A review by hannahkate33
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.5

Please check trigger warnings on this book, so you are more prepared than I was. Stories with these themes and traumas deserve to be told, but I was completely unprepared and the writing’s explicit nature caused me to step away from this book for a little. I don’t understand why the characters like each other. I don’t understand why Jonas loves Elle. Were told it, over and over, but I can’t retain and emotion from these scenes. The main catalyst for this story, Elle’s and Jonas’ big decision, does not have the emotional weight that we were told of the whole book. There’s no depth to the relationships between Elle and Peter and Jonas. The timeline jumps around so quickly we lose the character’s emotions and weight of their actions because we’re suddenly back in the far past or future-past. I was fine putting up with the writing style the first third of the book, but the turn the story takes in Elle’s traumatic childhood completely caught me off guard. I decided to power through the book around page 250, and I skimmed the last 30 pages. I liked the complexity of Wallace and the sisters’ relationship, but I didn’t care for much else. The dialogue felt so stiff, especially when they were all children. I had forgotten who Peter was when part three came around. 

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