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A review by argyledinosaur
The Girl in Between by Sarah Carroll
3.0
I received an electronic ARC of this through the website firsttoread.
The book was good. The writing was fine, there were no glaring errors in grammar or spelling. My issue with the book is a completely personal one. I have trouble reading about neglectful parents, abusive parents, and just in general, parents that could do better for their children. I acknowledge that it's a totally personal issue, and nothing to do with the story or the book itself. Having said that, there were times when I would be reading the book and I would have to put it down due to frustration with the mother, and then I wouldn't want to pick it up again.
Frustrations that I have with the book are also trivial and I don't think they bother others nearly as much. I like to have a specific setting in stories, even if it's made up, and I don't think it's ever mentioned in the book that it takes place in Dublin, even though a lot of people are under that impression. I honestly wouldn't have been able to figure that out on my own, I read it in other reviews. I'm also slightly annoyed that the girl doesn't have a name. Again, that's just a trivial little thing that bothers me more than it bothers others.
True frustrations with the story itself are very minimal. We're never told why the mother leaves Gran's and drags the girl with her, which annoys me. I would like to know the mother's motivation for making her daughter live on the streets with her. Another frustration I have is the ending, which isn't to say it's a bad ending, it's just confusing. The ending first makes it sound like the mother is dead, and then it sounds like the girl is dead, and then it sounds, again, like the mother is dead, because the girl is saying that if people were watching, they would see her, with no mention of them seeing her mother.
Overall, the book was good, but nothing that I would reread.
The book was good. The writing was fine, there were no glaring errors in grammar or spelling. My issue with the book is a completely personal one. I have trouble reading about neglectful parents, abusive parents, and just in general, parents that could do better for their children. I acknowledge that it's a totally personal issue, and nothing to do with the story or the book itself. Having said that, there were times when I would be reading the book and I would have to put it down due to frustration with the mother, and then I wouldn't want to pick it up again.
Frustrations that I have with the book are also trivial and I don't think they bother others nearly as much. I like to have a specific setting in stories, even if it's made up, and I don't think it's ever mentioned in the book that it takes place in Dublin, even though a lot of people are under that impression. I honestly wouldn't have been able to figure that out on my own, I read it in other reviews. I'm also slightly annoyed that the girl doesn't have a name. Again, that's just a trivial little thing that bothers me more than it bothers others.
True frustrations with the story itself are very minimal. We're never told why the mother leaves Gran's and drags the girl with her, which annoys me. I would like to know the mother's motivation for making her daughter live on the streets with her. Another frustration I have is the ending, which isn't to say it's a bad ending, it's just confusing. The ending first makes it sound like the mother is dead, and then it sounds like the girl is dead, and then it sounds, again, like the mother is dead, because the girl is saying that if people were watching, they would see her, with no mention of them seeing her mother.
Overall, the book was good, but nothing that I would reread.