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A review by katykelly
The Mirror World of Melody Black by Gavin Extence
4.0
A different subject matter, a different style to Extence's debut. I enjoyed his first so much that I went for this without reading much about it, so it was knowing little that I encountered Abby and her world.
I didn't realise until she was in the middle of her mania exactly what kind of individual our protagonist is. Abby seems reasonable at first, very introspective and cool, sometimes impetuous and of the moment. Her crash (speaking psychologically) is sudden and hard, shocking as well.
Starting with Abby finding her neighbour's recently deceased body, we see Abby's slightly abnormal reactions, then get a feel for her life and glimpses of her family and past. She's a journalist, has a partner, has a psychiatrist. And things take a turn for the surreal as her control spins out of...
You might wonder at the title. I didn't. But it does come to make sense near the end, where a twist I didn't anticipate jumped out. I didn't really warm to Melody though, didn't really see her as a fully formed character, and didn't really understand some of her opinions and choices.
Extence likes to branch out and touch on taboo subjects, though this is very different to Alex Woods. Alex was upsetting in a different way, Abby's story has its shocks and insights.
I'm trying hard not to give anything away as it does help to not see where Abby's life is about to go, to feel the loss of control along with her.
Extence writes a woman well, he writes her life well, it's a journey you feel fulfilled by, strengthened and buoyed up by somehow.
I did prefer Alex Woods I think, but I couldn't stop reading this either. A fascinating insight into a little-known world
Review of a Love reading advance copy.
I didn't realise until she was in the middle of her mania exactly what kind of individual our protagonist is. Abby seems reasonable at first, very introspective and cool, sometimes impetuous and of the moment. Her crash (speaking psychologically) is sudden and hard, shocking as well.
Starting with Abby finding her neighbour's recently deceased body, we see Abby's slightly abnormal reactions, then get a feel for her life and glimpses of her family and past. She's a journalist, has a partner, has a psychiatrist. And things take a turn for the surreal as her control spins out of...
You might wonder at the title. I didn't. But it does come to make sense near the end, where a twist I didn't anticipate jumped out. I didn't really warm to Melody though, didn't really see her as a fully formed character, and didn't really understand some of her opinions and choices.
Extence likes to branch out and touch on taboo subjects, though this is very different to Alex Woods. Alex was upsetting in a different way, Abby's story has its shocks and insights.
I'm trying hard not to give anything away as it does help to not see where Abby's life is about to go, to feel the loss of control along with her.
Extence writes a woman well, he writes her life well, it's a journey you feel fulfilled by, strengthened and buoyed up by somehow.
I did prefer Alex Woods I think, but I couldn't stop reading this either. A fascinating insight into a little-known world
Review of a Love reading advance copy.