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looferdoofer 's review for:
Murder at The Bookstore
by Sue Minix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Oh dear.
This book is a really bizarre and frustrating combination of decent writing and appalling storytelling. Most frustrating of all is that this is actually a relatively easy problem to fix, it just hasn’t been done!
For instance, the cast is bloated - at least half could have been cut and the story would’ve been unharmed (and potentially better off). The way Jen engages with the world through the eyes of her characters is a really fun narrative device that was woefully underused. Who the hell are these characters, and why does everyone Jen meets seem to have loved them so much? Please show us!!!
I was also disappointed in the mystery, especially as I figured out whodunnit a chapter or so in - again, this could’ve been an easy fix. Although the writing itself was largely decent, the way clothes were described was very Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way-esque, eg. ‘I wiped the condensation on my grey sweatpants’, ‘I wiggled my toes in my roomy, sensible flats, which matched my navy-blue pantsuit and baby-blue blouse.’ (A good time to mention that I in fact took multiple breaks from this book to read My Immortal instead.)
And most egregious of all, despite what the cover would have you believe, there is not a cat to be found in this!!! (This is obviously not Minix’s fault, but worth mentioning)
In spite of everything, I do believe that there is a genuinely interesting story here. Somewhere. It just needs a hell of a lot more polishing.
This book is a really bizarre and frustrating combination of decent writing and appalling storytelling. Most frustrating of all is that this is actually a relatively easy problem to fix, it just hasn’t been done!
For instance, the cast is bloated - at least half could have been cut and the story would’ve been unharmed (and potentially better off). The way Jen engages with the world through the eyes of her characters is a really fun narrative device that was woefully underused. Who the hell are these characters, and why does everyone Jen meets seem to have loved them so much? Please show us!!!
I was also disappointed in the mystery, especially as I figured out whodunnit a chapter or so in - again, this could’ve been an easy fix. Although the writing itself was largely decent, the way clothes were described was very Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way-esque, eg. ‘I wiped the condensation on my grey sweatpants’, ‘I wiggled my toes in my roomy, sensible flats, which matched my navy-blue pantsuit and baby-blue blouse.’ (A good time to mention that I in fact took multiple breaks from this book to read My Immortal instead.)
And most egregious of all, despite what the cover would have you believe, there is not a cat to be found in this!!! (This is obviously not Minix’s fault, but worth mentioning)
In spite of everything, I do believe that there is a genuinely interesting story here. Somewhere. It just needs a hell of a lot more polishing.