A review by thewordsdevourer
One Hundred Days: A Novel by Alice Pung, Alice Pung

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

While One Hundred Days is certainly good from a technical standpoint, I cannot say that I enjoyed or liked it, as this is perhaps one of the most emotionally exhausting books I have ever read. 

Mar's emotional manipulation and warped reasoning were endless and relentless throughout the book, making it a bleak, exhausting read despite the complex characters, Pung's adept character study of Karuna, and the depiction of how adults and people with power almost always let young people and those seeking help down. The small, all-too-brief moments of joy or light and the constant barrage of frustrating development and plot loops make the resolution too little and too late for me, though realistic.

There will definitely be people who enjoy or relate to this novel and find it maybe even an essential read, but the book is just not for me.
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