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A review by bunsoburrito
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I thoroughly disliked this.
To begin, the book badly needed another round of editing. I'm continuously appalled at how these books get traditionally published. The grammar was poor, some of the descriptions made no sense and at one point, I was convinced the author just used the thesaurus to replace a word. Overall, the entire book felt like the author was trying to make the writing smarter than it actually was, and failing terribly.
I found Alex insufferable from the beginning and alas, this did not get better throughout the course of the book. The rest of the characters weren't well carved out either. I connected with none of the characters and literally did not care if they lived or died.
Also I didn't understand the point of Alex having this sexual awakening or the whole commentary with Kiera because it eventually wasn't resolved or really touched on in the end. Some of Alex's thought process at the height of danger was so random and gross- it felt like a poor replication of works like Oteessa Moshfegh. In my opinion, writing the ending in a retrospective manner was a terrible choice.
To begin, the book badly needed another round of editing. I'm continuously appalled at how these books get traditionally published. The grammar was poor, some of the descriptions made no sense and at one point, I was convinced the author just used the thesaurus to replace a word. Overall, the entire book felt like the author was trying to make the writing smarter than it actually was, and failing terribly.
I found Alex insufferable from the beginning and alas, this did not get better throughout the course of the book. The rest of the characters weren't well carved out either. I connected with none of the characters and literally did not care if they lived or died.