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A review by frithf
Q: A Novel by Evan Mandery
2.0
Sorry, I didn't like this book. I kept reading in the spirit of a fair go, but the stilted narrative and dialogue (one of the 'quirky' characters even lampshades this: as an eminent professor, he refuses to use contractions. Arrrrrrrgh!) fall flat, and the main character, to me, appears pompous rather than cute. The plot 'twists' are similarly obvious - the heartless tycoon father is the real force behind the destruction of his beloved daughter's organic urban garden?! Never saw that one coming. irritating characters never engaged.
Almost as infuriating is the author's blatant statement to the reader that the book is crammed with references and messages that we don't 'get' - a character remarks that "if this were in a book, no-one would get this part". The machine should stay hidden, and allow the story to flow. Unfortunately, in this case, both machine and story are too unwieldy to disguise the deficiencies of the other.
Almost as infuriating is the author's blatant statement to the reader that the book is crammed with references and messages that we don't 'get' - a character remarks that "if this were in a book, no-one would get this part". The machine should stay hidden, and allow the story to flow. Unfortunately, in this case, both machine and story are too unwieldy to disguise the deficiencies of the other.