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A review by lizwhite25
The Charmed Life of Alex Moore by Molly Flatt
1.0
OK...So....Right...Erm....Yes....I am going to be honest with you here folks. I try my best to respect everything I read, unless the point is that you're not supposed to and then I happily unleash. I really try to find the positives and think about constructive reviews. At the end of the day, the author has written a collection of words and then had the confidence to have it published and put it out there for public consumption and I try my best to think about that. And on with the review.
I have no idea at all what I just read. I have no idea what actually went on versus what I think went on. I don't think I understood the start, the middle, or the end, or in fact understood how the bits linked together to create a flowing narrative. I will say that there is an element of modern adventure, and undoubtedly unexpected twists, but for me they didn't feel like they fitted in this story.
The story itself is messy. I know that sounds quite harsh, but it's the only word that comes to mind. It starts with a feminist power tone of a woman who has made it in her chosen field. It starts to explore the side effects of that, the perception of her familial bonds changing, the dynamic with her partner shifting, and then BOOM there is muggings and murder accusations and then BOOM travel to a non-electricity using Orkney island colony/cult where BOOM a sci-fi/fantastical twist comes in that really doesn't fit and then BOOM there is an amnesiac/mental health portion of the book that while interesting just doesn't truly work. I feel like this book is one of those pieces where there is a set of ideas that realistically should be separated down into a couple of different projects and have instead been merged together into a book that doesn't hold together.
I also found the lead character to be, well, irritating. I like a flawed character, I like a character that faces issues that are a direct result of their own success, I like characters that stand for feminist values and fight for their wants and careers, but she is confused and seems to be battling and forgetting everyone around her that loves her and I don't really get why.
It is clear that this book was simply not for me. It wasn't my cup of tea, and I really only finished it to see how the author wrapped what was a scattered story. Oh well.
I have no idea at all what I just read. I have no idea what actually went on versus what I think went on. I don't think I understood the start, the middle, or the end, or in fact understood how the bits linked together to create a flowing narrative. I will say that there is an element of modern adventure, and undoubtedly unexpected twists, but for me they didn't feel like they fitted in this story.
The story itself is messy. I know that sounds quite harsh, but it's the only word that comes to mind. It starts with a feminist power tone of a woman who has made it in her chosen field. It starts to explore the side effects of that, the perception of her familial bonds changing, the dynamic with her partner shifting, and then BOOM there is muggings and murder accusations and then BOOM travel to a non-electricity using Orkney island colony/cult where BOOM a sci-fi/fantastical twist comes in that really doesn't fit and then BOOM there is an amnesiac/mental health portion of the book that while interesting just doesn't truly work. I feel like this book is one of those pieces where there is a set of ideas that realistically should be separated down into a couple of different projects and have instead been merged together into a book that doesn't hold together.
I also found the lead character to be, well, irritating. I like a flawed character, I like a character that faces issues that are a direct result of their own success, I like characters that stand for feminist values and fight for their wants and careers, but she is confused and seems to be battling and forgetting everyone around her that loves her and I don't really get why.
It is clear that this book was simply not for me. It wasn't my cup of tea, and I really only finished it to see how the author wrapped what was a scattered story. Oh well.