Dacia
Read this in preparation for reading James by Percival Everett. My only previous brush with Twain was when I was assigned to read Tom Sawyer in middle school. I was so bored by it, I opted to watch the movie instead and never touched another Twain, though I was told Huck Finn is the better book. Reading it as an adult, I have more of an appreciation for Twain's wit and humor. I also think 11-year-old me was valid in her complaints that all the books we were assigned to read were “boy” books.
I feel like the lone jerk in a sea of five-star reviews for this book. But for me, it was just OK. It dragged, it was obvious where it was going, there was an annoying amount of unnecessary scenes that slowed the pacing, and many of the characters were caricatures. But I finished it, so I guess it wasn't terrible. Just not terribly good.
A good book, but, for me, overly descriptive and meandering enough that reading it sometimes felt like a chore.
Flimsy mystery, poorly written. The protagonist yelled at everyone, from her elderly neighbor to waitstaff, so much that I stuck with it just in the hopes she'd get killed off. Wish I hadn't.
This was a well-done mystery in that it kept me guessing until the end. Rather than adding in heavy-handed clues, the author introduced dozens of tiny near-clues, which was a bit distracting at times, but probably necessary to throw readers off the scent.
I would've given this book another star, well, another half star if I could, if I hadn't grown to dislike the protagonist so much. By the end of the book, I was actually getting joy out of each of his missteps. I would consider reading the book's sequel sometime in the future, when I'm up for another mystery.
So well written. Pulls you in quickly, messes with your head, then leaves you just as fast.
Savannah voodoo mystery, yes please. Could have gone in a hokey direction, but it didn't. I'd read more.
I tore through the first half of this, but then it got so repetitive I put it down for a long time and had to force myself to pick it back up and push through it. Yeah, it's gritty and it's real, but in the end it's missing something. Reads more like several short stories where the author tried half-heartedly to link them together. Would've been better as a blog.
Giving up a third of the way in. The writing style doesn't work for me. A meandering first-person narrative makes for a snoozefest with a hard-to-follow plot.
This was fine. Went in expecting a closed door mystery, but that's not exactly what's going on here. Multiple timelines were not distinct enough to be clear. I did enjoy all the characters. Poor Eddie.
Alternate title: How I Spent My Midlife Crisis
I read a review that promised this book would change my life. That's a lot to live up to. In the end it did not, but I wasn't looking for my life to be changed. After all, I've always been a driver, not a parker.
This book is about a married couple who can't agree on where to go to dinner and how often to have sex, so they split up and have dinner and sex with other people for a year.
You know they're super smart and totally meant for each other when you learn that their first fight happened on their honeymoon because they took a road trip and neglected to bring a jack, which they admit wouldn't have mattered because neither of these automobile-owning, full-grown adults knows how to change a tire.
If you are over the age of 25, don't read this book. You're too smart for it.
If you're into epic fantasy and powerful female characters, then this book is your cup of tea. I definitely liked it. My only complaint is one I have for all epic fantasy series, and that is holy cow do they move slowly at first. So much history. So many character names. And things finally get exciting at the end and then ... bam. It's over. Read the next book if you want more.
The second two books in this series were so mediocre, I'm left wondering if I was completely wrong for enjoying the first one as much as I did. I think the author had a good idea here, a unique world, and then she had problems making it go anywhere. Plot holes are everywhere, characters' personalities change constantly. This book is written from the point of view of two different characters, but I had to keep going back to the beginning of the chapter to see who was narrating because they both sounded exactly the same. I don't think the author chose this device to give us more insight into the characters–she had to do it to support the ending she chose.
And the ending felt forced and unnecessary. Even one of the characters at the end of the book pretty much called the “shocking” final plot device pointless. She was right.
I'm surprised most reviewers have negative comments about the narrator's voice in this book. It was the only part I actually liked. Sometimes that snarky, bitchy, funny voice can feel forced, but it worked for me here and was even funny at times.
That said, nothing else really worked. Most of all, the book was boring. There's hardly a plot and it moves along so slowly I took forever to finish this book. The characters are barely fleshed out–I felt like I had no idea how old anyone was, what they looked like and, more importantly, why on earth they were doing the things they did.
Then the ending came and there was no suspense and then ... it just ended and I was left with all the same questions I'd had throughout the book.
I read this book in one sitting yesterday, then reread the first two essays (which you can find online) today to further reflect/absorb.
This is an important read for sure, and I hope to pass it on and share it as much as possible. All at once, Solnit devastated me with statistics on violence against women, then gave me a small glimmer of hope for our future.
*I took off one star because I agree with other reviewers that the Woolfe essay was a bit meandering and perhaps not on point (or I missed her point).
I think I'm being generous giving this two stars. In theory, I should love this book. It has witches, hoodoo, and it takes place in the city where I was born! But no. No no no.
Every character is a complete caricature, which I could maybe get over and enjoy in a lighthearted way, but:
1. The only character who speaks in dialect is this old black woman and the was she is written is totally racist.
2. The author forces in these plot twists that are just silly and don't even make sense.
3. “The air was as hot and moist as a dog's breath.” No. Just...no.
I won't be reading any more.
I love a time-traveling romance, and Moyes has a great writing style. Here, she makes me nostalgic for a place I've never been and I time where I didn't exist.
Torn between three and four stars on this one. It's a solidly good book.
I like how Moyes writes. I always find all of her characters interesting and her books move quickly for me. This one was good, although there was a trial that went overlong and felt so unrealistic that I kind of started to get a bit annoyed/confused/unsure towards the end. Still, a solid read.
One of those books that ties the lives of multiple women together through a single event. But I liked it more than others I think because I found all of the characters so realistic and relatable. There wasn't one woman whose story I wanted to skim through.
