amandagstevens's reviews
1193 reviews

We the Animals by Justin Torres
Did not finish book.

Every sentence of this book felt like the author strained to get his messages across, strained to be poetic, strained to make me care. I got at least a third of the way into this little book, then set it aside because I simply did not care. None of the story or characters felt organic or natural.

Ironweed by William Kennedy
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.

Some of the writing in that first chapter intrigues me, and I wanted to connect with the story of Francis Phelan, a man who is broken by guilt and unable to go home, who becomes a hobo during the Great Depression. What I wasn't prepared for (and through which I can't seem to persevere)--the omniscient point of view being used to hop into the heads of ghosts who are watching Francis from their graves, then back into Francis's head with a stream-of-consciousness that slips in and out of second person (the "you" being Francis to himself). It's clear all these elements are deliberate style choices by the author, but it doesn't work for me.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.

So disappointed. I'd love to get through this as I'm intrigued by the characters, but as someone who experiences books as text and voices (not images), I can't focus past the stylized disregard for punctuation (lack of quotation marks and apostrophes and most commas, improper compounding of adjective/noun phrases). I'll definitely watch the film though I know it won't be the same. Or maybe I'll try the audiobook sometime.

Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

Why I Stopped Reading (after 17 pages and then skipping forward a bit to see if Stingo became any less insufferable; he got worse; I jumped forward some more; the whole thing got worse; I quit): Yes, 17 pages breaks my "10% or 50 pages, whichever comes last" rule for DNFing a book, but I skimmed more than enough to make a reasonable decision on this based on my personal reading preferences. In fact, I'm going to be bold and say that for any reader, if the first 17 pages of a book fill you with the degree of loathing with which this narrator filled me, it's legitimate to "DNF" the thing and read other books. Go ahead. Be free.

As for why this book and I will never be friends: oh my word, let me count the ways. Pretentious, prolix prose. Annoying protagonist. Wrong person narrating the story. Ridiculously graphic sex scenes that felt so out of place and exploitive of Sophie herself. I'm not sure how to explain why graphic sex feels so wrong for this particular story, but wow, it does. Wrong in a way that makes me feel as if not only Stingo but also Styron is exploiting a broken woman who needed and deserved better from both her friend and her author.

The story of Sophie's choice is powerful and wrenching and important (and Meryl Streep makes it what it ought to be), but the structure in which Styron chose to tell it is really not for me.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

On p. 46, I gave in to the fact that overstated humor is not funny to me, and this book is the most perfect example of said humor I could hope to find. All the nonsense words, all the nonsensical rambling, ruin even the satire itself (for me). Unmitigated absurdity. I asked a friend if I should persevere, if I'll suddenly find all of it clever rather than annoying, and she said no, either you "get it" in chapter one or you don't ever get it. So I'm moving on, with best wishes to the many, many readers who do find this book smart and hilarious.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.

Simplistic voice. Bland events. Flat characters. Nothing is intriguing me; I'm not even curious, much less invested in anyone.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

I don't care about anyone in the entire narrative, and Kingsolver's agenda is so transparent I don't need to read to the end to interpret it. The quirks of point of view intrigue me to some extent, but the character voices are forced, and the verbosity has exhausted my patience after ten percent. Rachel's misused words and one-dimensional selfishness, Ruth May's profundity-masquerading-as-five-year-old-innocence, and Adah's backward writing (palindrome is inadequate and the gimmick is exasperating to no purpose) all helped nudge me to my decision to DNF this one. Leah is clearly intended as the most sympathetic sister, but I'm so over the Nonchalantly Gifted Child whose thought processes read like. . . well, like an author of literary fiction.

The clueless idiot missionaries are going to trample the culture they're trying to evangelize. Reverend Price is going to trample his family. The sisters may or may not change or grow up by the end; the problem is, I don't care whether they do or not, because they don't feel like real people to me. They feel like literary experiments in character voice. So I'm done.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Did not finish book. Stopped at 8%.

I couldn't take more than forty pages of this Mary Sue. The voice is overwritten and forced, especially the similes. I skimmed ahead a bit and the narrator's specialness seems unabating, so I'm done.

Be Cool by Elmore Leonard
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.

Apparently Leonard is hit and miss for me. I love the character Raylan Givens (the TV show Justified being how I discovered this author in the first place), and I've enjoyed a couple others of his, when I'm in the mood for an over-the-top caper of violence and tension and cool dialogue. But none of the characters here, least of all Chili himself, make me want to keep reading. And though Leonard's craft is always good, my TBR shelf is too crowded to press onward with this one.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

I can't believe I'm DNF'ing William Kent Krueger. I've never read him before, but he's well regarded and I've been looking forward to this beautifully packaged book that seems recommended by most readers. But the characters aren't coming to life for me, and the lack of subtext and the simplistic "telling" of information is disappointing. Anyway, life is short, I was born with a to-read list I'll never have time to finish, and I'm moving on.