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mtherobot 's review for:
Compound Fracture
by Andrew Joseph White
i did not like it 👍
to be fair, i also didn't like white's last book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. i found it morally and politically shallow. but there were some really cool ideas there, an interesting and admirable approach to horror, and i hoped that the shallowness i observed was function of that book's protagonist's particular personality, rather than a fundamental quality of white's writing.
so that egg is on my face, i guess! because in compound fracture, white doubles down on everything that i found grating in spirit -- the shallowness, the hamfisted morality, the absolute refusal to dwell on complexity or allow his protagonists to be wrong in even the most minor of ways. and layered on top is this obnoxious affectation of country-isms that could make tom sawyer seem a subtle depiction of the american south. maybe it's just that it's closer to home (literally) for me since i'm from a nearby area myself, but while i understand from white's introduction that he is himself from west virginia (or his family is?), in style and substance it felt more characteristic of the kind of twitter progressive posturing than anything i recognize from my own experiences. all of that is to say -- lesson learned! no more andrew joseph white for me.
that being said, if you enjoy the idea of a "john brown did nothing wrong uwu" t-shirt i'm sure this is the kind of book that will really appeal to you.
thnx anyway netgalley!!
to be fair, i also didn't like white's last book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. i found it morally and politically shallow. but there were some really cool ideas there, an interesting and admirable approach to horror, and i hoped that the shallowness i observed was function of that book's protagonist's particular personality, rather than a fundamental quality of white's writing.
so that egg is on my face, i guess! because in compound fracture, white doubles down on everything that i found grating in spirit -- the shallowness, the hamfisted morality, the absolute refusal to dwell on complexity or allow his protagonists to be wrong in even the most minor of ways. and layered on top is this obnoxious affectation of country-isms that could make tom sawyer seem a subtle depiction of the american south. maybe it's just that it's closer to home (literally) for me since i'm from a nearby area myself, but while i understand from white's introduction that he is himself from west virginia (or his family is?), in style and substance it felt more characteristic of the kind of twitter progressive posturing than anything i recognize from my own experiences. all of that is to say -- lesson learned! no more andrew joseph white for me.
that being said, if you enjoy the idea of a "john brown did nothing wrong uwu" t-shirt i'm sure this is the kind of book that will really appeal to you.
thnx anyway netgalley!!