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A review by glorifiedloveletters
Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In this case —to borrow a line in this book— three stars, sure, if you like this kind of thing.
But I did think it would be more of my kind of thing. Reviewers working at the Fringe Festival? Sounds interesting. Messy interpersonal drama? Gimme the goss. A story that attempts to parse out how reviews, online dogpiling, and other professional hazards can affect a person? Especially when it comes to gender? Well... the result is a bit hit or miss.
The premise is this — newspaper critic Alex sees Hayley in a one-woman show that he dislikes. He files his 1-star review with the paper, then goes out drinking, where he runs into Hayley. They end up sleeping together, and he never mentions that he's written the review until she discovers it in the paper the next day. She then changes her show to be about this experience, and before long, more women are also talking about the shitty ways Alex has treated them, and the show is a Fringe hit.
We learn about all this primarily through the perspective of his coworker, Sophie, with whom he shares a flat while they work the festival. I understand why we hear mostly from her — she is involved, but still removed. She feels the thrill of knowing more about the gossip than anybody else, and that's a commentary on us, the reader. She is also feeling removed from her own life, that she has been neck-deep in baby care and trying to work just as hard, all while her husband is like, "Oh, sorry I had an affair, but you were so distant!!"
Cool, I guess.
(Oh, but once she goes to work for three weeks in another city, he suddenly understands the error of his assumptions, blah blah... I'm over it. I do not care.)
But Sophie's too busy making excuses for both her husband and Alex's behavior, and any realization she might have is surface level at best. She likes being the one who "understands him" and likes being able to say "Oh, but we're all complicated, and turns out, I hate reviews anyway."
Everyone makes mistakes, and reading about other people's mistakes and picking them apart is something humans also enjoy, and this book does pose an interesting question: What, exactly, do you want to happen when we tear down people? People who have done awful (but not violent nor illegal) things? Everyone will have a different answer, and of course, it depends on the circumstances. I didn't have a problem with the resolution in this book. The ending made sense for these characters. It was just that these characters' own analyses of the situation they found themselves in rubbed me the wrong way. The conclusions they come to while still desperate to be cool, smart, loved, whatever — I caught myself literally scrunching my nose.
Was my dislike of most characters getting in the way of an otherwise fine book? Ehhh... Your mileage may vary, but whatever I wanted, I wasn't going to find it here.
But I did think it would be more of my kind of thing. Reviewers working at the Fringe Festival? Sounds interesting. Messy interpersonal drama? Gimme the goss. A story that attempts to parse out how reviews, online dogpiling, and other professional hazards can affect a person? Especially when it comes to gender? Well... the result is a bit hit or miss.
The premise is this — newspaper critic Alex sees Hayley in a one-woman show that he dislikes. He files his 1-star review with the paper, then goes out drinking, where he runs into Hayley. They end up sleeping together, and he never mentions that he's written the review until she discovers it in the paper the next day. She then changes her show to be about this experience, and before long, more women are also talking about the shitty ways Alex has treated them, and the show is a Fringe hit.
We learn about all this primarily through the perspective of his coworker, Sophie, with whom he shares a flat while they work the festival. I understand why we hear mostly from her — she is involved, but still removed. She feels the thrill of knowing more about the gossip than anybody else, and that's a commentary on us, the reader. She is also feeling removed from her own life, that she has been neck-deep in baby care and trying to work just as hard, all while her husband is like, "Oh, sorry I had an affair, but you were so distant!!"
Cool, I guess.
(Oh, but once she goes to work for three weeks in another city, he suddenly understands the error of his assumptions, blah blah... I'm over it. I do not care.)
But Sophie's too busy making excuses for both her husband and Alex's behavior, and any realization she might have is surface level at best. She likes being the one who "understands him" and likes being able to say "Oh, but we're all complicated, and turns out, I hate reviews anyway."
Everyone makes mistakes, and reading about other people's mistakes and picking them apart is something humans also enjoy, and this book does pose an interesting question: What, exactly, do you want to happen when we tear down people? People who have done awful (but not violent nor illegal) things? Everyone will have a different answer, and of course, it depends on the circumstances. I didn't have a problem with the resolution in this book. The ending made sense for these characters. It was just that these characters' own analyses of the situation they found themselves in rubbed me the wrong way. The conclusions they come to while still desperate to be cool, smart, loved, whatever — I caught myself literally scrunching my nose.
Was my dislike of most characters getting in the way of an otherwise fine book? Ehhh... Your mileage may vary, but whatever I wanted, I wasn't going to find it here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent