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A review by chloe1160
The Engagement by Chloe Hooper
2.0
This book was a disappointment. I wasn't much going in to it anyway, as it was a book which I had to read for a university class, and one that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise.
The plot had potential, and was quite enjoyable at times. I was looking forward to figuring out how it ended, and what happened to our two main characters: Alexander and Liese. I found it extremely disappointing and it almost seemed quite lazy. I think this was largely because all of the buildup, like the makeup and clothes were all revealed to be (mostly) innocent, and the whole thing was put down to daddy issues.
The characters were quite painful throughout the book. I understand the concept of an unreliable narrator, but this doesn't mean stupid or two dimensional. However, Liese was bearable, and definitely not the worst part of this book. Alexander on the other hand, was never fully fleshed out, and left me feeling like the author didn't really know what she wanted to do with him.
Both characters left me not really caring what happened to them, and the only reason why I finished was to find a resolution- which never actually happened.
Hands down the most annoying part of this book was all of the nature metaphors. I mean, they are going to be great to write about in essays, but reading them was painful. We understand that the nature can be symbolic of the character's situation and personality the first ten times you say it. You can stop. Luckily, she did stop for the middle of the book, but I did groan when once again nature was bought up as a metaphor near the end of the book. I would have been fine with it all if it wasn't so blatantly said and explained. Liese literally makes the connection herself and spells it out for the reader. EVERY. TIME.
All up, I did not enjoy this book, however I gave it two star, because without the nature metaphors it was enjoyable, and the plot had potential before it started getting ridiculous near the end. The characters however were a let down.
The plot had potential, and was quite enjoyable at times. I was looking forward to figuring out how it ended, and what happened to our two main characters: Alexander and Liese. I found it extremely disappointing and it almost seemed quite lazy.
The characters were quite painful throughout the book. I understand the concept of an unreliable narrator, but this doesn't mean stupid or two dimensional. However, Liese was bearable, and definitely not the worst part of this book. Alexander on the other hand, was never fully fleshed out, and left me feeling like the author didn't really know what she wanted to do with him.
Both characters left me not really caring what happened to them, and the only reason why I finished was to find a resolution- which never actually happened.
Hands down the most annoying part of this book was all of the nature metaphors. I mean, they are going to be great to write about in essays, but reading them was painful. We understand that the nature can be symbolic of the character's situation and personality the first ten times you say it. You can stop. Luckily, she did stop for the middle of the book, but I did groan when once again nature was bought up as a metaphor near the end of the book. I would have been fine with it all if it wasn't so blatantly said and explained. Liese literally makes the connection herself and spells it out for the reader. EVERY. TIME.
All up, I did not enjoy this book, however I gave it two star, because without the nature metaphors it was enjoyable, and the plot had potential before it started getting ridiculous near the end. The characters however were a let down.