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itadakinasu 's review for:
Left Drowning
by Jessica Park
While it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read, Left Drowning missed the mark for me. It had some very strong moments, especially in fleshing out some of the non-romantic relationships and in the occasional witty one-liner. However, it also had plenty of cringey descriptions, an overabundance of internal commentary, and some glaring plot issues.
The beginning was rough to get through for me. Not necessarily because of Blythe's mental state, rather because of the descriptions and internal monologue that try to come across as sarcastic or funny and fail. Partially, this was also caused by unusual behavior on Blythe's end that doesn't come back up later in the story: talking to herself about stupid things, pointless commentary, putting herself down for being a virgin, etc.
Overall, there were moments of genius alongside moments of missed potential and/or over-explanation. Ironically, most of these all stemmed from the same issue: the intensity of the love between the Blythe and Chris. While super-intense love is not really a problem for me (if done properly), there were too many times that I felt myself rolling my eyes at how overly-dramatic the dialogue was between them. Beyond that, there were unnatural situations set up and concluded within the same chapter without really adding anything to to the story. Most of these were very superficial or not at all believable such as.
Pros:
* well-developed non-romantic relationships that are actually significant to the story
* a romance whose steps don't follow traditional linear ones
* well-placed, entertaining one liners
* occasional profound, quotable moments
Cons:
* awkward descriptions
* unrealistic situations set up and resolved in a few pages only to cause tension
* too much internal monologue
* awkward, overly-dramatic dialogue
The beginning was rough to get through for me. Not necessarily because of Blythe's mental state, rather because of the descriptions and internal monologue that try to come across as sarcastic or funny and fail. Partially, this was also caused by unusual behavior on Blythe's end that doesn't come back up later in the story: talking to herself about stupid things, pointless commentary, putting herself down for being a virgin, etc.
Overall, there were moments of genius alongside moments of missed potential and/or over-explanation. Ironically, most of these all stemmed from the same issue: the intensity of the love between the Blythe and Chris. While super-intense love is not really a problem for me (if done properly), there were too many times that I felt myself rolling my eyes at how overly-dramatic the dialogue was between them. Beyond that, there were unnatural situations set up and concluded within the same chapter without really adding anything to to the story. Most of these were very superficial or not at all believable such as
Spoiler
Chris getting engaged to some random classmate and platonic friend Sabin forcefully kissing BlythePros:
* well-developed non-romantic relationships that are actually significant to the story
* a romance whose steps don't follow traditional linear ones
* well-placed, entertaining one liners
* occasional profound, quotable moments
Cons:
* awkward descriptions
* unrealistic situations set up and resolved in a few pages only to cause tension
* too much internal monologue
* awkward, overly-dramatic dialogue