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A review by biblioleah
You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the early review copy of this book. Please note that my criticisms of this novel are of an early edition and some of the issues I found may be remedied in a final edition that will be published April 16th, 2024.
This story was just incredibly difficult to get through, and I found myself really pushing myself to pick it up and read it. The writing is where, personally, this book dropped me as the voice of the main character felt very juvenile and there was no balance whatsoever of telling and showing. It felt like I was being spoon-fed a story, and wasn't being left to make connections and assertions of my own as a reader. The characterization of the teenage daughter was truly abysmal and surface-level, I really assumed we left the trope of the bratty, spoiled 15 year old who has no personality outside of hating the world and her parents in the early 2000's. It was incredibly jarring to see such a bland character trope play such a large role in the story, and I just could not take that character seriously. The marriage troubles within this story also were rather frustrating to read, and I just wanted these grown adults to communicate. On top of that, I think that chapter headings would have fixed SO much of the structural issues of jumping back and forth and forward in time. There are mainly three points in time that where the plot is taking place and there is absolutely no real distinction between them. It could be such a powerful and intriguing concept jumping around time like this but it's executed and edited so poorly that you're constantly being taken out of the story because you're trying to figure out what is happening, and not in an intentional way that other thrillers attempt to do. It appears messy, and I really wish an editor took to that aspect of the book because this ends up reading as a very early first draft. In the end, I found the characters frustrating and one dimensional, and the aspects I did find captivating such as the exploration of motherhood, the refugee experience, and mental health not playing as central a role as I would have liked. If I had perhaps grown to care about the characters and enjoyed the writing, I would have definitely found these themes worth reading on to explore, but because the foundation was so lacking I could not continue with the story,
This story was just incredibly difficult to get through, and I found myself really pushing myself to pick it up and read it. The writing is where, personally, this book dropped me as the voice of the main character felt very juvenile and there was no balance whatsoever of telling and showing. It felt like I was being spoon-fed a story, and wasn't being left to make connections and assertions of my own as a reader. The characterization of the teenage daughter was truly abysmal and surface-level, I really assumed we left the trope of the bratty, spoiled 15 year old who has no personality outside of hating the world and her parents in the early 2000's. It was incredibly jarring to see such a bland character trope play such a large role in the story, and I just could not take that character seriously. The marriage troubles within this story also were rather frustrating to read, and I just wanted these grown adults to communicate. On top of that, I think that chapter headings would have fixed SO much of the structural issues of jumping back and forth and forward in time. There are mainly three points in time that where the plot is taking place and there is absolutely no real distinction between them. It could be such a powerful and intriguing concept jumping around time like this but it's executed and edited so poorly that you're constantly being taken out of the story because you're trying to figure out what is happening, and not in an intentional way that other thrillers attempt to do. It appears messy, and I really wish an editor took to that aspect of the book because this ends up reading as a very early first draft. In the end, I found the characters frustrating and one dimensional, and the aspects I did find captivating such as the exploration of motherhood, the refugee experience, and mental health not playing as central a role as I would have liked. If I had perhaps grown to care about the characters and enjoyed the writing, I would have definitely found these themes worth reading on to explore, but because the foundation was so lacking I could not continue with the story,