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A review by scra8452
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
1.0
HOW does this book have a 4 out of 5 on Goodreads and Fable? Did I somehow listen to the first draft of this novel and everyone else got the final edit? There’s no way people read this book and found it to be a cohesive, enjoyable, and well-rounded story…right?
Here’s what I don’t understand about this book — it truly could’ve been great. It really could have. I’m all for a woman taking time to rediscover herself after a tough divorce and becoming one with nature by taking a wilderness survival course. I’m also okay with her falling in love with someone on the trip. I’m even cool with a mini miscommunication that causes some strife between the two main characters. You know what I’m not cool with?
1. Authors who randomly kill off dogs for no reason (also, wtf. Why would her brother kidnap her dog, let it die, and then give her the corpse in a cooler next to his beer? Justice for Pickle.).
2. Random subplots being tossed in at the last
minute that are pretty severe and need to be explored in more detail (pretty major plot points such as the main character’s mom being so depressed that she tried to commit suicide when they were growing up and that’s why she had an estranged relationship with her children). When I say last minute, I mean within the last 45 minutes of a 10 hour audiobook.
3. Making a vision disorder seem like the person has a terminal illness and has no hope for anyone loving them.
4. A romance that makes no plausible sense at all and has no build up.
There are so many more things I could say (believe me - I had to send a 12 minute long voice memo to my friends to vent about this book immediately after finishing. Too bad Goodreads doesn’t allow audio reviews), but the main thing you need to know is don’t read this book. It’s bad. I think it will truly make into my top 5 least favorite books of all time due to how chaotic and disappointing it was.
P.S. I just feel like I need to mention the Bar Mitzvah scene. What the heck was that? It was SO random and made no sense.
Here’s what I don’t understand about this book — it truly could’ve been great. It really could have. I’m all for a woman taking time to rediscover herself after a tough divorce and becoming one with nature by taking a wilderness survival course. I’m also okay with her falling in love with someone on the trip. I’m even cool with a mini miscommunication that causes some strife between the two main characters. You know what I’m not cool with?
1. Authors who randomly kill off dogs for no reason (also, wtf. Why would her brother kidnap her dog, let it die, and then give her the corpse in a cooler next to his beer? Justice for Pickle.).
2. Random subplots being tossed in at the last
minute that are pretty severe and need to be explored in more detail (pretty major plot points such as the main character’s mom being so depressed that she tried to commit suicide when they were growing up and that’s why she had an estranged relationship with her children). When I say last minute, I mean within the last 45 minutes of a 10 hour audiobook.
3. Making a vision disorder seem like the person has a terminal illness and has no hope for anyone loving them.
4. A romance that makes no plausible sense at all and has no build up.
There are so many more things I could say (believe me - I had to send a 12 minute long voice memo to my friends to vent about this book immediately after finishing. Too bad Goodreads doesn’t allow audio reviews), but the main thing you need to know is don’t read this book. It’s bad. I think it will truly make into my top 5 least favorite books of all time due to how chaotic and disappointing it was.
P.S. I just feel like I need to mention the Bar Mitzvah scene. What the heck was that? It was SO random and made no sense.