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sofy_s 's review for:
The Seventh Veil of Salome
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very close to not finishing due to simplistic writing style, too much 'telling not showing' and recurrent exposition of same emotions: Vera's self-doubt and the laboured toxic mother/daughter relationship.
But it improved at the end from Salome's dance onward, the pace picked up, with some adroit structuring.
This is an exophone work and it shows in some unnatural word choices that jar. Moreno-Garcia's editor should have helped her with this. (I haven't read much work by other non-native speakers writing in English to compare this to. Perhaps only Joseph Conrad? Didn't suspect on reading he wasn't a native speaker. There's Kaz Ishiguro but he went to school in the UK, so he's a native speaker according to linguists.) Otherwise, in many places the writing is beautiful. Digging a little into her background, it looks like she had a hit with Mexican Gothic and since then the publisher's been pushing her books out, in my opinion, without adequate editing.
Too many other books to read so won't be reading this author again. Was pulled in by the intriguing premise and gorgeous cover art.
But it improved at the end from Salome's dance onward, the pace picked up, with some adroit structuring.
This is an exophone work and it shows in some unnatural word choices that jar. Moreno-Garcia's editor should have helped her with this. (I haven't read much work by other non-native speakers writing in English to compare this to. Perhaps only Joseph Conrad? Didn't suspect on reading he wasn't a native speaker. There's Kaz Ishiguro but he went to school in the UK, so he's a native speaker according to linguists.) Otherwise, in many places the writing is beautiful. Digging a little into her background, it looks like she had a hit with Mexican Gothic and since then the publisher's been pushing her books out, in my opinion, without adequate editing.
Too many other books to read so won't be reading this author again. Was pulled in by the intriguing premise and gorgeous cover art.