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fari 's review for:
The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett
by Chelsea Sedoti
DID NOT FINISH
**Thank you to Raincoast for providing me with an ARC for review.
A girl from Hawthorn’s town goes missing after a camping trip and, seeing how boring her town is, the event is exciting. Though at first Hawthorn didn’t truly believe that Lizzie Lovett was missing and thought that she would turn up sooner or later, as days passed and Lizzie remained unseen, Hawthorn started to get more and more curious. As the town moves on, Hawthorn takes it upon herself to figure out the mystery that she had no interest in before.
I stopped reading the book on page 240 because it took me fifteen (15) days to read just that many pages and this book is 380. I could feel myself slipping into a reading slump and was not up for reading the book for another two weeks or so. It wouldn’t have been fair to me if I forced myself to finish the book, read only one book that month because of it and also slipped into a reading slump, so into the DNF pile this book goes.
I didn’t like the writing in this book. It used words like “totally” and “kinda” in ordinary sentences in order to be Relatable™ but it failed miserably, I found. I couldn’t get into the world because I kept noticing these words. I understand that these are viable contractions or words that could be used in everyday language and so I wouldn’t mind them in dialogue but when they’re used in a normal sentences, or both in the same sentence, I lose my mind a little. Also, the sentence structure seems very immature and I just didn’t enjoy it at all. It may not bother other people too much but I’m very particular.
I didn’t enjoy Hawthorn’s character at all. She is self-obsessed and has an abundance of self-pity. She is constantly going on about how she was the only person in the school who didn’t go to the dance (because she didn’t have a date! Like, in which rule book ever has it been necessary to have a date to go to a dance? Going stag with friends is so much fun!), and whines about it every chance she gets, even though we find out that her best friend (a person to go stag with. Or just ask her to the dance, like ffs, I don’t know.) didn’t go either! At first, I was quite sympathetic towards her because she recounted getting bullied in occasions and saying that she was the one person who didn’t fit in at all but from various examples and interactions, I’ve found that that’s simply not true. She also doesn’t treat her friend well and I can’t be sympathetic towards someone for having no friends if they don’t respect their friend or put effort into the relationship. She is also very hypocritical and that is one trait I truly loathe.
Hawthorn also became friends with Enzo, Lizzie’s (ex?)boyfriend and it made me so uncomfortable. Like, she’s 17 and he is 25 and she goes on expeditions with him while there is a possibility that he killed Lizzie. Hawthorn is adamant that Enzo didn’t harm Lizzie even before she properly met him and it perpetuates the idea that you can tell whether someone committed a crime or not simply by looking at them. It’s toxic, the way she was so convinced that he was a loving boyfriend (and Lizzie possibly used him) instead of ever entertaining the possibility that he may have a hand in what went on the night Lizzie went missing. Also, there are romantic undertones and I have no clue how it ended or where it went but I really hope they didn’t date or something. Some people already thought they were dating from where I stopped and she had asked him to Homecoming (in a mostly platonic way). I just couldn’t deal with it and it was so uncomfortable.
An incredibly forgettable book and I highly doubt I will pick it up again. I don’t even have the energy to truly rant and pick the book apart, just thinking about it drains the energy out of me.
A girl from Hawthorn’s town goes missing after a camping trip and, seeing how boring her town is, the event is exciting. Though at first Hawthorn didn’t truly believe that Lizzie Lovett was missing and thought that she would turn up sooner or later, as days passed and Lizzie remained unseen, Hawthorn started to get more and more curious. As the town moves on, Hawthorn takes it upon herself to figure out the mystery that she had no interest in before.
I stopped reading the book on page 240 because it took me fifteen (15) days to read just that many pages and this book is 380. I could feel myself slipping into a reading slump and was not up for reading the book for another two weeks or so. It wouldn’t have been fair to me if I forced myself to finish the book, read only one book that month because of it and also slipped into a reading slump, so into the DNF pile this book goes.
[...] it was kinda boring, but not totally boring...
I didn’t like the writing in this book. It used words like “totally” and “kinda” in ordinary sentences in order to be Relatable™ but it failed miserably, I found. I couldn’t get into the world because I kept noticing these words. I understand that these are viable contractions or words that could be used in everyday language and so I wouldn’t mind them in dialogue but when they’re used in a normal sentences, or both in the same sentence, I lose my mind a little. Also, the sentence structure seems very immature and I just didn’t enjoy it at all. It may not bother other people too much but I’m very particular.
I didn’t enjoy Hawthorn’s character at all. She is self-obsessed and has an abundance of self-pity. She is constantly going on about how she was the only person in the school who didn’t go to the dance (because she didn’t have a date! Like, in which rule book ever has it been necessary to have a date to go to a dance? Going stag with friends is so much fun!), and whines about it every chance she gets, even though we find out that her best friend (a person to go stag with. Or just ask her to the dance, like ffs, I don’t know.) didn’t go either! At first, I was quite sympathetic towards her because she recounted getting bullied in occasions and saying that she was the one person who didn’t fit in at all but from various examples and interactions, I’ve found that that’s simply not true. She also doesn’t treat her friend well and I can’t be sympathetic towards someone for having no friends if they don’t respect their friend or put effort into the relationship. She is also very hypocritical and that is one trait I truly loathe.
Hawthorn also became friends with Enzo, Lizzie’s (ex?)boyfriend and it made me so uncomfortable. Like, she’s 17 and he is 25 and she goes on expeditions with him while there is a possibility that he killed Lizzie. Hawthorn is adamant that Enzo didn’t harm Lizzie even before she properly met him and it perpetuates the idea that you can tell whether someone committed a crime or not simply by looking at them. It’s toxic, the way she was so convinced that he was a loving boyfriend (and Lizzie possibly used him) instead of ever entertaining the possibility that he may have a hand in what went on the night Lizzie went missing. Also, there are romantic undertones and I have no clue how it ended or where it went but I really hope they didn’t date or something. Some people already thought they were dating from where I stopped and she had asked him to Homecoming (in a mostly platonic way). I just couldn’t deal with it and it was so uncomfortable.
An incredibly forgettable book and I highly doubt I will pick it up again. I don’t even have the energy to truly rant and pick the book apart, just thinking about it drains the energy out of me.