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A review by oddfigg
Smithy by Amanda Desiree
2.0
A book with a lot of promise but not much delivery.
This epistolary take on the haunted house novel attempts to follow in Shirley Jackson's footsteps. A group of experts take over an old, decrepit mansion that's subject to strange rumors with plans to live there for an extended period of time. Sounding Hill House-ish? But, the twist is that they are not there with the intention of exposing the paranormal but rather to study a chimpanzee nicknamed Smithy and how he acquires language. As someone who studied linguistics in college and has an unhealthy love for haunted houses, this book was right up my alley.
While this is an amazing idea and there was a strong setup, the book gave way to a plotline with uninspiring characters and way too much filler. The book could have easily been 300 pages instead of 500 and you wouldn't have missed any story. The book covers the same ground again and again, and I just kept waiting for the ghost story to really kick in. (Spoiler alert: it never does.) Perhaps the format with the interviews and diary entries and letters kept me at a distance; I never felt that I was experiencing what was going on. But to be honest, there also just wasn't that much going on to get invested in.
In addition, I was underwhelmed by the character development. There is one researcher named Eric who I kept forgetting was part of the story at all as his appearances are few and far between. He is the lone voice who believes in the possibility of a ghost, so I was really expecting his character to ramp up. Instead, it fizzles out. Tammy and Ruby were interchangeable for me until one of them starts dating another character. And Gail was especially confusing. She is pitched as this enthusiastic go-getter who isn't as experienced or smart as the others (in a cliched kind of dumb blonde way—sigh). It goes so far as she mixes up their/they're and your/you're in her letters. First, these are people who are in college and second, they are studying language. That doesn't make any sense.
On an aesthetic note, much of the book is written as letters and diary entries, and they are all typeset in ITALICS. Italic writing is notoriously taxing on the eyes to read, and it is probably half the book. I wish they could have designed those sections differently as it definitely impacted my enjoyment while I was reading.
My thanks to Inkshares for my copy of this one to read and review.
This epistolary take on the haunted house novel attempts to follow in Shirley Jackson's footsteps. A group of experts take over an old, decrepit mansion that's subject to strange rumors with plans to live there for an extended period of time. Sounding Hill House-ish? But, the twist is that they are not there with the intention of exposing the paranormal but rather to study a chimpanzee nicknamed Smithy and how he acquires language. As someone who studied linguistics in college and has an unhealthy love for haunted houses, this book was right up my alley.
While this is an amazing idea and there was a strong setup, the book gave way to a plotline with uninspiring characters and way too much filler. The book could have easily been 300 pages instead of 500 and you wouldn't have missed any story. The book covers the same ground again and again, and I just kept waiting for the ghost story to really kick in. (Spoiler alert: it never does.) Perhaps the format with the interviews and diary entries and letters kept me at a distance; I never felt that I was experiencing what was going on. But to be honest, there also just wasn't that much going on to get invested in.
In addition, I was underwhelmed by the character development. There is one researcher named Eric who I kept forgetting was part of the story at all as his appearances are few and far between. He is the lone voice who believes in the possibility of a ghost, so I was really expecting his character to ramp up. Instead, it fizzles out. Tammy and Ruby were interchangeable for me until one of them starts dating another character. And Gail was especially confusing. She is pitched as this enthusiastic go-getter who isn't as experienced or smart as the others (in a cliched kind of dumb blonde way—sigh). It goes so far as she mixes up their/they're and your/you're in her letters. First, these are people who are in college and second, they are studying language. That doesn't make any sense.
On an aesthetic note, much of the book is written as letters and diary entries, and they are all typeset in ITALICS. Italic writing is notoriously taxing on the eyes to read, and it is probably half the book. I wish they could have designed those sections differently as it definitely impacted my enjoyment while I was reading.
My thanks to Inkshares for my copy of this one to read and review.