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A review by sausome
White Fox by Sara Faring
3.0
This book was infinitely better than her first, "The Tenth Girl" (which made zero sense), but it still wasn't great. I think I've learned that Faring is just an author with MANY ideas - so many, that she has trouble keeping them contained to weave a tight story. This book had an interesting premise, but the comparison to "Black Mirror" does not resonate AT ALL with me. I'm not really sure where that even comes from, aside from the tech stuff. The insertion of chapters of excerpts from the "White Fox" manuscript, as well as the magazine articles with weird narration tagged at the end (i.e. "You don't even know I'm watching ..."), were actually distracting for me and acted to pull me out of the story. I understand that that was where the so-called dark fairy-tale elements were inserted, but they didn't make a lot of sense for the whole story, which was just ultimately a murder mystery type of deal. Character relationships are just sort of popped in where they fit, without resolution or ultimately proving out any reasoning, and they just don't have much depth.
I mean, there's a pharmaceutical company headed by some evil guy, but used to be run by the girls' father; their uncle lives in a weird gazillion-roomed house, each room with it's own bathroom and theme (does he live in a hotel?) but he hasn't had much interaction with them for like 10 years? Their aunt takes them in after their mother disappears, but there's not much about her; there's robotic best friend stuffed animals and companions; there's actress obsession - I'm guessing Meirelle is supposed to be like Marilyn Monroe or something; there's sneaky best friends turned agoraphobic detail leaker to media; there's off-limits boyfriends who have no point; there's a manuscript; there's a stalker ... and that's not even all of it. Too many threads for me.
I mean, there's a pharmaceutical company headed by some evil guy, but used to be run by the girls' father; their uncle lives in a weird gazillion-roomed house, each room with it's own bathroom and theme (does he live in a hotel?) but he hasn't had much interaction with them for like 10 years? Their aunt takes them in after their mother disappears, but there's not much about her; there's robotic best friend stuffed animals and companions; there's actress obsession - I'm guessing Meirelle is supposed to be like Marilyn Monroe or something; there's sneaky best friends turned agoraphobic detail leaker to media; there's off-limits boyfriends who have no point; there's a manuscript; there's a stalker ... and that's not even all of it. Too many threads for me.