Good writing struggling to tell a good story

The writing of The One's We're Meant to Find is good in a grammatical sense, and it has a nice poetic air to it. However, good writing doesn't help poor story telling. The first chapter fails to "get the hooks in" and the reader is left confused with an unfamiliar narrator, setting, and supporting characters that never receive the introduction they need to keep the story going. The poor attempt at scatological humor in the first few paragraphs was also off-putting.