hellojoie 's review for:

The Company: A Novel of the CIA by Robert Littell

DID NOT FINISH: 9%

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DNF'd at p. 86 / 9%. Minor spoiler behind a tag below (fair warning if you're on a platform that doesn't handle spoiler tags well)

This has been on my to-read list for a few years and I was excited when Libby notified me one of my libraries finally got a copy, but oof:
(1) ~900 pages better be interesting and so far - very little of this was
(2) I am not into this writing. I love a long sentence as much as the next gal, but I should not have to reread a sentence 3 times because lengthy interrupters so thoroughly detail it. Also some of the writing I thought was just plain bad:

“I’m real pleased Bill Donovan made sure our paths crossed,” he drawled, stretching his Mississippi vowels like rubber bands and letting them snap back on the consonants.

Wtf does that even mean (I think it means "I have never actually spent time in the South")
(3) I never like when I'm left wondering "Does the lack of interesting women characters reflect the demographics of the story's time and culture, or the views of the writer?" I hoped it was the former until

shortly after being introduced, the first interesting female character cracks under interrogation pressure (after being briefly touched sexually for good measure), unlike her manly man Yale rowing colleagues,

which was my official DNF moment.

I think maybe the Slough House series has ruined other books of the genre for me. Maybe this one would've gotten better but the last time I powered through a 900ish-page book on that hope it was Murakami and I shan't make that mistake again