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A review by neandering
The Otherworld by Abbie Emmons
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
This is Emmons third book, and the third I've read by her. After the first two, I orinally thought her books were just simple and straightforward. Her writing style is clear and pleasant, and her story structure is incredibly coherent and thoughtful. With a relatively direct thesis, I thought her books were just intended to be fun, sweet, romantic, and overall easy reads. Now, am beginning to get the sense that the commonality between these characteristics might actually be naivete.
I enjoy Emmon's Youtube videos. One piece of advice she frequently gives is to write about something you believe and deeply care about, and have that as the main theme of the book. She also emphasizes the importance of planning all aspects of story out. Both recommendations show through very clearly in her writing, but in the case of Otherworld, at the book's expense. Her approach is good in theory, but I have found that her desire to write a story around a belief she already has, along with her templated story structure, results in the book neglecting the depth and nuance of the scenarios she creates in order to serve her main argument. I mentioned in my reviews of 100DoS that she neglects to consider the experiences of disabled people in order to argue that "we shouldn't let the world or even ourselves hold us back," resulting in not only harmful rhetoric but also a poorly developed theme. This similarly rings true in this book. That is to say, rather than investigating the experiences of her characters, and give depth to themes, readers are pulled through every plot beat so we can get to the predetermined resolution and be none the wiser to the tragedy, loneliness, and desire experienced by this books main character, Orca.
I wish this book spent more time giving depth to her characters in this book. Unfortunately, I could not help but feel there were certain agendas at every corner of this book. Significant age gaps are fine, good even. Fun, interesting, desirable women are naive and pure. Women who don't want to be mothers are shallow, cruel, and frivolous. Politics aside, I can't help but think that, for an author who emphasizes giving characters meaningful stories, that Emmon's isn't interested in doing this when it doesn't serve her plot. Again, her books don't investigate issues or strive to give understanding to these conflicts, they are intended to tell a very particular story. Her portrayals are incredibly simplistic (including her notions of "philosophy") and leave the reader pulled through an incredibly fast paced book with little of interest to say.
I'm not particularly interested in going further in depth into her books, as multiple other reviewers have described similar issues with this books pacing, plotline, and characters, but i take their critiques to largely by in line with my own.
I enjoy Emmon's Youtube videos. One piece of advice she frequently gives is to write about something you believe and deeply care about, and have that as the main theme of the book. She also emphasizes the importance of planning all aspects of story out. Both recommendations show through very clearly in her writing, but in the case of Otherworld, at the book's expense. Her approach is good in theory, but I have found that her desire to write a story around a belief she already has, along with her templated story structure, results in the book neglecting the depth and nuance of the scenarios she creates in order to serve her main argument. I mentioned in my reviews of 100DoS that she neglects to consider the experiences of disabled people in order to argue that "we shouldn't let the world or even ourselves hold us back," resulting in not only harmful rhetoric but also a poorly developed theme. This similarly rings true in this book. That is to say, rather than investigating the experiences of her characters, and give depth to themes, readers are pulled through every plot beat so we can get to the predetermined resolution and be none the wiser to the tragedy, loneliness, and desire experienced by this books main character, Orca.
I wish this book spent more time giving depth to her characters in this book. Unfortunately, I could not help but feel there were certain agendas at every corner of this book. Significant age gaps are fine, good even. Fun, interesting, desirable women are naive and pure. Women who don't want to be mothers are shallow, cruel, and frivolous. Politics aside, I can't help but think that, for an author who emphasizes giving characters meaningful stories, that Emmon's isn't interested in doing this when it doesn't serve her plot. Again, her books don't investigate issues or strive to give understanding to these conflicts, they are intended to tell a very particular story. Her portrayals are incredibly simplistic (including her notions of "philosophy") and leave the reader pulled through an incredibly fast paced book with little of interest to say.
I'm not particularly interested in going further in depth into her books, as multiple other reviewers have described similar issues with this books pacing, plotline, and characters, but i take their critiques to largely by in line with my own.