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A review by perusinghannah
The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
My introduction to Karina Leno was Summer of Salt, and after both loving that one as well as Horrid and You Must Not Miss, I purchased her entire backlog. In 2020. And it just sat there until now, when I finally decided to pick up The Half Life of Molly Pierce.
This book is Leno's debut, and unfortunately it shows. I found nothing of her telltale style I love so much within these pages, and even with the slightly frantic tone in which it was written, it felt overly long for a 230-page book. I felt like it just was not moving in the ways that it should, and was pretty bored because of it.
And then there's the fact that this deals with a very specific mental illness and was written a decade ago. Which just never bodes well, does it? I doubt that the representation was very good even in 2014, but it certainly did not hold up well, and 2024-me has no problem saying that this is one we can leave in the past. I did appreciate the unflinching mention of depression and suicidal ideation in a YA novel, but it's not the main focus of the book and really, it doesn't make up for poor representation elsewhere.
So unfortunately The Half Life of Molly Pierce was a big miss, but that's okay because I already know I love the author's later works. I'm just glad I didn't start with this one.
My introduction to Karina Leno was Summer of Salt, and after both loving that one as well as Horrid and You Must Not Miss, I purchased her entire backlog. In 2020. And it just sat there until now, when I finally decided to pick up The Half Life of Molly Pierce.
This book is Leno's debut, and unfortunately it shows. I found nothing of her telltale style I love so much within these pages, and even with the slightly frantic tone in which it was written, it felt overly long for a 230-page book. I felt like it just was not moving in the ways that it should, and was pretty bored because of it.
And then there's the fact that this deals with a very specific mental illness and was written a decade ago. Which just never bodes well, does it? I doubt that the representation was very good even in 2014, but it certainly did not hold up well, and 2024-me has no problem saying that this is one we can leave in the past. I did appreciate the unflinching mention of depression and suicidal ideation in a YA novel, but it's not the main focus of the book and really, it doesn't make up for poor representation elsewhere.
So unfortunately The Half Life of Molly Pierce was a big miss, but that's okay because I already know I love the author's later works. I'm just glad I didn't start with this one.