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A review by innerweststreetlibrarian
The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
2.0
I had misgivings early on about this book and nearly abandoned it after chapter 2. In hindsight, that probably would have been the right course of action for me. I can’t really do a review without lots of spoilers so here goes:
Bart is insufferable, he comes across as a bit of a stalker with creepy incel vibes, and yet he’s the love interest? Doug has no consideration for his daughter. JUST TELL HER WHAT IS HAPPENING. Max has no redeeming features. Anana/Alice is a poor choice of narrator. Some chapters are so boring I literally skipped ahead, something I almost never do (and not the aphasic bits, even though they were hard work too). The plot makes little sense. WHY is Doug on the run? WHY is the editor of a DICTIONARY suddenly an expert on medical treatments for viral infections? WHY is his artist/admin assistant daughter SO IMPORTANT that she needs to be smuggled out of the country, breaching quarantine regulations, but not deserving of a simple explanation of what was going on? Why keep calling her Alice? Nothing that happened really seemed like it needed any real secrecy at all.
The plot felt like it was tied up in a lazy technophobic cliche, “oh, let’s blame sinister foreign hacker terrorists, that’ll do”, instead of actually coming up with something that made sense. You can’t just absolve everyone who does shitty nefarious things because of corporate greed etc. to miraculously redeem everyone at the end. Max was not a good guy, not to anyone, and especially not his girlfriend. “Oh, but he really loved you... when he was cheating on you, lying to you, dumping you before making his millions” nope, not buying it. Not buying the idea that deathly ill people can just bribe their way through quarantine. Not buying the idea that a computer virus can somehow transcend biology and cause physical harm to humans via their immune systems. Secret societies, criminal conspiracies, underground tunnels, literary clues etc. can only go so far in keeping a story interesting, they have to actually make sense in the context of the plot too.
There’s a lot of really interesting concepts about the power of language and communication that were raised in this book, which is why I kept reading. They are just so disjointed and haphazardly applied that it’s a disappointing experience.
Bart is insufferable, he comes across as a bit of a stalker with creepy incel vibes, and yet he’s the love interest? Doug has no consideration for his daughter. JUST TELL HER WHAT IS HAPPENING. Max has no redeeming features. Anana/Alice is a poor choice of narrator. Some chapters are so boring I literally skipped ahead, something I almost never do (and not the aphasic bits, even though they were hard work too). The plot makes little sense. WHY is Doug on the run? WHY is the editor of a DICTIONARY suddenly an expert on medical treatments for viral infections? WHY is his artist/admin assistant daughter SO IMPORTANT that she needs to be smuggled out of the country, breaching quarantine regulations, but not deserving of a simple explanation of what was going on? Why keep calling her Alice? Nothing that happened really seemed like it needed any real secrecy at all.
The plot felt like it was tied up in a lazy technophobic cliche, “oh, let’s blame sinister foreign hacker terrorists, that’ll do”, instead of actually coming up with something that made sense. You can’t just absolve everyone who does shitty nefarious things because of corporate greed etc. to miraculously redeem everyone at the end. Max was not a good guy, not to anyone, and especially not his girlfriend. “Oh, but he really loved you... when he was cheating on you, lying to you, dumping you before making his millions” nope, not buying it. Not buying the idea that deathly ill people can just bribe their way through quarantine. Not buying the idea that a computer virus can somehow transcend biology and cause physical harm to humans via their immune systems. Secret societies, criminal conspiracies, underground tunnels, literary clues etc. can only go so far in keeping a story interesting, they have to actually make sense in the context of the plot too.
There’s a lot of really interesting concepts about the power of language and communication that were raised in this book, which is why I kept reading. They are just so disjointed and haphazardly applied that it’s a disappointing experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Confinement, Medical content, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery, Stalking, and Xenophobia