Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by olicooper1
Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda
1.0
My rating: I was between "this is fine" and "I don't care for it at all."
I didn't actively hate this book, which is how I feel with most of my 1-star reviews. There was a lot of promise, like I really wanted more of the early pandemic period. That early time is so underrepresented in media and this was the closest I have seen to capturing the fear and panic of society-- is it crumbling? Will we be whole after this? Is our government going to fail? The collective questioning of systems and people around us-- the pandemic paired with social unrest-- it was a tense and eerie time. It had the makeup of being a character itself in this novel, but... that it was more of a ghost haunting the story than any actual exploration.
The central point of this book seemed to be that women too, are capable of violence and rage. Of course it is about who we all deal with it all that determines our fates. Cool, great start...
There were 4 POVs throughout-- The main two are the central conflict. Florida-- comes frm a privileged background, falls in with the wrong crowd. Lands in prison after getting involved in heavy drugs and becomes an accomplice to murder in the heat of a drug haze. Dios--comes from an underprivileged background, but is granted scholarships. Ultimately lands in prison after defending herself against a rich prick wo attacks her. So, what is the big conflict that brings them together? From what I can gather, the answer is a really disappointing: nothing.
The least involved in the storyline (Kace) felt really pointless. Also, where her POV starts and ends, does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Felt a bit like the author forgot how she started that POV when I read how she ended it.
The last POV introduced, is a detective that is pulled into tracking these two down. She has a lot of internal dialogue and conflict-- which I thought made her the most interesting for a while-- though she's still not likable. And to her internal conflict, her character's resolution also makes little to no sense to me.
Over all it read pretty okay. The pace kept moving. Some of the prose was quite beautiful-- except the employ of food metaphors when she described violent events, I didn't so much care for those. In the end, I wanted more from setting as character and more out of the character development and motivation.
I didn't actively hate this book, which is how I feel with most of my 1-star reviews. There was a lot of promise, like I really wanted more of the early pandemic period. That early time is so underrepresented in media and this was the closest I have seen to capturing the fear and panic of society-- is it crumbling? Will we be whole after this? Is our government going to fail? The collective questioning of systems and people around us-- the pandemic paired with social unrest-- it was a tense and eerie time. It had the makeup of being a character itself in this novel, but... that it was more of a ghost haunting the story than any actual exploration.
The central point of this book seemed to be that women too, are capable of violence and rage. Of course it is about who we all deal with it all that determines our fates. Cool, great start...
There were 4 POVs throughout-- The main two are the central conflict. Florida-- comes frm a privileged background, falls in with the wrong crowd. Lands in prison after getting involved in heavy drugs and becomes an accomplice to murder in the heat of a drug haze. Dios--comes from an underprivileged background, but is granted scholarships. Ultimately lands in prison after defending herself against a rich prick wo attacks her. So, what is the big conflict that brings them together? From what I can gather, the answer is a really disappointing: nothing.
Spoiler
Dios relentlessly pursues Florida in order to show Florida she is violent by nature, just like Dios. First, it felt like there was no support to show that Dios was inherently violent, but rather is a victim of circumstance. She was at the wrong end of someone wielding the power and money, to take her freedom away from her. That is the act that seems to reinforce her feeling that this life of violence is unavoidable for her-- she can't escape it, so why not embrace it. Further, her pursuit to convince Florida to wise her up to her own inherent violence lacks motivation. The entire time, I kept asking: why? There was little to no reason. During a prison riot, Dios witnessed Florida beating up a fellow inmate and Florida tried to keep it a secret. ... I don't know, it would have made a lot more sense if Dios decided she didn't like Florida because she represented the privileged class that was responsible for sending Dios to prison. Classic projecting. Understandable. A sort of noble desire to reveal a person's true nature to themselves... not so much.The least involved in the storyline (Kace) felt really pointless. Also, where her POV starts and ends, does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Felt a bit like the author forgot how she started that POV when I read how she ended it.
The last POV introduced, is a detective that is pulled into tracking these two down. She has a lot of internal dialogue and conflict-- which I thought made her the most interesting for a while-- though she's still not likable. And to her internal conflict, her character's resolution also makes little to no sense to me.
Over all it read pretty okay. The pace kept moving. Some of the prose was quite beautiful-- except the employ of food metaphors when she described violent events, I didn't so much care for those. In the end, I wanted more from setting as character and more out of the character development and motivation.