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A review by copperbeech
Thr3e by Ted Dekker
1.0
Don't read this review if you don't want the plot twist revealed.
I can't believe I just spent 4 hours reading this book. 4 hours of my life that I can't get back. It's 352 pages that should have ended at about 175. If there is anything that I hate it's a "let's fill this in with something" "Three's Company" (no pun) miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot. What I hate more is a "Three's Company" miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot trying to inject sinister overtones and intrigue with its conjectureness. It was so repetitive, turning spirals on itself. That will teach me to believe reviews of things. Everything I read said it was this author's strongest work (thanks for the warning) and that it was captivating and kept you riveted to figure out the twist. For those of you who were avid VC Andrews's fans, it reads like the works done after the author's death, when they were just rehashing the same (...) over and over. No edge at all.
Let me just run down the parts of it that make me want to puke:
* the lack of understanding of MPD
* the lack of distinguishing MPD from DID, Schizo and PTSD (very very vague descriptions)
* the good/bad dark/light polarity whose only grey area can be a wounded child--ie innocent powerlessness
* the really weak movement of the plot (ie a ping pong match)
Granted, the average joe reading this plot doesn't know anything about MPD et al, so it will read like a definitive fictional work. That frightens me more.
Potentially positive points, if I could stop chastising myself for finishing it:
* the lauding of spirituality over religion
* the very level handling of christianity and the church in general
* the interesting plot concept (that withered)
* interesting though thinly sketched characters
* the distinction between emotional and psychological abuse
* some nice insights into human nature, which were conveyed to ALL humans, including those in pulpits
It started out interesting, but even by about chapter 10 I was starting to feel that it was all occurring upstairs from The Ropers. That really is my biggest annoyance with the book. Some of the characterizations of MPD were spot on, but explaining it against the backdrop of the other possibilities was kinda negative. I kept reading it because I really did want to know what happened, but not because it was so enthralling that I couldn't put it down. I wanted to hope it was going somewhere Other and not where it was set up to go because it was so poorly done. Why did I pick it up at all? Because it's a book-to-script coming out in theatres later this year that is getting a lot of buzz. harrumph in the end it was exactly what I thought it would be--a watered down homogenized Christian thriller written so as not to really state anything, thus, not offend anyone. Good marketing device, bad bad writing.
I can't believe I just spent 4 hours reading this book. 4 hours of my life that I can't get back. It's 352 pages that should have ended at about 175. If there is anything that I hate it's a "let's fill this in with something" "Three's Company" (no pun) miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot. What I hate more is a "Three's Company" miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot trying to inject sinister overtones and intrigue with its conjectureness. It was so repetitive, turning spirals on itself. That will teach me to believe reviews of things. Everything I read said it was this author's strongest work (thanks for the warning) and that it was captivating and kept you riveted to figure out the twist. For those of you who were avid VC Andrews's fans, it reads like the works done after the author's death, when they were just rehashing the same (...) over and over. No edge at all.
Let me just run down the parts of it that make me want to puke:
* the lack of understanding of MPD
* the lack of distinguishing MPD from DID, Schizo and PTSD (very very vague descriptions)
* the good/bad dark/light polarity whose only grey area can be a wounded child--ie innocent powerlessness
* the really weak movement of the plot (ie a ping pong match)
Granted, the average joe reading this plot doesn't know anything about MPD et al, so it will read like a definitive fictional work. That frightens me more.
Potentially positive points, if I could stop chastising myself for finishing it:
* the lauding of spirituality over religion
* the very level handling of christianity and the church in general
* the interesting plot concept (that withered)
* interesting though thinly sketched characters
* the distinction between emotional and psychological abuse
* some nice insights into human nature, which were conveyed to ALL humans, including those in pulpits
It started out interesting, but even by about chapter 10 I was starting to feel that it was all occurring upstairs from The Ropers. That really is my biggest annoyance with the book. Some of the characterizations of MPD were spot on, but explaining it against the backdrop of the other possibilities was kinda negative. I kept reading it because I really did want to know what happened, but not because it was so enthralling that I couldn't put it down. I wanted to hope it was going somewhere Other and not where it was set up to go because it was so poorly done. Why did I pick it up at all? Because it's a book-to-script coming out in theatres later this year that is getting a lot of buzz. harrumph in the end it was exactly what I thought it would be--a watered down homogenized Christian thriller written so as not to really state anything, thus, not offend anyone. Good marketing device, bad bad writing.