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saraubs 's review for:
Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club
by Megan Gail Coles
I've been sitting around for a couple of days now, thinking (and thinking, and thinking) about how to review this book. In all honesty, I've been truly torn, as I'm not sure that the 2 stars I've settled on will give an accurate representation of what this book is really like. That being said, I don't think I can fairly assign a higher rating, as I am certain I would have stopped reading about a quarter of the way through if this hadn't been our book club's January selection.
Overall, the experience of reading this book was quite poor; there were entire sections that I had to SLOG through, and despite the harrowing circumstances of the characters, I found myself frequently bored. The writing, while not bad, was overly inclusive, repetitive, and could have used a thorough edit.
The real shame is that hidden within these overwritten chunks there are some wickedly funny and deeply profound passages. Coles has a firm grip on the intergenerational trauma that affects outport Newfoundlanders, and she's able to examine it without judgement, which I believe takes true skill. Her appreciation for how relationships grow (and/or fester) and her grasp of the complex psychosocial circumstances that make people act in seemingly incomprehensible ways are particularly impressive. I would love to read some of her short fiction, as I wonder if that medium would help highlight her strengths without falling victim to the same narrative dumping that dragged this novel down.
Overall, the experience of reading this book was quite poor; there were entire sections that I had to SLOG through, and despite the harrowing circumstances of the characters, I found myself frequently bored. The writing, while not bad, was overly inclusive, repetitive, and could have used a thorough edit.
The real shame is that hidden within these overwritten chunks there are some wickedly funny and deeply profound passages. Coles has a firm grip on the intergenerational trauma that affects outport Newfoundlanders, and she's able to examine it without judgement, which I believe takes true skill. Her appreciation for how relationships grow (and/or fester) and her grasp of the complex psychosocial circumstances that make people act in seemingly incomprehensible ways are particularly impressive. I would love to read some of her short fiction, as I wonder if that medium would help highlight her strengths without falling victim to the same narrative dumping that dragged this novel down.