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A review by saturndoo
Homo by Michael Harris
1.0
I truly had anticipated a good read from this book but was highly disappointed. I was highly interested in this book because of the topic and genre. Usually a catchy title or beautiful cover peaks my interest but this book has neither. The storyline had great potential but the delivery fell very short. The target audience for this book is young adults, as well as adults, but yet the writing, context, and lingo was so “old school” I couldn’t help but do anything but shake my head. Being the mother of young adults, I can only imagine the ridicule my kids would make about the slang/lingo used in this book. I felt absolutely no connection to any of the characters as they all seemed very one dimensional and there was very little descriptions about their characteristics, feelings or looks. The setting was pretty much the same. There were no painted visualizations to make the reader “see” or “feel” as if they were actually there. Not anything to really draw the reader in. The dialogue was seriously lacking. A sentence here, then a few lines later another one. No actual serious interactions/conversations amongst the characters which made the story a little dull. It seems as if the author tried too hard to write like a young adult would think or talk which in turn made the writing seem forced.
One thing I despise in a book is repetition. I noticed that the term “like” “know” and “cool” was used frequently, with the term “like” and “cool” being old school slang terms. A thesaurus could have been used to help with this. I also noticed the repetition of phrases and then there would be a series of periods and then the phrase again which is very annoying. Once is enough for the reader to get the point. Parentheses and italics were also overused in the story which is also an annoying characteristic to a reader.
As short as this book was, I should have been able to read it in a short period of time but this was not the case. I had to go back and re-read lines, paragraphs and pages to comprehend or make sense of what I had just read. A book should flow so smoothly that a reader gets sucked in and doesn’t have to re-read, but this book required a lot of re-reading. I noticed that words were omitted, there were lots of typos, words used in the wrong context, and even some words should be taken out as it serves no purpose.
With a lot of editing and hard work this could turn into a wonderful book. The storyline was realistic and could be very interesting. At this time because of all the issues I struggled with, I am giving this book a one star rating which also means I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I received a free e-book copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my free and honest review. I received no form of compensation for this review. All thoughts and opinions written in this review are mine.
One thing I despise in a book is repetition. I noticed that the term “like” “know” and “cool” was used frequently, with the term “like” and “cool” being old school slang terms. A thesaurus could have been used to help with this. I also noticed the repetition of phrases and then there would be a series of periods and then the phrase again which is very annoying. Once is enough for the reader to get the point. Parentheses and italics were also overused in the story which is also an annoying characteristic to a reader.
As short as this book was, I should have been able to read it in a short period of time but this was not the case. I had to go back and re-read lines, paragraphs and pages to comprehend or make sense of what I had just read. A book should flow so smoothly that a reader gets sucked in and doesn’t have to re-read, but this book required a lot of re-reading. I noticed that words were omitted, there were lots of typos, words used in the wrong context, and even some words should be taken out as it serves no purpose.
With a lot of editing and hard work this could turn into a wonderful book. The storyline was realistic and could be very interesting. At this time because of all the issues I struggled with, I am giving this book a one star rating which also means I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I received a free e-book copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my free and honest review. I received no form of compensation for this review. All thoughts and opinions written in this review are mine.