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A review by lindseylu
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
2.0
Please note that this genre is not the genre I typically read. I am a fantasy/fantasy romance reader. I read this book and annotated it as a gift for a loved one who loves this author.
Overall I did enjoy the story. It was suspenseful and the interconnecting stories told from multiple POVs had me turning pages to figure out what was happening. The book had my attention from the beginning and held it all the way through.
My only real issues with the book:
1. The pacing was great up until the last 30-something pages. You have all this buildup and relationships that develop through the book to just abruptly end. It felt abrupt at least. It would have been nice to have one more chapter from the children’s perspective of what happened. Even if it was in a time jump to the future.
2. Whenever a female character is introduced, she is described as either very attractive/beautiful or overweight/her weight is mentioned. Doesn’t matter if they are a main or side character. A woman appears and it’s either blatantly “she’s overweight/heavyset”/ “her clothes strained at their buttons” or “She was so attractive/the most attractive woman in town.” I don’t recall this being the case for the men in the book-unless it was important to their character/story (I.e. Tom being a body builder/taking steroids.)
There are so many creative ways to describe and paint pictures of characters. Weight and beauty are not synonymous. I will acknowledge that I am writing this in 2023 and the book was published in 2007, so that may be part of it.
Overall I did enjoy the story. It was suspenseful and the interconnecting stories told from multiple POVs had me turning pages to figure out what was happening. The book had my attention from the beginning and held it all the way through.
My only real issues with the book:
1. The pacing was great up until the last 30-something pages. You have all this buildup and relationships that develop through the book to just abruptly end. It felt abrupt at least. It would have been nice to have one more chapter from the children’s perspective of what happened. Even if it was in a time jump to the future.
2. Whenever a female character is introduced, she is described as either very attractive/beautiful or overweight/her weight is mentioned. Doesn’t matter if they are a main or side character. A woman appears and it’s either blatantly “she’s overweight/heavyset”/ “her clothes strained at their buttons” or “She was so attractive/the most attractive woman in town.” I don’t recall this being the case for the men in the book-unless it was important to their character/story (I.e. Tom being a body builder/taking steroids.)
There are so many creative ways to describe and paint pictures of characters. Weight and beauty are not synonymous. I will acknowledge that I am writing this in 2023 and the book was published in 2007, so that may be part of it.