DNF at 30%
As soon as I heard about Anatomy of a Scandal, I knew I had to read it. The synopsis was giving me The Good Wife vibes, and since I love The Good Wife, I hoped the same would happen here. Sadly, Anatomy of a Scandal wasn't my cup of tea for a variety of reasons.
Anatomy of a Scandal includes several POVs - Sophie, Kate, James, and Holly. At first, I was excited to read from so many different perspectives, especially since they each brought something different to the table (i.e. the wife's perspective, the accused's perspective, etc.), but as the book progressed, I couldn't say I found any of them all that compelling. They all seemed to blend together - especially in the case of the women- and I even found it difficult at times to remember who was who.
Adding to this, I never truly liked any of the characters. While I felt bad for Holly and Sophie, intrigued at Kate's determination in winning this case, and disgust regarding James's behavior, it was hard to connect to the characters beyond a superficial layer. I never received a true feeling of who they were, what they stood for. For instance, we see Holly as the spouse left to pick up the pieces; however, the majority of the book focuses on her relationship with Jack, leading me to wonder where their children fit into everything. They seemed to be an after thought. Additionally, Kate possessed a cocky, arrogant attitude, made evident by the first chapter, making it hard for me to like her and even stand behind some of her choices. I understood that she was passionate about these type of cases and I admired that about her, but it never really dug deeper than that.
The writing was also stilted and hard to get into. The pacing was an incredibly mixed bag - sometimes it would speed up while others it would move at the speed of a turtle. I also felt the jump in timelines were a bit awkward. I found it hard to jump from other to another and than back again.
Overall, Anatomy of a Scandal wasn't the book for me. While I love a good court drama as much as the next person, I didn't find the dramatics here to be all that exciting or intriguing. I do applaud Susan Vaughn for taking on such a layered, important topic, and I also believe that fans of slow-paced court reads may enjoy this.
As soon as I heard about Anatomy of a Scandal, I knew I had to read it. The synopsis was giving me The Good Wife vibes, and since I love The Good Wife, I hoped the same would happen here. Sadly, Anatomy of a Scandal wasn't my cup of tea for a variety of reasons.
Anatomy of a Scandal includes several POVs - Sophie, Kate, James, and Holly. At first, I was excited to read from so many different perspectives, especially since they each brought something different to the table (i.e. the wife's perspective, the accused's perspective, etc.), but as the book progressed, I couldn't say I found any of them all that compelling. They all seemed to blend together - especially in the case of the women- and I even found it difficult at times to remember who was who.
Adding to this, I never truly liked any of the characters. While I felt bad for Holly and Sophie, intrigued at Kate's determination in winning this case, and disgust regarding James's behavior, it was hard to connect to the characters beyond a superficial layer. I never received a true feeling of who they were, what they stood for. For instance, we see Holly as the spouse left to pick up the pieces; however, the majority of the book focuses on her relationship with Jack, leading me to wonder where their children fit into everything. They seemed to be an after thought. Additionally, Kate possessed a cocky, arrogant attitude, made evident by the first chapter, making it hard for me to like her and even stand behind some of her choices. I understood that she was passionate about these type of cases and I admired that about her, but it never really dug deeper than that.
The writing was also stilted and hard to get into. The pacing was an incredibly mixed bag - sometimes it would speed up while others it would move at the speed of a turtle. I also felt the jump in timelines were a bit awkward. I found it hard to jump from other to another and than back again.
Overall, Anatomy of a Scandal wasn't the book for me. While I love a good court drama as much as the next person, I didn't find the dramatics here to be all that exciting or intriguing. I do applaud Susan Vaughn for taking on such a layered, important topic, and I also believe that fans of slow-paced court reads may enjoy this.