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A review by dylansb
Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
2.0
Thought I was going to love this book based on the description - having grown up in inner London myself there was plenty I recognised within the novel, moments, feelings and people and even laughed at in moments that I could relate to or drew out long forgotten memories of being a teenager. However as the book wore on it felt like a bit of a slog, very repetitive, both narratively and stylistically due to the use of MLE, the language wore a bit thin ie. Using batty 5 times in like 2 pages instead of just switching it up to ass or something similar.
Given the novel was based on Krauze’s own life I did not necessarily expect there to be character arcs as life is not a novel or film, however it felt like there was a lack of introspection that would have added a lot more value to the overall book.
There were definitely certainly pieces of writing that I thought were beautifully written and perfectly astute and that’s when this novel shines through, however there just weren’t enough of those and I found this book tough to finish. I’d be interested to see what else krauze produces given this is his first novel
Given the novel was based on Krauze’s own life I did not necessarily expect there to be character arcs as life is not a novel or film, however it felt like there was a lack of introspection that would have added a lot more value to the overall book.
There were definitely certainly pieces of writing that I thought were beautifully written and perfectly astute and that’s when this novel shines through, however there just weren’t enough of those and I found this book tough to finish. I’d be interested to see what else krauze produces given this is his first novel