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A review by house_of_hannah
The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Thank you so much to SFWA and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
This is the first time I have heard of a writer's group that writes fiction stories strictly about climate change. I find it fascinating and admirable, as it's a situation that the entire world needs to take more seriously. I think on that front this novella was a success, but it falls flat on characterization and storytelling.
The cover and title of this book completely pulled me in. The House of Drought brings up so many questions, and the cover is mysterious and gorgeous. At just over 100 pages this is a very quick read, and I feel like it tries to accomplish too much with too few pages.
This novella is not told in a linear fashion, with different timelines jumping in at different moments. There are five different perspectives, and each time we encounter a new perspective we are told the end of their story first, and then work our way back up to that. With so many perspectives we are introduced to a ton of characters in a very short amount of time. I did not find this confusing, but that does mean there are a lot of very forgettable characters, which in a book so short potentially feels like wasted space.
Unfortunately, the characters themselves all felt the same. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, but everyone had the same voice. Even though there were characters from different regions of Sri Lanka, and they all came from different backgrounds, they all spoke with exactly the same type of speech. This was very noticeable, which is why I question if it was actually intentional. I did not know until the author's bio at the end, but he's actually a German who has been living in Sri Lanka for the past several years, so this may be a factor as well.
I definitely feel like this story needs to be fleshed out a bit more to feel whole. The house worked in a contradictory way, with characters out of nowhere completely understanding the house. For example,how did people just take a bath without the Dry House appearing ? It's shown several times that just setting out a few bowls of water, or pouring a water bottle on the floor is enough to conjure it, so how did anyone do dishes, laundry, or bath here ? This is just something that I feel should have been broadened on a bit more, so it wouldn't feel like such a huge jump in logic.
Overall this was an ok novella, but the intent behind the story shines a lot brighter than the actual work.
This is the first time I have heard of a writer's group that writes fiction stories strictly about climate change. I find it fascinating and admirable, as it's a situation that the entire world needs to take more seriously. I think on that front this novella was a success, but it falls flat on characterization and storytelling.
The cover and title of this book completely pulled me in. The House of Drought brings up so many questions, and the cover is mysterious and gorgeous. At just over 100 pages this is a very quick read, and I feel like it tries to accomplish too much with too few pages.
This novella is not told in a linear fashion, with different timelines jumping in at different moments. There are five different perspectives, and each time we encounter a new perspective we are told the end of their story first, and then work our way back up to that. With so many perspectives we are introduced to a ton of characters in a very short amount of time. I did not find this confusing, but that does mean there are a lot of very forgettable characters, which in a book so short potentially feels like wasted space.
Unfortunately, the characters themselves all felt the same. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, but everyone had the same voice. Even though there were characters from different regions of Sri Lanka, and they all came from different backgrounds, they all spoke with exactly the same type of speech. This was very noticeable, which is why I question if it was actually intentional. I did not know until the author's bio at the end, but he's actually a German who has been living in Sri Lanka for the past several years, so this may be a factor as well.
I definitely feel like this story needs to be fleshed out a bit more to feel whole. The house worked in a contradictory way, with characters out of nowhere completely understanding the house. For example,
Overall this was an ok novella, but the intent behind the story shines a lot brighter than the actual work.