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jacecantread 's review for:
The Gold Bug
by Edgar Allan Poe
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
I am definitely a victim of my own expectations with this story. This is a reminder that just because I've enjoyed stories by an author previously doesn't mean I will like everything they write.
If you're here for Poe's spooky descriptions or intriguing plots, you've come to the wrong place. The golden scarab has little to nothing to do with the 'mystery' of this story. Given its the namesake of this story, this felt like an unfulfilled promise when I'd been grinding my teeth through a painfully slow plot in the hopes of some kind of payoff.
Legrand's odd behavior, the only other interesting aspect of this story, wasexplained away at the end as him simply faking it to get back at our perspective character.
The only thing that could have made this incredibly slow paced plot worse would be to interrupt the story as soon as it gains some traction to explain over the course of multiple paragraphs how Legrand had solved a cipher... Which is exactly what they do. Now I am personally one for puzzles and codes myself but having to read about someone explaining how they'd solved it off page when I don't get a chance to solve it myself? Not so much.
If you're here for Poe's spooky descriptions or intriguing plots, you've come to the wrong place. The golden scarab has little to nothing to do with the 'mystery' of this story. Given its the namesake of this story, this felt like an unfulfilled promise when I'd been grinding my teeth through a painfully slow plot in the hopes of some kind of payoff.
Legrand's odd behavior, the only other interesting aspect of this story, was
The only thing that could have made this incredibly slow paced plot worse would be to interrupt the story as soon as it gains some traction to explain over the course of multiple paragraphs how Legrand had solved a cipher... Which is exactly what they do. Now I am personally one for puzzles and codes myself but having to read about someone explaining how they'd solved it off page when I don't get a chance to solve it myself? Not so much.