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A review by directorpurry
At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman
2.0
CW: assault, description of a corpse, animal death, child abuse, child neglect, foster home neglect/abuse, institutionalization for mental illness, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, spousal abuse
Read for the "Read the States" Challenge for: California
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
**The copy I read was an ARC, not a finished edition**
This is an incredibly important story to tell but... I don't know if I liked the way it was told.
Seligman clearly did thorough research for her story. Both the setting and characters had a lot of depth to them, painting a clear picture of the varieties of reasons people end up homeless, as well as some reasons some of those people might remain so.
But I found the plot overall to be underwhelming. There's very little urgency to it. The story meanders for a while, never really building tension. Maddy's fear always seems distant from the actual plot, never fully realized.
The writing itself is somewhat plain, though it does create an authentic first person narration. While it wasn't to my taste, I can certainly see others enjoying the style.
An important story about marginalized communities, but one that never reached its full potential, even dragging a bit despite its barely-300-page length.
Read for the "Read the States" Challenge for: California
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
**The copy I read was an ARC, not a finished edition**
This is an incredibly important story to tell but... I don't know if I liked the way it was told.
Seligman clearly did thorough research for her story. Both the setting and characters had a lot of depth to them, painting a clear picture of the varieties of reasons people end up homeless, as well as some reasons some of those people might remain so.
But I found the plot overall to be underwhelming. There's very little urgency to it. The story meanders for a while, never really building tension. Maddy's fear always seems distant from the actual plot, never fully realized.
The writing itself is somewhat plain, though it does create an authentic first person narration. While it wasn't to my taste, I can certainly see others enjoying the style.
An important story about marginalized communities, but one that never reached its full potential, even dragging a bit despite its barely-300-page length.