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A review by katiem310
Misrecognition by Madison Newbound
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Madison Newbound for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publishing.
Misrecognition hit a lot (A LOT) of my interests upon reading the synopsis on NG. I’ve been trying to find more queer MC’s that don’t fall into the poorly written queer/questioning category. Unfortunately, I am DNF’ing this book for the time being at 28% (3/12/24).
Much like several other reviewers have said, I’m unsure if this MC’s voice is a deliberate choice or not. I can get where it could be going with the depression aspect, because depression makes people behave in a variety of ways... but she is just so... unremarkable. And the lack of remarkable traits is making this incredibly hard to get through.
The way that Newbound/Elsa presents new characters is ~bizarre~ to me. I’ve honestly been reading this book as someone who’s encountering someone else (Elsa) who has main character syndrome and no one else matters and I’m unfortunately along for the ride. Which would normally be fine if the person with the MCS was interesting... but Elsa is falling incredibly flat and I can’t find it in me to continue trudging through this book because of it right now. I’m also finding it hard to picture any of the characters, they’re just floating orbs in my mind as I read, honestly. There’s nothing about them that conjures any type of character build. You could present me with a group of randomly generated Sims characters, tell me that’s what the characters look like, and I’d shrug and say okay.
The only thing I can appreciate about the writing right now is the vague approach to speaking about social media/pop culture references that has been utilized so far. However, and this is a big however, they’re not vague enough and the references are still going to be outdated within a handful of years or so (the Marie Kondo reference is already dated because I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone bring her up), and the way Newbound writes them (and the way Elsa’s voice presents them) sounds so incredibly insulting? Condescending? I could be reading it incorrectly, honestly... I probably am, but I don’t want to be womansplained as to what an IG story is and how it works as if I don’t spam my friends-only story with animal memes on a daily basis.
The tone for this book right now seems like the author/MC finds the reader stupid, which I am not... so that’s another tick in the dislike column.
Also after reading GR reviews for this book, I’ve come to find out that the actor-character is !!allegedly!! the modern-day embodiment of a sick Victorian child, Timothee Chalamet, and that alone is enough to make me roll my eyes hard enough to induce a Category-5 migraine. I don’t understand the hold he has on everyone, and I am tired of it :) . Maybe if I visualize the actor-character as someone else, I won’t be annoyed.
I will likely let this book sit and come back to it. Right now, reading this is not doing me any favors mentally (because it’s wholly uninteresting and not captivating in the slightest, so it isn’t keeping my attention) and it’s been putting me to sleep whenever I’ve tried to read it.
Hello, me again. It's now the 20th and I am no less confused or annoyed than I was when I started writing this.
Nothing interesting happened until the last 15% of the book. I wish I could have just read that part with zero context needed. It would have been a perfect short story. None of the earlier 85% felt needed, truly. It was so repetitive. SO repetitive. And I understand that breakups and relationships can be very trying. I still find myself psychoanalyzing everything I said and did in my last relationship and wondering what could have happened if I said a different word in a particular sentence. I still find myself unfortunately wondering what they're up to now, even though we ended things under the guise of friendship but don't talk. The ~after~ is weird. But this book lacked any real substance for me and I find that unfortunate. I had moderately high expectations for this book based off of the synopsis.
Elsa doesn't get any less flat as the story progresses. Probably because her character progression doesn't face much change either. Sure she starts to emerge from her shell but it's mayyybe... Five percent of the book?? At the end. I'm not willing to say she gets better as a charter when you compare that five percent to the remaining ninety five.
Between the weird pacing, the weird interactions, the weird way Elsa referred to people (the person called Sam, the actor-character), and the bizarre fragmented sentences/thoughts... I don't know how to really put thoughts to digital paper.
I can't see myself recommending this to anyone I know, unfortunately. There's definitely a niche for this book but I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly what it would be/be called.
Thank you again to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Madison Newbound for the ARC opportunity. I look forward to being given more of these opportunities in the future.
Misrecognition hit a lot (A LOT) of my interests upon reading the synopsis on NG. I’ve been trying to find more queer MC’s that don’t fall into the poorly written queer/questioning category. Unfortunately, I am DNF’ing this book for the time being at 28% (3/12/24).
Much like several other reviewers have said, I’m unsure if this MC’s voice is a deliberate choice or not. I can get where it could be going with the depression aspect, because depression makes people behave in a variety of ways... but she is just so... unremarkable. And the lack of remarkable traits is making this incredibly hard to get through.
The way that Newbound/Elsa presents new characters is ~bizarre~ to me. I’ve honestly been reading this book as someone who’s encountering someone else (Elsa) who has main character syndrome and no one else matters and I’m unfortunately along for the ride. Which would normally be fine if the person with the MCS was interesting... but Elsa is falling incredibly flat and I can’t find it in me to continue trudging through this book because of it right now. I’m also finding it hard to picture any of the characters, they’re just floating orbs in my mind as I read, honestly. There’s nothing about them that conjures any type of character build. You could present me with a group of randomly generated Sims characters, tell me that’s what the characters look like, and I’d shrug and say okay.
The only thing I can appreciate about the writing right now is the vague approach to speaking about social media/pop culture references that has been utilized so far. However, and this is a big however, they’re not vague enough and the references are still going to be outdated within a handful of years or so (the Marie Kondo reference is already dated because I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone bring her up), and the way Newbound writes them (and the way Elsa’s voice presents them) sounds so incredibly insulting? Condescending? I could be reading it incorrectly, honestly... I probably am, but I don’t want to be womansplained as to what an IG story is and how it works as if I don’t spam my friends-only story with animal memes on a daily basis.
The tone for this book right now seems like the author/MC finds the reader stupid, which I am not... so that’s another tick in the dislike column.
Also after reading GR reviews for this book, I’ve come to find out that the actor-character is !!allegedly!! the modern-day embodiment of a sick Victorian child, Timothee Chalamet, and that alone is enough to make me roll my eyes hard enough to induce a Category-5 migraine. I don’t understand the hold he has on everyone, and I am tired of it :) . Maybe if I visualize the actor-character as someone else, I won’t be annoyed.
I will likely let this book sit and come back to it. Right now, reading this is not doing me any favors mentally (because it’s wholly uninteresting and not captivating in the slightest, so it isn’t keeping my attention) and it’s been putting me to sleep whenever I’ve tried to read it.
Hello, me again. It's now the 20th and I am no less confused or annoyed than I was when I started writing this.
Nothing interesting happened until the last 15% of the book. I wish I could have just read that part with zero context needed. It would have been a perfect short story. None of the earlier 85% felt needed, truly. It was so repetitive. SO repetitive. And I understand that breakups and relationships can be very trying. I still find myself psychoanalyzing everything I said and did in my last relationship and wondering what could have happened if I said a different word in a particular sentence. I still find myself unfortunately wondering what they're up to now, even though we ended things under the guise of friendship but don't talk. The ~after~ is weird. But this book lacked any real substance for me and I find that unfortunate. I had moderately high expectations for this book based off of the synopsis.
Elsa doesn't get any less flat as the story progresses. Probably because her character progression doesn't face much change either. Sure she starts to emerge from her shell but it's mayyybe... Five percent of the book?? At the end. I'm not willing to say she gets better as a charter when you compare that five percent to the remaining ninety five.
Between the weird pacing, the weird interactions, the weird way Elsa referred to people (the person called Sam, the actor-character), and the bizarre fragmented sentences/thoughts... I don't know how to really put thoughts to digital paper.
I can't see myself recommending this to anyone I know, unfortunately. There's definitely a niche for this book but I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly what it would be/be called.
Thank you again to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Madison Newbound for the ARC opportunity. I look forward to being given more of these opportunities in the future.