A review by random_spider
he by John Connolly

informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

This may come out more like rant, but I have no regrets.

------Stat Score------

Plot/Content: 1/10
Characters/POVs: 2/10
Prose/Style: 2/10
Themes/Messages: 2/10
Enjoyability/Impact: 1/10

OVERALL RATING: 1/10 (Ironically impressed)

WOW...it's been a while since I rated something this low of a score.
At best, this book was just a bland and sluggish fictional biography of both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy that didn't work for me (since I never knew nor cared about the lives of these comics in the first place.) At worst, a complete failure of its genres that sucked the enjoyment out of my hobby.

I know what will happen when Babe goes, Vera says.
— What will happen?
— Life will stop, but time will go on.

Vera is wrong.
The clock ticks, and life goes on.
That is what makes it all so unbearable.

Synopsis and/or Premise:
We follow Stan Laurel and his life of being a comic during the first half of the 20th century.

The Good and The Bad:
Despite receiving the lowest rating possible, it's a miracle how I still could manage to scrap some few good things about the novel. First, I like the minimalist and clean cover (the main reason why I bought it.) Second, there's some fleeting, faint engagement for following someone being overshadowed in an industry, being limited due to a fat body, and longing of former glories. Last and probably the least, I now know that Charlie Chaplin was a pedophile...yeah.

OH BOY! I'm going to have a field day listing all its shortcomings 😈:

1. Pretentious 🙄 - Too much flowery prose to only deliver some underwhelming substance, thus the dancing of words felt unjustified and is of tricks. The book had this 'inner pride' as if it's the pinnacle of Biography Fiction literature. Book...WILL YOU SHUT UP?!?! THIS IS SO AGGRAVATING!!!

2. Telling 🗣️ - Another day, another crime committed. Who could thoroughly enjoy a narrative flow full of "This happened, and then this happened..."? Not me. This book suffered from one of the most common rookie mistakes in novel composition, though I'm sure this wasn't the debut of the author...WHICH MADE IT EVEN WORSE! But I do understand that there's no absolute rule on how to write a novel. Still, being able to do it doesn't mean you should do it.

3. Lacking ❌ - It had no hook that could attract readers to continue past the first few pages, an absent of some functional tension to keep the readers intrigued, a weak cast of characters that weren't compelling at all, and not even efficient nor effective with its prose (as mentioned being pretentious.) Wow, amazing indeed 👏.

4. Repetitive 🔁 - The prose, being all pretentious, had this annoying habit of repeating what's written just to forced it into the reader's mind. It indeed got into my mine, but not in any good way. It's excessive, in my opinion.

5. Fast yet Slow 🤨 - Book...how did you even made this possible? It's contradictory in concept, but for some unknown reason, the book did it. The chapters were mostly short, averaging about 2-3 pages long. This is a reliable indicator that the narrative pacing was fast. But this novel subverts (and not in a good way) by dragging the story into a crawl. The result was an unpleasant reading experience with hundreds of short chapters, each barely moving the plot forward.

6. Too many characters/events 🗒️ - So many unimportant names cluttered within. So many inconsequential events happened just for the sake of adding something in the pages. So many problems this book had acquired. Just so many it muted the experience and turned it into a chore.

7. Overall numbness 😐 - This book was near lifeless in essence, and a disappointment of its genre. I briefly mentioned from my review of Deadwood that a novel within Historical Fiction genre should accomplish 3 major things: A faithful retelling, a novel perspective, and a powerful plot. If completed, the Historical Fiction genre could be the best as it revitalizes true history from the deliverance of a fictionalized narrative. This book fell short from 2/3rd of the criteria (I am not sure about its historical accuracies, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.) It even sort of failed on its job as a Biography Fiction since I, a stranger to the characters, still didn't give a damn. I felt nothing about this book, and everything that came out of it.

Final Thoughts:
he by John Connolly is a Biography Fiction and Historical Fictional novel set during the early to mid-20th century about the failures, dramas, and successes of a comic duo. It's roughly the worst of 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' type of books. Now, if you're curious on why I persevered not DNFing this one, I have a few reasons why:
1. I get to finally remove it from my physical TBR,
2. It gave me a justification for this rant (which I occasionally enjoy writing), and
3. I personally do not DNF books to give them a chance of recovery (which this book failed, and I am now rethinking about this policy of mine.)

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Links to my ratings and reviews:
Goodreads reviews
The StoryGraph