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A review by kmmi_booklover
A Good Man by Ani Katz
2.0
2.5 stars. Quick overly simplified synopsis: Thomas Martin was a man with a good job who always tried to take good care of the women in his life; his wife, daughter, mother, and sisters. When an event happens that rocks his ego, he turns into a monster.
What is interesting about this novel is that it is written in 1st person after the event as Thomas looks back at his life attempting to see where things went wrong. He is obviously an unreliable narrator, and the reader can see his grip on reality slowly unraveling.
Warning: This is an dark, dark novel with just about every trigger warning you can imagine.
Pros:
- Katz does a remarkable job instilling a sense of dread. I felt incredibly uncomfortable this entire novel.
- This novel is more literary than most in its genre. Several interesting devices are employed.
- I found Thomas’s twin sisters extremely interesting and wish their role had been even more developed.
Cons:
- While literary in nature, the pieces of this novel just don’t come together. Thomas’s childhood is discussed quite a bit, but none of the many pieces really tie up.
- The ending felt extremely heavy-handed. I read a ton of Scandinavian crime fiction, so I typically have no problem with dark novels.
- Katz uses Thomas’s love for opera to show how he views himself. This is a pro and con. It’s an interesting literary device. Unfortunately, since I am not an opera fan this was less meaningful to me.
This novel is a firm 2.5 for me. While I appreciate the attempts here, I just tossed it down in the end, thinking “Really, that’s it?”
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What is interesting about this novel is that it is written in 1st person after the event as Thomas looks back at his life attempting to see where things went wrong. He is obviously an unreliable narrator, and the reader can see his grip on reality slowly unraveling.
Warning: This is an dark, dark novel with just about every trigger warning you can imagine.
Pros:
- Katz does a remarkable job instilling a sense of dread. I felt incredibly uncomfortable this entire novel.
- This novel is more literary than most in its genre. Several interesting devices are employed.
- I found Thomas’s twin sisters extremely interesting and wish their role had been even more developed.
Cons:
- While literary in nature, the pieces of this novel just don’t come together. Thomas’s childhood is discussed quite a bit, but none of the many pieces really tie up.
- The ending felt extremely heavy-handed. I read a ton of Scandinavian crime fiction, so I typically have no problem with dark novels.
- Katz uses Thomas’s love for opera to show how he views himself. This is a pro and con. It’s an interesting literary device. Unfortunately, since I am not an opera fan this was less meaningful to me.
This novel is a firm 2.5 for me. While I appreciate the attempts here, I just tossed it down in the end, thinking “Really, that’s it?”
-