A Huge Disappointment. Characters without depth. At least the premise is exciting?
Started 11/22/19 (10% progress)
I’m about 10% into the novel, and I don’t see me liking this. It is too soon to give up on it. Unfortunately, I have I good idea of this author’s writing style, and it just isn’t for me. For starters, the story is about a wealthy family (Evelyn being the wife I think) who just don’t seem that interesting. I just read the story of Evelyn Hugo, and I really enjoyed the subtitles of her and her story. Here, this feel like your caricature of a pretentious wealthy family.
I recognize I can’t make a sweeping judgment off of 10% of the book. Nevertheless, I get the impression this story is about the spectacle of the idea rather than the using the idea to write interesting situations for interesting characters. If we aren’t given real characters then it doesn’t matter how cool the situation is. All that said, I am not giving up; I am hoping I enjoy this more. What’s more, I want to finish it for a readathon and already paid for a physical copy.
Finished 11/24/19
This story did not work for me. There was no redemption; my initial impression was a good one. The story is mildly interesting, but I can’t say I enjoyed it all that much. As I said before, this is a concept or plot driven narrative. The characters are boring and lifeless; our main character literally has no character because he has no memory. It's as like we're reading a twist on Clue and with about the same level of characterization as in the board ga. On top of that, I really do not like Turton’s writing style. It’s all so pretentious and contrived. He leans heavily on the histrionics when describing different situations, and fails to get me interested on those overdone scenarios.
I think the mystery is supposed to be what gains our interest since it can’t possibly be the characters. Unfortunately, there is no reason to do that. We have a lifeless main character caught in a sticky situation; the problem is we aren’t given any reason to actually care. The central character, Evelyn Hardcastle, is dying yet that is the most interesting thing about her.
It seems an overarching theme of this novel is redemption and punishment. Unfortunately, anything it tries to say just isn’t earned. We rush to a plot convenient revelation of what’s going and why, but it happens far too late to actually work. Turton wants to subvert expectations with an underlying lesson. Sadly, it is too rushed and is poorly executed.
This book probably wasn’t worth finishing. If I didn't read it during a readathon, I probably would have DNFed it. 2/5 stars (literally the second book to get that low a rating from me this year).
I’m about 10% into the novel, and I don’t see me liking this. It is too soon to give up on it. Unfortunately, I have I good idea of this author’s writing style, and it just isn’t for me. For starters, the story is about a wealthy family (Evelyn being the wife I think) who just don’t seem that interesting. I just read the story of Evelyn Hugo, and I really enjoyed the subtitles of her and her story. Here, this feel like your caricature of a pretentious wealthy family.
I recognize I can’t make a sweeping judgment off of 10% of the book. Nevertheless, I get the impression this story is about the spectacle of the idea rather than the using the idea to write interesting situations for interesting characters. If we aren’t given real characters then it doesn’t matter how cool the situation is. All that said, I am not giving up; I am hoping I enjoy this more. What’s more, I want to finish it for a readathon and already paid for a physical copy.
Finished 11/24/19
This story did not work for me. There was no redemption; my initial impression was a good one. The story is mildly interesting, but I can’t say I enjoyed it all that much. As I said before, this is a concept or plot driven narrative. The characters are boring and lifeless; our main character literally has no character because he has no memory. It's as like we're reading a twist on Clue and with about the same level of characterization as in the board ga. On top of that, I really do not like Turton’s writing style. It’s all so pretentious and contrived. He leans heavily on the histrionics when describing different situations, and fails to get me interested on those overdone scenarios.
I think the mystery is supposed to be what gains our interest since it can’t possibly be the characters. Unfortunately, there is no reason to do that. We have a lifeless main character caught in a sticky situation; the problem is we aren’t given any reason to actually care. The central character, Evelyn Hardcastle, is dying yet that is the most interesting thing about her.
It seems an overarching theme of this novel is redemption and punishment. Unfortunately, anything it tries to say just isn’t earned. We rush to a plot convenient revelation of what’s going and why, but it happens far too late to actually work. Turton wants to subvert expectations with an underlying lesson. Sadly, it is too rushed and is poorly executed.
This book probably wasn’t worth finishing. If I didn't read it during a readathon, I probably would have DNFed it. 2/5 stars (literally the second book to get that low a rating from me this year).