A review by depeachymode
Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

In fairness to this book, I listened to the audio version and I have a feeling a lot of my complaints would be made irrelevant by a different narrator. That said, I found it pretty difficult to get into the actual story because the main character’s arc was in many ways very removed from the action; this is not necessarily a failing of the author’s, but I did find myself wishing that her background and perspective played a bit more into the driving events of the novel. It felt like there were two completely separate stories going on, and the only thing connecting them was the main character who happened to be present at the time of the inciting incident. I liked Judith’s story, and I liked the story of the murder and subsequent fallout, but they felt removed from each other in a way that never quite resolved itself for me. There was also some really weird moralistic-sounding stuff about weight and body image that left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, and I’m curious to know what other readers thought. Having said that, I really did enjoy how complex and flawed all of the characters were, especially Judith and Casey; I would read a whole novel about those two and their relationship, it was so lovely.