing style at all; I found that the paragraphs were so choppy and often seemed quite random, that for me, the story just didn’t really flow properly. I guess this kind of writing style may work better for screenwriting, but as a book, I just don’t think it works as well.
That being said, I did like what the book was actually about quite a lot, it was a great idea, and that is what kept me reading until the end. There are certain parts of the story that are really exciting, particularly those around the young man and his upbringing, which are quite dark and rather disturbing.
However, I do feel that Matthew Weiner could have taken his story so much further; a deepening of both the storyline and the characters would have made this book brilliant! The information that you find out about each of the characters seem to be slightly brushed over, giving the reader more of a quick overview of them rather than any deep understanding of their behaviours. The characters just don’t seem to be fully realised to the potential that they could have been, and this was probably the most disappointing part for me.
I’ve given this book two out of five stars because despite it’s many flaws, it is still an okay read.
*** I was give a free copy by Netgalley for reviewing purposes in exchange for my honest review. ***