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ejrathke 's review for:
The Incendiaries
by R.O. Kwon
I've maybe read too many books about listless, drifting college kids, but I found this book mostly bad. The biggest problem with it, for me, is that I can see how it could have been great with maybe just a few different choices made.
As it is it's the story of an angry young born-again atheist who falls in love with a broken woman who didn't love him but gradually comes to while she's sinking deeper and deeper into a cult. The premise is half interesting and the follow through is pretty solid, but the novel focuses, I think, on the least interesting person in the novel and forces us to live inside his head.
The chapters with the cult leader, John Leal, are barely even there. Usually just a few sentences that don't really round him out much. Phoebe--the love interest--is also given little space on the page to come through. And I find her story fascinating, actually. Haunted by the death of her mother, followed around the globe by her deadbeat dad, flirting with status as cult member--there's a lot to work with here! Phoebe could and should be a fascinating character, but we're mostly given her through Will, the primary narrator.
The novel focusing so closely on Will keeps us from any of the really interesting bits, too. Like the inner workings of the cult, how it goes from strange little meeting group to terrorist organization. Instead we're stuck with Will who mopes around, drifts, whines about losing god, about displacement, and on and on. Will, see, is kind of an asshole, and his perspective isn't something I' particularly interested in, because I've met a thousand Wills, especially at college.
But, yeah, Kwon has a strong command of language but she wrote a book that has a fascinating story inside it and then chose to write none of that fascinating story, and instead focus on some random asshole.
I'm a bit surprised by how much love this novel has received, but I guess that's because this is the kind of book that appeals to English majors because, to an extent, it's kind of about them.
Maybe that last bit is me being harsh, but I'd rather read a book about a cult leader than a book about some asshole who once met a cult leader in between house parties, class, and work.
As it is it's the story of an angry young born-again atheist who falls in love with a broken woman who didn't love him but gradually comes to while she's sinking deeper and deeper into a cult. The premise is half interesting and the follow through is pretty solid, but the novel focuses, I think, on the least interesting person in the novel and forces us to live inside his head.
The chapters with the cult leader, John Leal, are barely even there. Usually just a few sentences that don't really round him out much. Phoebe--the love interest--is also given little space on the page to come through. And I find her story fascinating, actually. Haunted by the death of her mother, followed around the globe by her deadbeat dad, flirting with status as cult member--there's a lot to work with here! Phoebe could and should be a fascinating character, but we're mostly given her through Will, the primary narrator.
The novel focusing so closely on Will keeps us from any of the really interesting bits, too. Like the inner workings of the cult, how it goes from strange little meeting group to terrorist organization. Instead we're stuck with Will who mopes around, drifts, whines about losing god, about displacement, and on and on. Will, see, is kind of an asshole, and his perspective isn't something I' particularly interested in, because I've met a thousand Wills, especially at college.
But, yeah, Kwon has a strong command of language but she wrote a book that has a fascinating story inside it and then chose to write none of that fascinating story, and instead focus on some random asshole.
I'm a bit surprised by how much love this novel has received, but I guess that's because this is the kind of book that appeals to English majors because, to an extent, it's kind of about them.
Maybe that last bit is me being harsh, but I'd rather read a book about a cult leader than a book about some asshole who once met a cult leader in between house parties, class, and work.