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A review by dtaylorbooks
Four-Letter Word by Christa Desir
3.0
So that blurb overhypes what this game is and what’s at stake and as a result the book felt like a let-down. On top of that Other Chloe is self aware to a fault, to the point where things start to feel unrealistic, especially toward the end where Other Chloe makes all sorts of assertions and realizations that fit so neatly into the plot. Then the book over-explained everything into deflation. Like a balloon losing all its air. It just was an all around let-down.
This was a book listed on Riveted as an extended excerpt that I liked enough to want to keep reading. But my library didn’t have it so I had to buy a copy. Not my most favorite thing to do but I was able to get a relatively cheap copy so no love lost there. Considering I didn’t much like the book in the end, that’s still a book I bought that now I’m going to turn around and trade. Annoying, but at least I can get a book I do want for it.
The blurb really hypes up this game as something eerie and dangerous and it can be depending on what secret a person has (in this case only Mateo had something actually serious on the line). I figured it was going to go down the rape lane and it did a little with some forced touching but that eventually just gets brushed under the rug and I’m left here like okay, we’re not talking about that anymore? There was no real point to the game other than people getting screwed with on a mostly superficial level. And I guess when you’re in high school that’s a big deal, but it felt like such a tease. I was expecting something more from it.
None of the characters are all that likable, Other Chloe included. Mateo and Josh were really the only characters that were moderately decent, but everyone else was trying to overcompensate for something or using someone for something and it just didn’t beg much sympathy. As far as Other Chloe being self-aware, she ended up having this uber-progressive upbringing that had her exposed to things a lot of other kids aren’t and having perspectives other kids didn’t. It really got loaded on at the end when everything came to a head and it just didn’t seem authentic. While I felt like Other Chloe certainly reacted to some situations like I feel like a teenager would, how she rationalized things definitely felt like regurgitated adult speak that almost felt preachy. I just wasn’t into it.
And then the ending that wouldn’t end. It just kept going and going and going. And while the wrap-up was being dragged out, that’s when everything got over-explained to death. I don’t know whether the ending stretch was meant for the climax or for the author to get all that explanation in. Maybe a little bit of both. Plus there’s no real resolution to everything. It’s not that things are left hanging, but most of it is left deflated. Like it ran out of energy. Meh.
Not my kind of tense thriller. I could definitely see how it might mean more to an actual teenager reading this book, but I felt it was lacking all around.
2.5
This was a book listed on Riveted as an extended excerpt that I liked enough to want to keep reading. But my library didn’t have it so I had to buy a copy. Not my most favorite thing to do but I was able to get a relatively cheap copy so no love lost there. Considering I didn’t much like the book in the end, that’s still a book I bought that now I’m going to turn around and trade. Annoying, but at least I can get a book I do want for it.
The blurb really hypes up this game as something eerie and dangerous and it can be depending on what secret a person has (in this case only Mateo had something actually serious on the line). I figured it was going to go down the rape lane and it did a little with some forced touching but that eventually just gets brushed under the rug and I’m left here like okay, we’re not talking about that anymore? There was no real point to the game other than people getting screwed with on a mostly superficial level. And I guess when you’re in high school that’s a big deal, but it felt like such a tease. I was expecting something more from it.
None of the characters are all that likable, Other Chloe included. Mateo and Josh were really the only characters that were moderately decent, but everyone else was trying to overcompensate for something or using someone for something and it just didn’t beg much sympathy. As far as Other Chloe being self-aware, she ended up having this uber-progressive upbringing that had her exposed to things a lot of other kids aren’t and having perspectives other kids didn’t. It really got loaded on at the end when everything came to a head and it just didn’t seem authentic. While I felt like Other Chloe certainly reacted to some situations like I feel like a teenager would, how she rationalized things definitely felt like regurgitated adult speak that almost felt preachy. I just wasn’t into it.
And then the ending that wouldn’t end. It just kept going and going and going. And while the wrap-up was being dragged out, that’s when everything got over-explained to death. I don’t know whether the ending stretch was meant for the climax or for the author to get all that explanation in. Maybe a little bit of both. Plus there’s no real resolution to everything. It’s not that things are left hanging, but most of it is left deflated. Like it ran out of energy. Meh.
Not my kind of tense thriller. I could definitely see how it might mean more to an actual teenager reading this book, but I felt it was lacking all around.
2.5