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A review by mariahistryingtoread
Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi
2.0
Furthermore was my last pick for asianreadathon 2020.
I was drawn to this book because of its cover. It's so vibrant and eye-catching that I couldn't help, but be intrigued. Unfortunately, this book completely embodies 'don't judge a book by its cover' in the worst way.
Alice Alexis Queensmeadow is a poor girl who lives in the magical town of Ferenwood. Sadly for her she lacks all color and is iffy on the magic as well. Plus, her beloved father has been missing for 3 years and her mother barely seems to care about her at all. But, that's when Oliver Newbacks appears tasked with finding her father and needs her help to look for him in the equally magical - but totally lawless - Furthermore.
I was put off immediately because of the writing style. It's written in a faux whimsical way with the author often jumping in to tell you how to feel. Not only did this feel like a cop-out for actually doing the hard work of crafting three-dimentional characters, it also made me so frustrated I was unable to really like anybody. There was no space for me to experience the characters for myself and reflect. Tahereh Mafi was constantly jumping in to over explain what was going on. I'm not a kid and even if I was, kids are smart enough to reason out why someone might lie or be rude to another person. There doesn't need to be some heavy handed spiel about how sometimes people who are isolated form defense mechanisms. That's implied by you actually having things happen, me reading about the characters' reactions and then piecing it together on my own. Way too much tell and don't show in this book.
I don't think it's supposed to be an Alice in Wonderland fusion yet I often felt like this book was the knock of version of that story. But, Furthermore had none of the charm nor wit. It was supposed to be this wild, scary place filled with literal cannibals. Instead, it was just confusing and rather mild-mannered. It's populated by villages that each have their own set of rules and breaking them could result in the afore-mentioned cannibalism. However, Alice and Oliver really only go to like 5 or so places. And despite setting up this whole deadline situation where you can't take up too much time or you'll be in trouble, there's no suspense whatsoever. Again, we're *told* about these obstacles but not shown how threatening they really are. There's no pressing time police, there's no location they have to be at by a certain time, there's no person they *must* meet. Literally like halfway through they completely abandon the main plot for a side quest that takes up the entire rest of the book.
And they, by sheer happenstance, waltz right into the ending. It's not earned at all. Furthermore is supposed to need all this intelligence and critical thinking to make it through, but honestly all I saw was a lot of running. Mafi didn't write any kind of puzzles or tricks nor was there an underlying twist (like how in Through The Looking Glass the whole story - while ridiculous - is actually a game of chess). Later on in the book it even implies that free will doesn't exist in Furthermore which makes all of this matter even less.
The character arcs also run right into a wall. We don't properly finish Alice's arc about self-acceptance, address her mothers' mistreatment of her all these years, or tie together the 'lessons' from Furthermore to Olivers' major character flaw. All of these are made to be major plot points only to go absolutely nowhere or end so abruptly you're left feeling underwhelmed.
And on the topic of characters there weren't enough of them. I really wanted to dig into the depths of Furthermore. The best way to do that would be by meeting some of its denizens. However, despite Oliver making a point to say that not everyone is an evil cannibal they meet only two and half people who aren't. And I'm being generous counting it as I am. It's particularly egregious since Oliver literally lived in Furthermore a year before having to get Alice's help and implies he has a fair amount of friends. Why don't we call on any of them? Oh, that's right, because they totally shift the direction of the story in a poor attempt to make Alice actually relevant.
That brings me to Alice herself. She's the whole catalyst here because Oliver needs her to find her father. Too bad she's useless. When it comes down to it Oliver has all the real skills to survive in Furthermore and Alice is only needed for one thing. Also their friendship is so rushed you can't even point to that as her true reason for being there. She's little more than a combative liability.
So this is super long, but I'm kind of annoyed that such an interesting premise was executed so poorly. I gave it two stars because I somehow still kind of like Alice and even with all the issues I had it wasn't 1 star bad imo.
I was drawn to this book because of its cover. It's so vibrant and eye-catching that I couldn't help, but be intrigued. Unfortunately, this book completely embodies 'don't judge a book by its cover' in the worst way.
Alice Alexis Queensmeadow is a poor girl who lives in the magical town of Ferenwood. Sadly for her she lacks all color and is iffy on the magic as well. Plus, her beloved father has been missing for 3 years and her mother barely seems to care about her at all. But, that's when Oliver Newbacks appears tasked with finding her father and needs her help to look for him in the equally magical - but totally lawless - Furthermore.
I was put off immediately because of the writing style. It's written in a faux whimsical way with the author often jumping in to tell you how to feel. Not only did this feel like a cop-out for actually doing the hard work of crafting three-dimentional characters, it also made me so frustrated I was unable to really like anybody. There was no space for me to experience the characters for myself and reflect. Tahereh Mafi was constantly jumping in to over explain what was going on. I'm not a kid and even if I was, kids are smart enough to reason out why someone might lie or be rude to another person. There doesn't need to be some heavy handed spiel about how sometimes people who are isolated form defense mechanisms. That's implied by you actually having things happen, me reading about the characters' reactions and then piecing it together on my own. Way too much tell and don't show in this book.
I don't think it's supposed to be an Alice in Wonderland fusion yet I often felt like this book was the knock of version of that story. But, Furthermore had none of the charm nor wit. It was supposed to be this wild, scary place filled with literal cannibals. Instead, it was just confusing and rather mild-mannered. It's populated by villages that each have their own set of rules and breaking them could result in the afore-mentioned cannibalism. However, Alice and Oliver really only go to like 5 or so places. And despite setting up this whole deadline situation where you can't take up too much time or you'll be in trouble, there's no suspense whatsoever. Again, we're *told* about these obstacles but not shown how threatening they really are. There's no pressing time police, there's no location they have to be at by a certain time, there's no person they *must* meet. Literally like halfway through they completely abandon the main plot for a side quest that takes up the entire rest of the book.
And they, by sheer happenstance, waltz right into the ending. It's not earned at all. Furthermore is supposed to need all this intelligence and critical thinking to make it through, but honestly all I saw was a lot of running. Mafi didn't write any kind of puzzles or tricks nor was there an underlying twist (like how in Through The Looking Glass the whole story - while ridiculous - is actually a game of chess). Later on in the book it even implies that free will doesn't exist in Furthermore which makes all of this matter even less.
The character arcs also run right into a wall. We don't properly finish Alice's arc about self-acceptance, address her mothers' mistreatment of her all these years, or tie together the 'lessons' from Furthermore to Olivers' major character flaw. All of these are made to be major plot points only to go absolutely nowhere or end so abruptly you're left feeling underwhelmed.
And on the topic of characters there weren't enough of them. I really wanted to dig into the depths of Furthermore. The best way to do that would be by meeting some of its denizens. However, despite Oliver making a point to say that not everyone is an evil cannibal they meet only two and half people who aren't. And I'm being generous counting it as I am. It's particularly egregious since Oliver literally lived in Furthermore a year before having to get Alice's help and implies he has a fair amount of friends. Why don't we call on any of them? Oh, that's right, because they totally shift the direction of the story in a poor attempt to make Alice actually relevant.
That brings me to Alice herself. She's the whole catalyst here because Oliver needs her to find her father. Too bad she's useless. When it comes down to it Oliver has all the real skills to survive in Furthermore and Alice is only needed for one thing. Also their friendship is so rushed you can't even point to that as her true reason for being there. She's little more than a combative liability.
So this is super long, but I'm kind of annoyed that such an interesting premise was executed so poorly. I gave it two stars because I somehow still kind of like Alice and even with all the issues I had it wasn't 1 star bad imo.