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A review by emilyusuallyreading
Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
3.0
What I Liked
I read this in a single sitting. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to just know what was going on.
The use of the five senses was phenomenal in this book. Things were mentioned that put me right in each scene (for example, mentioning the imprint of grass on thighs after sitting outside). This novel is tangible and not only written.
I enjoyed the switching back and forth between past and present. This isn't always a technique that I like, but for a mystery like this one, it helped pieces of the puzzle slide together slowly while also adding to that sense of total confusion.
What I Didn't Like
There didn't seem to be much of a plot. There wasn't a story arc at all, if you think about it. Win certainly didn't change throughout the novel, unless you count the flashbacks to the present... but even then, he was always the strange, tormented boy. (I guess he changed in the last few pages, but that didn't bring the story to much of an arc.) The biggest arc of the story was the "big reveal," which began to feel like page after page was written only to create the anticipation. I wanted more than a big reveal because it was pretty easy early on to guess what that would be.
I read this in a single sitting. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to just know what was going on.
Spoiler
Pretty early on, I realized that mental illness or trauma of some sort was the issue over something supernatural. However, this is a fine little mystery. I just wanted to know, even it meant putting aside everything else in life until I put down the book.The use of the five senses was phenomenal in this book. Things were mentioned that put me right in each scene (for example, mentioning the imprint of grass on thighs after sitting outside). This novel is tangible and not only written.
I enjoyed the switching back and forth between past and present. This isn't always a technique that I like, but for a mystery like this one, it helped pieces of the puzzle slide together slowly while also adding to that sense of total confusion.
What I Didn't Like
Spoiler
While this was certainly an interesting take on abuse, it was still yet another young adult novel about someone abused with a horrible past. And perhaps I'm getting tired of seeing that, again and again.There didn't seem to be much of a plot. There wasn't a story arc at all, if you think about it. Win certainly didn't change throughout the novel, unless you count the flashbacks to the present... but even then, he was always the strange, tormented boy. (I guess he changed in the last few pages, but that didn't bring the story to much of an arc.) The biggest arc of the story was the "big reveal," which began to feel like page after page was written only to create the anticipation. I wanted more than a big reveal because it was pretty easy early on to guess what that would be.