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A review by livyalusk
The Prophet by Michael Koryta
4.0
I believe the reason Michael Koryta has such interesting characters is his consistency with themes. He almost immediately lets you know what the messages are in the book, and they appear within the characters in a range of interesting ways. By focusing more on themes, even the most shocking moves by the characters seem so perfectly in-character, giving you a sense of a real person. But this is all praise for the writing in general, what about the book specifically?
This part is sort of a response to a common criticism I've seen in other reviews: If you want a classic whodunnit story, you may be the wrong place. It's a crime story, yes, but it's more a story of people and their weaknesses. What I mean by this is that the real mastermind doesn't seem all that relevant, but I like that aspect as I don't want to constantly be pointing fingers at the main cast. I want to watch it unfold like a realistic case while learning about the characters and what their stories are meant to convey.
This book was clearly written by a man, but stay with me. I don't mean that as a negative thing at all. This book is all about weakness in a way that only a man would: football analogies, bible references, and palpable frustration. He's definitely writing exactly what he knows as a white man from Indiana, but it's totally fine. I think if I said that statement alone, many would jump to concluding that it was misogynistic or something, but I genuinely just think he's using his interests just as anyone else would. Men are still people and don't have to write girlbosses to be valid, in fact it's probably best they do what they know. Still, his male characters are much richer than the female ones which obviously makes me more detached from them as a girl. However, I should add that in another novel of his he had a female POV and I thought she was a brilliant character. I have yet to get to If She Wakes, though, so I'll let you know what I think of the women that book revolves around.
As someone who already studies their own flaws anxiously and often, the constant idea of predators was difficult to read, but it's good for a book to provoke you for a while. Besides, it's probably harder for men. If anyone wants to test that hypothesis, do tell me
This part is sort of a response to a common criticism I've seen in other reviews: If you want a classic whodunnit story, you may be the wrong place. It's a crime story, yes, but it's more a story of people and their weaknesses. What I mean by this is that the real mastermind doesn't seem all that relevant, but I like that aspect as I don't want to constantly be pointing fingers at the main cast. I want to watch it unfold like a realistic case while learning about the characters and what their stories are meant to convey.
This book was clearly written by a man, but stay with me. I don't mean that as a negative thing at all. This book is all about weakness in a way that only a man would: football analogies, bible references, and palpable frustration. He's definitely writing exactly what he knows as a white man from Indiana, but it's totally fine. I think if I said that statement alone, many would jump to concluding that it was misogynistic or something, but I genuinely just think he's using his interests just as anyone else would. Men are still people and don't have to write girlbosses to be valid, in fact it's probably best they do what they know. Still, his male characters are much richer than the female ones which obviously makes me more detached from them as a girl. However, I should add that in another novel of his he had a female POV and I thought she was a brilliant character. I have yet to get to If She Wakes, though, so I'll let you know what I think of the women that book revolves around.
As someone who already studies their own flaws anxiously and often, the constant idea of predators was difficult to read, but it's good for a book to provoke you for a while. Besides, it's probably harder for men. If anyone wants to test that hypothesis, do tell me