There has been some discussion lately in the blogging world about not ripping into authors when doing reviews on your blog. I'm conscious of this, too, since Jonathan Santlofer visited my blog after I read his latest book. My intention would never be to rip into an author, knowing how "birthing" a book must be such a labor of love.However, the point of a book review blog is that one can critically review a book, which includes the option to really dislike a book now and then. So with all respect to Peter Abrahams, I really did dislike this book.
You know those horror movies where you are watching and practically yelling at the main character "Don't!! Don't go in there!!! Can't you hear the scary music??" Well, this book was kind of like that for me. The main character, Ivy, just gets stupider and stupider as the story goes on. At one point, she is just making such totally poor choices that I was truly tempted to just not finish the book at all. And I, the reader, had this mystery figured out way before she did, leaving me feeling like maybe her elevator didn't go all the way to the top floor. It was pretty blatantly obvious what was going on, and she was blind as a bat.
Maybe it's because I'm a marriage counselor, and I see people ruining their lives with crazy and ridiculous choices all the time. I'm fully aware of the power of love, but I also fully believe in the power of counseling to help a person get a hold of themselves and stop ruining their lives. There were some points here where, had I been a fellow character in the book, I would have dragged Ivy to counseling kicking and screaming. She needed some serious help.
Granted, I think the author meant for the reader to feel this kind of dismay towards Ivy and possibly the frustration I felt was his plan all along! Still, it really really made me mad when she got rewarded in the end for her ridiculous behavior. It's been awhile since I had such a strong reaction to a book, but if it weren't a library book, it'd be in the trash right now just for spite.
4 comments:
I'm sure that authors don't like to see negative reviews, but as a reader, I would prefer to know what people really think of the book (which can be done without ripping an author to shreds). There's a particular blogger who has liked every book she's read ever since I've been reading her blog, and it makes me doubt her recommendations. KWIM?
now I almost have to read it because I have to see why it was so bad!! I laughed out loud at your review.
Yeah, Trish, it's kind of the whole point of reviewing, isn't it?? :)
Jay Are: I might have known my review would affect you thus! Always the rebel, you.
Hi - I found your blog at LT and just wanted to say hello! =)
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