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A review by jenniferforjoy
I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.0
Not the best. Maybe if I hadn't known the "twist" from page one it would've had more punch? It seemed so obvious that I'm not sure it was actually meant to be a twist, but just in case it is, I'll stay quiet.
The last quarter gets very disjointed and reads like a stream of consciousness across time jumps. It's not too hard to follow, but it wasn't very interesting to me either. Capin has a strong style of writing, and whole I generally love it, this ended up getting repetitive. Sure, that was partially the point, but it made me want to hurry up the ending so I'd be done with it.
I didn't really care about any of the characters either. There was a revelation that made me dislike Mar (see spoiler below) and since we only see the others through her hazy mind, it's hard to really connect to any of them.
There were two plot points I was surprised by, but they were more of details within the larger story. Ultimately I'd say you can probably skip this one. Stick with Foul is Fair / Golden Boys Beware by her.
Also a personal issue, but the seeing of a military summer camp was weird AF to me. I kept getting distracted by the things I didn't understand or just by how weird it was that people would choose to go there and do that stuff. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
I mean, it's super obvious that she's dead, right? She literally starts it by saying "I'm alive" which call me paranoid but I was suspicious immediately. It didn't feel like a normal exultant declaration. The real clincher was like page two where it says Flora was the first girl to arrive. If Margaret is narrating from nearby, Flora would be the second. Anyway, maybe my unreliable narrators class has made me naturally suspicious. 🤣
The pregnancy and the actual way Jack kills Mar were a surprise. Rat poison? Seriously? I know Mar sees the good in people but girl what the fuck made you think that made sense? She's 17 or 18 so I guess the explanation is that her mental state was really fucked up from her distress over the baby and the boy. I don't know, but it made me like Mar less because that's really fucking stupid.
The last quarter gets very disjointed and reads like a stream of consciousness across time jumps. It's not too hard to follow, but it wasn't very interesting to me either. Capin has a strong style of writing, and whole I generally love it, this ended up getting repetitive. Sure, that was partially the point, but it made me want to hurry up the ending so I'd be done with it.
I didn't really care about any of the characters either. There was a revelation that made me dislike Mar (see spoiler below) and since we only see the others through her hazy mind, it's hard to really connect to any of them.
There were two plot points I was surprised by, but they were more of details within the larger story. Ultimately I'd say you can probably skip this one. Stick with Foul is Fair / Golden Boys Beware by her.
Also a personal issue, but the seeing of a military summer camp was weird AF to me. I kept getting distracted by the things I didn't understand or just by how weird it was that people would choose to go there and do that stuff. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
The pregnancy and the actual way Jack kills Mar were a surprise. Rat poison? Seriously? I know Mar sees the good in people but girl what the fuck made you think that made sense? She's 17 or 18 so I guess the explanation is that her mental state was really fucked up from her distress over the baby and the boy. I don't know, but it made me like Mar less because that's really fucking stupid.