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A review by croscot
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I think I haven't been this angry with a book since Night Without End. There was not a single thing I liked. Not a single character I could empathise with because they were bland, no meat on those hollow bones. The writing was either pompous and pretentious 90% of the time, or so boring and abrupt that I started wondering how it passed the editing stage.
I also have a slight suspicion that Alex Michaelides doesn't really know how to write a dialogue between two women, because what the actual fuck was that conversation between Lana and Kate in the flashback, at Kate's house? Compare it to dialogues between Lana and Elliot, the narrator: incessant talking (mostly from Elliot), constant attempts at wit and wisdom (exclusively from Elliot), lengthy discussions of feelings and trauma. And then Lana and Kate: Yes. No. Oh God. Ok. Yes. Stop. Well.
Like...
Ok... Yeah, sure, that's how women, FRIENDS, talk to each other, mhm...
Was it supposed to show how self-obsessed Elliot was and how little value he thought Lana's conversations had with people other than him? I'm sure it could've been done in a more impressive way.
Then there's the whole "unreliable narrator" thing. Learning that Elliot was withholding some information might've been fun the first couple of times. But the endless cat-and-mouse with the reader, "and here's what happened. SIKE! I actually lied before, that's not how it happened, but here's the truth now. OR IS IT??? I lied again! but no, really, now comes the tru--- NOPE, another lie!", was so so exhausting to power through! Elliot makes several claims that he was not an actual writer, hence some of the inconsistencies in the story, but... man, he was written by a real, published author, who thought that gaslighting the reader in such a tiresome way would be a good idea. Again, it could've been handled in a better way.
My last criticism is about the "deeply disturbed man obsesses over weak woman" trope. The Fury is practically The Silent Patient, but in a different font. Maybe it's time to write characters other than men with severe saviour complex, who see women in only one light - where they are in constant need of saving, where they are so so silly and can't make rational decisions? One book like that is cool. Two? With weirdly similar motives for the narrator and"but it is I!" twists? Come on. I haven't read The Maidens yet, but the bar could not be lower.
I also have a slight suspicion that Alex Michaelides doesn't really know how to write a dialogue between two women, because what the actual fuck was that conversation between Lana and Kate in the flashback, at Kate's house? Compare it to dialogues between Lana and Elliot, the narrator: incessant talking (mostly from Elliot), constant attempts at wit and wisdom (exclusively from Elliot), lengthy discussions of feelings and trauma. And then Lana and Kate: Yes. No. Oh God. Ok. Yes. Stop. Well.
Like...
Ok... Yeah, sure, that's how women, FRIENDS, talk to each other, mhm...
Was it supposed to show how self-obsessed Elliot was and how little value he thought Lana's conversations had with people other than him? I'm sure it could've been done in a more impressive way.
Then there's the whole "unreliable narrator" thing. Learning that Elliot was withholding some information might've been fun the first couple of times. But the endless cat-and-mouse with the reader, "and here's what happened. SIKE! I actually lied before, that's not how it happened, but here's the truth now. OR IS IT??? I lied again! but no, really, now comes the tru--- NOPE, another lie!", was so so exhausting to power through! Elliot makes several claims that he was not an actual writer, hence some of the inconsistencies in the story, but... man, he was written by a real, published author, who thought that gaslighting the reader in such a tiresome way would be a good idea. Again, it could've been handled in a better way.
My last criticism is about the "deeply disturbed man obsesses over weak woman" trope. The Fury is practically The Silent Patient, but in a different font. Maybe it's time to write characters other than men with severe saviour complex, who see women in only one light - where they are in constant need of saving, where they are so so silly and can't make rational decisions? One book like that is cool. Two? With weirdly similar motives for the narrator and