ed_moore 's review for:

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

2.5

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“He seated himself at the pinnacle of the rocky precipice, a little within the top of the hill to th’ westward, and with a light and buoyant heart, viewed the beauties of the morning, and inhaled its salubrious breeze” 

This turned out so disappointing, I wanted to love Hogg’s ‘Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ so much, its concept based on sins and murder committed by doppelgangers with the backdrop of gothic Edinburgh and the political instabilities of the Glorious Revolution, but I just sadly struggled to get on side with it. It retold the same story from the sinner, Robert’s, perspective and then the editor that found his manuscript of confessions, and Robert’s are just generally incoherent. Each sides of the story are unclear but Robert’s especially felt like a long religious discussion that lost a lot of the major events within its attempt to moralise the sins and present himself as a bystander to his actions. It’s made more confusing by the lack of chapters or even regular paragraph splits and most of the exciting moments Robert can’t remember himself doing and hence they are brushed over. Very sad as this had so much promise and just failed to deliver for me.