I read one other book by this writer to see what the fuss was about. I guess it says more about our society than the fThis is garbage. Absolute trash.
I read one other book by this writer to see what the fuss was about. I guess it says more about our society than the fuss if people think this is a good story. There is a very big clue at the beginning when Millie (view spoiler)[sees a bucket in the closet of her sparse, crappy room. Yep, you know someone is going to be using it as a toilet but for why? read on blah blah blah (hide spoiler)]. There is a twist, because shitty writing like this always has one. The writer wants us to think the twist is some rah-rah-sis-boom-bah grrrl power, when in fact it's not. The protagonist quite literally (view spoiler)[enjoys murdering people if she feels they have wronged her. She tortures a man to death after having beaten a man who hit on her and also bashed in a teenage boy's skull in another horrifying death. She knew she could have stopped beating him but chose not to. Now the men she killed or injured were not good people, but is coldhearted murder really the answer? I am so tired of the trope of ALL MEN BAD!! in all forms of entertainment. (hide spoiler)]
Millie is recently released from prison. She wears a dowdy outfit and some fake glasses and gets herself a job as a live-in maid for a wealthy couple and their daughter. The wife quickly turns into a hateful employer who turns on a dime and constantly trashes the house. The daughter is a creepy little fucker without any manners who enjoys tormenting Millie. The husband is the only nice person in the family and Millie finds herself attracted to him.
Even with the stupid twist, it still manages to make things worse. As with the other book by this author that I read, the resolution requires everything to work in the protagonist's favor. Here's everything that worked for Millie: (view spoiler)[the cop who investigated Andrew's mysterious death just happens to be the father of Andrew's ex-fiancee. He looks aside and apparently has an oh-so-convenience medical examiner friend who can lie about the autopsy. Oh, and Andrew's parents who had all of that influence have conveniently moved to Florida. (hide spoiler)]
The story gets even more worse - yes, this is a worse and worser situation - at the very end when it's revealed that (view spoiler)[Andrew's mother used the same torture method on him. He was an abuse survivor who continued the cycle, not a natural born psycho like Millie (hide spoiler)]....more
This is hands-down the worst book I've read this year, and is in the top 5 worst books I've ever read. Nearly 600 pages of a mess, not even the most rThis is hands-down the worst book I've read this year, and is in the top 5 worst books I've ever read. Nearly 600 pages of a mess, not even the most remote suggestion of a plot. I would suggest using this as emergency toilet paper, but only for people you hate because your ass deserves better.
"Dark college" HAHAHA. Well, it's technically set in a college town, but there is zero about college. There is a not-secret secret club that operates on the campus and at some point the main character says she needs to get back to class, but apparently the club is so powerful that they just pay for their degrees. So...a character is going to law school and then will practice law for a few years to get some credibility and then will become a judge. All without actually going to class, and will presumably cheat on the BAR and not actually practice law, and then will become a judge to protect club members.
And I'm supposed to like these characters?
You'd also think that the book called "The Ritual" would entail a special ritual with, you know, rites and traditions. Nah, college seniors just find a volunteer to serve as a sex slave and then they restrain them (in any way), dunk them in a pool (for however long they want), and then have sex with them in front of the club members (again, in any way they want). That's the ritual.
So, if maybe the girls got something out of this fucked up relationship, it might be understandable. But most guys just pick their girlfriends, possibly because part of their club initiation is to remain celibate for the first 3 years of college. Except for club pledge Ryat. He's assigned to another member's daughter, Blakely.
Blakely is a dumb-as-a-post billionaire's daughter who can call up the family private jet at any time. She really wants to bang her boyfriend, Matt, but can't because he's a pledge. She is stunned to learn he has another girlfriend, Ashley, that he chooses to be his Chosen One. So she has no problem when she's told she'll be Ryat's Chosen One.
The book is really just about Ryat - who is a coldhearted killer and complete psychopath - who just wants revenge against Matt and uses Blakely to do so, only caring about her to piss off Matt.
Towards the end the book takes another direction and suddenly creates "Ladies" - the wives of the club members - who have their own duties. This despite the book telling us that the wives aren't important at all and that marriages are arranged in name only. There's a random "reveal" at the end that is so laughable when we learn that (view spoiler)[the woman Ryat and Matt chased over the balcony is Blakely's mother, who was on a longterm assignment as a Lady...what assignment takes 20 years that can suddenly be resolved with murder? And this reveal only comes after we suddenly learn that Ladies are important and have their own ritual that involves murdering someone. It's like whoever published this told the writer to inject some sort of woman-power bit and this was the best she could do. (hide spoiler)]
Another warning sign is that the book has a playlist, which usually means the book is going to be crap. The songs are mentioned when characters go to clubs and whoever is narrating tells us what's on the DJ's playlist at the time. Nothing wrong with the songs, but it's just silly. I suppose hardcore fans of the book might enjoy a more immersive experience into this book, but I have better things to do and so should you....more
Hamish Macbeth may be the worst protagonist I may have ever encountered in the thousands (yes, thousands) of books I have read. I would only read anotHamish Macbeth may be the worst protagonist I may have ever encountered in the thousands (yes, thousands) of books I have read. I would only read another volume in this series if he were the murder victim. I'll just call him Macdoodoo.
There's a salmon fishing school-bed and breakfast combo in the Scottish Highlands. Macdoodoo is the constable and is an absolute shit of a human being. He conveniently stops by with each week's roster of students and helps himself to their meals, much to the chagrin of the b&b's owners, yet they are too nervous to say anything for fear of getting on his bad side. Macdoodoo does not hesitate to enforce the law on a local poacher, yet he's a poacher himself! To boot, he poaches from the property owned by the father of the nice woman he secretly likes. He's also got some other shady side hustles as the town notices the crappy office and cottage for the constable in rotation suddenly got a lot nicer when Macdoodoo showed up. There's even a scene where he makes expensive international calls (this was printed in the 80s...I remember we set timers on the phone to avoid talking too long because rates were so high) at a private citizen's home, without permission, and tells the party on the other end that he'll wait instead of calling back. He does so only to run up the phone bill.
One of the students is found murdered and a typical whodunnit ensues. You've seen this before - tiny, stupid tidbits like a candy bar wrapper or a hair barrette are key pieces of evidence, and much of the mystery is solved by dumb luck and coincidence. Macdoodoo has a distant cousin in location X who happens to remember incident Y that happens many years ago, blah blah. Nothing happens for most of the book and then suddenly everything is solved.
The murder victim is a professional gossip who likes to exploit people whom the public has never heard of and has no interest in, only to write about them in her newspaper column. Who the fudge pays to read about people they don't know?
Perhaps worst of all, Macdoodoo is cruel to everyone he deems is a suspect, making horrible judgements about them based on a few conversations. Yet he's the one who shows up in the middle of nowhere to take a packed lunch intended for the guests, and apparently thinks that's fine.
There is nothing redeemable or worth your time in this book. If you bought a copy, I suppose you could use it as emergency toilet paper, but your ass There is nothing redeemable or worth your time in this book. If you bought a copy, I suppose you could use it as emergency toilet paper, but your ass deserves better. Actually, your shit deserves better.
This book exploits the tragedy of 9/11 in a disgusting, unapologetic way. It's a tacky gimmick to attract readers as 9/11 is not central to the book's plot, or even necessary. The author could have lessened this with a simple statement like (view spoiler)[Avery saying "Wow, Victoria is a piece of shit who exploited 9/11 and should be bought to justice. Hey Walt, you got any friends in the US Marshals?" Yeah that would be cheesy but it would at least acknowledge how awful Victoria's crime was (hide spoiler)].
If for some reason that doesn't bother you, the bait-and-switch should. The book is marketed as a sister desperate to prove her dead sister's innocence in the vicious murder of a popular fiction writer, Cameron Young. This brings her to Avery Mason, who by dumb luck is due to be the next 48 Hours/Dateline type host. Oh yeah, brace yourself for some completely unnecessary chapters with GIRLPOWER!! virtue-signaling as Avery, who has less than 3 years of experience and got lucky with 1 viral story, demands the same salary as her 30 year veteran predecessor.
The book really isn't about a cold case. It's actually about Avery teaming up with a retired FBI agent, Walt, and the relationship that follows. Oooh, they both like each other, but both have super duper big secrets. They pretty much use each other, such as Walt using his law enforcement background to get case files for Avery to take home and read.
If the bait-and-switch doesn't bother you, then the laughably bad crime analysis should. For example, a character is convinced that the dead woman couldn't have committed the crime because cut rope and blood were at the crime scene. There's no blood on the rope, so therefore the owner of the blood could not have cut the rope. FFS! Avery never considers that someone could have cut the rope, then bled from another injury.
Also, there is a shload of kink-shaming. Main characters are judgemental about BDSM and disrespectful to a victim's naked body.
If you are trying to prove someone who had motive didn't commit a murder, wouldn't it be prudent to try to find someone who did have a motive? It bothered me that Avery's intent was not to seek justice for Cameron Young, but simply prove that Victoria didn't do it. Seriously, no one seems concerned by the fact that there is a murderer still on the loose.
The "big reveal" only works because (view spoiler)[it is revealed towards the end of the book that the bone found was Victoria's tooth. The author tricks the audience into thinking it's a body part that would guarantee Victoria was dead. I suppose a tooth is technically a bone but it's kind of like saying you have a cat and then later showing guests your pet lion. So once we know it's a tooth, there should be suspicion but no one really checks out that lead (hide spoiler)].
But it makes me throw up in my mouth a bit that the author used 9/11 (view spoiler)[when any event would have done. A fictional building collapse. A car crash into a deep river. Instead, scientists waste time with Victoria's tooth when there are thousands of fragments to review. Victoria's name is the memorial park. The Innocence Project does a special on her. And, keeping with sloppy writing, the story only works because of Natalie. How did Natalie get all of the Peg Perugo books if there was only one copy and Emma had it? A more interesting story would have been Natalie trying to frame Victoria in order to steal the books, and getting lucky with Victoria actually dying in 9/11. We also don't learn how the bitch escaped from the collapsing building, but you're not going to care by the time you get to that point (hide spoiler)].
One of the worst books I've read in a very long time....more
I quite literally had a nightmare about a scene in this book in which a completely innocent man stays behind to try to help his fallen friends as they I quite literally had a nightmare about a scene in this book in which a completely innocent man stays behind to try to help his fallen friends as they flee a sadistic enemy. Both of his knees get shot, he gets captured, tell the enemy everything, is tortured (later examples include eyelids being torn off and fingers chopped off), captors realized he's already told them everything, and is finally skinned alive and left hanging by his ankles.
The scene does nothing except remind the reader that the two madmen who are in charge of the sadistic enemy are indeed madmen. Yeah, we already knew that. It actually is illogical - the madmen's crews only stick with them for protection, but if they could be skinned alive at any moment when the psycho gets bored, why stay? Why not off the madmen while they sleep?
Seriously, nearly 1000 pages with little resolution.
Nuclear war happens. Most people die immediately. Some survivors drop dead of a fever. The remaining survivors are all burned and we get lots of descriptions of people with cooked flesh and strips of skin hanging off of their faces, but a cast of characters somehow survive and then wander the USA aimlessly. Their travels are pretty much spurred by trying to escape various factions of psychos. The worst, of course, are the madmen I already mentioned. There are more scenes, like hundreds of people being burned alive in a mall, a baby getting its head crushed because its father was too slow to leave a tent, and mental asylum escapees turning a Kmart into a guillotine central (including descriptions of beheaded children).
Had enough?
The book reads like a movie script. At first, I kind of liked the detail of stuff like Paw Paw Briggs' impressive little country grocery & gas station. But it's all filler. There are many characters who never pop up again and contribute nothing in the end, including a dowsing rod. Really. There's no explanation for the spokes of a mysterious glass crown, the multi-colored keloids people develop, or a bizarre head-encrusting rocky scale that a handful of people develop.
Oh, and here's how to make it better - enter Mary Sue. This Mary Sue is Sue Wanda, nicknamed Swan. Yes, the Mary Sue is actually partially named Sue.
I truly do not understand how people could like this book. A cashier at a restaurant I visited frequently pre-pandemic recommended it to me and it took me a few years to get around to it. Now I kind of wonder if he didn't like me when he suggested this :(...more
The only nice thing I can say about this book is that it has a catchy title.
However, it's a bait-and-switch title. The "glass forest" is just a forest The only nice thing I can say about this book is that it has a catchy title.
However, it's a bait-and-switch title. The "glass forest" is just a forest behind the property of the Glass family. In fact, the author seems to even have to go to effort to drag the forest into the story. Seriously, characters just go for random walks in the forest. That's it.
The book is narrated in mixed POVs from three characters: newlywed, new mom, and complete dum-dum Angie; her niece by marriage, Ruby; and her sister-in-law/Ruby's mother, Silja.
Angie's brother-in-law, Henry, is found dead of apparent suicide. His wife, Silja, left a note and ran off, leaving their moody, weird daughter Ruby alone. Angie's husband, Paul, doesn't want Angie to come to the funeral or help with Ruby but she insists. They take up in Silja's beautiful but dirty house as Ruby skulks around being as weird as possible, smoking cigarettes just in case the author think we've forgotten that Ruby is a rebellious teenage and that it's the 1960s and everyone smokes.
We only know Henry through Silja's chapters. We're supposed to see him as a monster. I just saw him as a sad, traumatized veteran who may have (view spoiler)[literally lost his manhood (hide spoiler)] and couldn't bear to give up the wife and daughter he barely knew because he'd never have a chance to remarry or have more children. How much of an asshole is Silja to proudly join socialist and communist causes while her husband suffers in silence? Henry is a doting dad and homemaker. He cares for Ruby, cooks, cleans, and does it all really well while Silja builds a career for herself.
The author pulls an explanation out of her ass by suddenly having Silja declare that Henry has an obsession with control. Where the fudge did that come from? Oh yeah, and when did Ruby suddenly turn on her father? Also, it was really stupid but predictable when (view spoiler)[Angie just happens to find letters lying around that say Paul is a pedo (hide spoiler)], your typical sloppy writing.
There was no sense of dread, just continued boredom where I was more interested in the alleged villain that the trio of annoying female protagonists 'cause WOMEN POWER or some garbage.
The writing is also Twilight-style. You know, the kind where it's a play-by-play narration, such as: I got bread out of the cupboard and cheese from the fridge. I put butter in a pan. I made grilled cheese sandwiches. I looked at the baby. I put out two plates and served the sandwiches. Paul ate four bites. The baby crapped its pants. I washed the plates.
Also, it was really f*cking annoying the way Angie kept referring to her son as "the baby". We're supposed to believe that she loves her child more than anything, despite all the mess, but she seems so disconnected from him. Occasionally she refers to him by name and only once does she say "my son"....more
I think the goal of this book is simply to gain entry onto high school mandatory reading lists, thus forcing teachers to have a Very Important ConversI think the goal of this book is simply to gain entry onto high school mandatory reading lists, thus forcing teachers to have a Very Important Conversation about:
- biological mothers' rights, which of course exceed rights of fathers, adoptive mothers, stepparents, grandparents, etc.
- why it's cool and not the slightest bit racist to assume that an Asian newborn baby must be Chinese and therefore raised in Chinese culture. You know, just disregard the hundreds of other Asian identities and cultures out there.
- choosing to live a vagabond life of poverty at a child's expense, whilst actually sitting on a goldmine, is noble
- it's totally okay to blow off your best friend and lie about it so that you can have sex with his hot brother
- if you are angry at a teacher for a racist comment, the best course of action is to vandalize the entire school and require the innocent janitor to fix the mess. The school will get thrown into chaos for a day and no one will know it was directed at a single teacher, but it's cool because YOU will know and YOU are the only one that matters
- if you don't like your family, it's fine to set fire to their beds just as long as you know that only the member you hate the most is at home. Murder is justified if your mom isn't a woke social justice warrior like you!
If you have a problem with any of that, then keep reading. If not, then this book is for you (and you're a fucking idiot for being so gullible).
Seriously, I detest books that tell the reader what to think, and what is right and wrong. As many other reviewers have written - most more effectively than I can - this book's writer clearly presents Mia as Good and Mrs. Richardson as Bad. Izzy and Pearl are Good, while Lexie is Bad. Moody is just there.
Yet when I read it with an objective mind, my conclusion comes to one of pure disgust with Mia and a tinge of sympathy for Mrs. Richardson. Part of this is that I cannot bear a hypocrite, and Mia would be one of the most hypocritical characters I've read since The Lies of Locke Lamora.
I truly thought Mia was a (view spoiler)[victim of rape with Pearl as evidence of said crime, based on the way she acts like someone suffering from PTSD. Turns out she's just a shit who quite literally stole a child that was only half hers, without any regard for the father who wanted her desperately. It's hypocritical of her to get angry because her parents - who have just lost their son - are shocked that Mia is giving away her biological child, yet then decide to keep the child and cut out literally everyone she's ever known, including those who have a right to know the child. (hide spoiler)]
Another character we're supposed to root for is Bebe Chen, who I could not see as anything more than a loser without any common sense. She should not be trusted with a cactus, let alone a child. Her arc includes one of the book's biggest plot holes or sloppiest writing - take your pick - when (view spoiler)[she somehow musters the moxy and money to kidnap Mirabelle and fly to China with her in the span of a few hours (hide spoiler)]. It would make sense that her lawyer assisted with this - illegally of course - but that's never suggested in the book. The lawyer, too, is a problem. He only assists Bebe because she's Chinese and he's butthurt that there is only a sort of general Asian Barbie available for his daughter, not a Chinese Barbie. Um,that's prejudice, but this book isn't intelligent enough to recognize that.
Also, how in the name of flying spaghetti monster were the McCulloughs supposed to know that baby Mirabelle was ethnically Chinese?
I felt a little sorry for Pearl, but by the end she's dislikeable and completely gaslit by Mia. I also wondered why popular teens like Lexie and the older Richardson brother would choose to hang out with an unpopular underclassman like Pearl. I don't mean that to sound unkind, but that would have been social suicide at my high school. Lexie had a ton of friends, so why did she choose Pearl to (view spoiler)[accompany her to an abortion clinic (hide spoiler)]?
Also, was I the only child who liked playing with Barbies who did NOT look like me? My favorite was Whitney, with her beautiful long dark brown hair. I didn't want Midge, with her freckles and red curls. Though Midge looked more like me, I thought Midge sucked. Whitney was awesome. And then I got Meiko (Hawaiian Barbie) as a birthday present and she was the best. So, consider that while it's important for children to see toys that resemble them to ensure they are represented, don't assume that they're what individual children actually want to play with.
This book is set in the late 90s because a story this ridiculous is only feasible - and even then at a stretch - without social media and cell phones. It's an easy and quick read, but seriously just read a phone book or something instead of this because it's that bad....more
Methinks of the writer of this bundle of emergency toilet paper is a graduate of James Patterson's master class (please tell me that such an atrocity Methinks of the writer of this bundle of emergency toilet paper is a graduate of James Patterson's master class (please tell me that such an atrocity does not exist).
WHY SO MUCH ANIMAL CRUELTY?
It starts off with a detective, Frank, being transferred to a new unit and assignment to a new partner - Eden. Her t*rd of a brother also works as a detective in the same unit. He's a t*rd for the sake of being a t*rd.
Frank ain't no saint, either. He's a hypocrite of the worst kind who busted people for drug use and domestic violence whilst using them himself and instigating fights. I don't see how he could possibly remain a cop with so many stains on his record. He is attracted to Eden, who's a bitch for the sake of being a bitch.
Meanwhile, there's a horrifying serial killer at large (who does animal torture) and a still-alive victim in need of a rescue team. Frank and Eden/Archer and Bennett have to grow up and do their jobs before the body count gets any larger.
There are flashback scenes of Eden's childhood in a garage dump (really), raised by her criminal ringleader foster father, where the previously mentioned animal torture comes in.
It's so unsatisfying and full of hypocrisy. The police case is just a distraction. The book, and presumably series, is clearly intended as vehicle for the characters. Don't expect any antagonist motivation or justice for victims.
Spoilers follow (view spoiler)[what the f*ck? There are dozens of discovered bodies, possible more, most that can't be identified. Frank feels bad for leaving the victim's bed, thus leaving her to be murdered by Jason, so he gives Jason a quick, clean death. The victims' families will not have any justice. We never learn or why Jason started his side hussle. Eden even says she'd rather Jason die than enjoy the lax life in Australian prison, yet she and Frank mercilessly taunt the only sympathetic criminal, the father who sacrificed one daughter to save another. It's implied that Frank and Eden actually encourage prison guards to abuse the man further, rather than honoring the statement they told him where they'd try to help reduce the abuse. I'm not justifying what the father did, but dang why aren't they equally harsh with Jason? (hide spoiler)]...more
IT'S CALLED SWAMP ASS FOR A REASON, YOU DIPSH*ITS!
This book feeds the myth of the noble feral child, using the setting of Carolina marshes. Let's get IT'S CALLED SWAMP ASS FOR A REASON, YOU DIPSH*ITS!
This book feeds the myth of the noble feral child, using the setting of Carolina marshes. Let's get real: marshes are disgusting. You may prefer the term "marsh" over "swamp", and you may argue semantics, but you will still be wrong if you think there is anything noble about living in a marsh. Are they essential for flood protection and support myriad wildlife systems? Yes. Are they a great place to live? F*ck no.
At age six, Kya is left alone for long stretches in her family's "shack" in a marsh. I say "shack" because I don't think the author knows what a shack is. Lemme explain: a shack does not have closets or enough bedrooms to necessitate closets, or even a screened-in porch.
At age ten, she is completely abandoned. Aside from stepping on a nail and soaking her foot in the salty lagoon, she has no problems whatsoever with surviving. I guess we're supposed to use that example to think she has a strong immune system or the marsh has magical healing powers? That makes no sense given all of the stuff in the swamp that can kill you, not even taking into consideration childhood accidents, infection, or communicable diseases (no vaccines for this child). Heck, even food poisoning. She eats whatever shellfish she can dig up but has no refrigeration.
Yet by age fourteen,she's grown into an astonishingly beautiful young teen who catches the eye of a former playmate. This too, is far-fetched. She'd have rotten teeth, have sunburn, smell like rot, never known to use a razor or clip her nails, bathed in clean water, etc. This is just gross. She should be malnourished. The boy toy - who's mother is dead and has no sisters - at age 17 is mature enough to explain menstruation to her.
Said boy toy teaches her all of K-12 in a single summer. So just because she can read, she can now understand complex biology just from reading an old textbook. I raise the bull$hit flag.
There are references to watching enormous flocks of geese flying overhead as their feathers flow down like a gentle rain, and copulating in ferns. How f*cking stupid are you? You'd get rained on by birdshit and get your ass bitten by chiggers.
She seems perfectly happy in the swamp. Then, out of the blue, she starts talking about how being hated and ostracized has left her unable to trust or live in society. It's like reading something from a Sweet Valley High book in which a complex condition is smooshed into 2 sentences. When was she lonely?
To boot, I didn't pick up that she was hated. Most people just leave her alone, and she doesn't want help. In fact, the book later reveals that more people than previously known were actually looking out for her. There's a single sequence of her going to town and not being permitted to play with another child, but maybe that's because she was filthy. In one instance, some teens run to her house as some rite of passage that's never referenced again.
This is also ersatz Southern. Throw in a Piggly Wiggly and Buster Brown shoe store, and lots of references to grits. Sweet mercy, the first third of the book is pretty much her going to the store to buy grits, or making grits at home. Lemme tell you - yes, grits are delicious, but any true Southerner could tell you that rice would be the staple you'd have on hand, not grits. The writer lives in Idaho and should have done homework besides watching "Steel Magnolias". Putting in a bunch of references to grits does not a Southern novel make.
Oh, and this is fun. She speaks poor grammar up until boy toy edumacates her in a single summer. She she speaks in perfect English that would make the most genteel debutante quake with envy. All of the "bad" characters use poor grammar.
The book was terrible, but the last few pages made it worse. I truly feel sorry for you if you like this book or think it's good, or still think Kya's a noble heroine. You've been bamboozled by a first-time fiction writer. Spoilers follow.
(view spoiler)[So the whole point of the trial was to show how many people support Kya and how they were wrong to not look out for her when she was small. But it turned out she was lying all along, which you should have realized because at no time, even in her POV chapters, does she say she's innocent. She just doesn't want to go to prison.
She planned an astonishingly detailed pre-meditated murder, and savaged murdered Chase in the coldest blood possible. Given how many people supported her, it was likely they would have helped her if she'd asked for assistance with getting Chase to leave her alone. She appears to choke up when she learns Chase wore the necklace from the day she gave it to him - I figured she was unaware of this when she murdered him, and took the necklace to remove a clue to his murderer - but it seems she took it as a souvenir. She even wrote a poem to brag about it, and showed no remorse. (hide spoiler)]...more
I can’t even give this a one star. It’s a one finger review, how’s that?
Why so harsh? Let me help you � take a look at the author’s profile photo. SheI can’t even give this a one star. It’s a one finger review, how’s that?
Why so harsh? Let me help you � take a look at the author’s profile photo. She looks constipated as fuck. That’s because she is full of shit.
This piece of garbage is one big bait-and-switch. The number of positive reviews from people practically pissing themselves to praise full-of-shit author have me truly baffled to the point that sometimes I wonder if I read the same book.
I have to call this a bait-and-switch because it is allegedly a tale of a young woman who grows up in a household of doomsday survivalists and suddenly finds herself entering the real world when she starts college. I was expecting a fish out of water story. Except it’s not.
Her family is NOT comprised of survivalists. Rather, her father wants to avoid the government as much as possible by becoming self-sufficient, but he’s really bad at it. He runs a scrap yard. He does not plan for disaster or stock up on food, but simply does F-Us to the government by not paying for stuff like car insurance. He forces his wife to become an unlicensed and uninterested midwife so that his future grandchildren can be born at home. The older children attend school, but drop out either of their own accord or with encouragement from their parents. However, the parents don’t replace it with formal homeschooling. The youngest, full-of-shit author, is “taught� by being instructed to stare at pages of a math textbook. Her parents are really into garbage like essential oils, so perhaps they thought she would learn by osmosis.
If anything, it’s her older brother, Tyler, who deserves credit for leaving his parents� grip and providing a way out for his siblings who are willing to take it. I wish this factor of abuse had been explored. Children who are able to leave abusive situations often do not do so because they fear leaving their siblings behind and unprotected.
Full-of-shit describes the tiny village a mile from her house as being little more than a gas station and convenience store, but the place has a fucking community theater so really, how small and isolated can it truly be? She claims ignorance of society, but her family takes plenty of road trips and she even has a cell phone as a teenager. The parents should have been in prison for child neglect, such as treating their severely burned son with oils and whoo-whoo (bonus: his raw flesh was soaked in a garbage can!) and ignoring another child’s post-car wreck leaking brain fluid. The book is more a story about an abusive older brother and the division in the family over acknowledging the neglect. Those who refuse to admit that the brother has a problem force estrangement upon those that do. That’s not a bad idea for a book, but again, that’s a bait-and-switch.
A bigger problem is ignoring the fact that the family is Mormon, and certainly not mainstream LDS. Full-of-shit says in a disclaimer prior to the first page that she will not discuss Mormonism. That is a huge problem because Mormonism is how her family got away with what they did (and apparently still does). Living in isolated, predominantly Mormon communities means that law enforcement and local government is in on the game and will look aside when children aren’t in school or when their neighbor openly practices unauthorized snake oil medicine. She openly mentions prejudice against mainstream Mormons and distrust towards anyone else. They are raised to scorn anyone who isn’t their brand of Mormonism. This is evidenced when she attends BYU and scoffs at her LDS roommates for not being Mormon enough � and intentionally shows them how she doesn’t wash her hands after taking a shit because she’s cleaner than they are. Later, it’s her refusal of her father’s Mormon blessing that finally breaks ties with her parents. I think it’s important to explain what this is and what it means to this particular faith so that readers unfamiliar with it can understand why it’s a big deal.
I work in higher education and can say it’s hard to get into a non-profit school without a high school diploma or a GED. Many home school programs are not officially recognized and therefore those graduates must obtain a GED for college admissions. A private school like BYU may be more used to students coming from unusual situations, so it’s understandable that she may have been admitted on ACT scores alone. So while an ACT score alone and some forged application materials may have gotten her into BYU, I don’t think she could have gotten into a public university. Again, ignoring the importance of Mormonism to this story masks the truth and exaggerates her accomplishments. I was really pissed off that she got Pell grants when her family seems to have had plenty of money coming in from snake oil sales and donations from other Mormons.
Part of her continued success in higher education seems to stem from people taking interest in her background. She’s very, very lucky that some folks with power took an interest in her. Kid raised in a nuclear family with an accountant and teacher as parents? Boring. Kid raised in a quasi-cult who never attended real high school? Ding ding ding, we have a winner, give her the scholarship! She’ll make an interesting article for our donor newsletter. Seriously, the more interesting you are, the more money and opportunities colleges with throw at you.
What’s bizarre given her credentials is how shitty I found her writing (looks like Rhodes scholars have gone the way of Nobel prize winners in terms of prestige these days). It’s as if she wrote just a couple of sentences in each paragraph and had someone else expand on them. There is no continuity and she repeatedly contradicts herself. Sometimes it felt as if the words were randomly generated using an algorithm. It’s English, but something is off with the structure. WORST PART: her family is cruel to animals. Fuck them all....more
I sincerely hope that Lee Israel's 2008 death was painful and lonely. She deserved nothing more than to leave this world as miserably as she treated i I sincerely hope that Lee Israel's 2008 death was painful and lonely. She deserved nothing more than to leave this world as miserably as she treated it.
I know that sounds harsh and it is generally accepted that one should not speak ill of the dead, but damn this c*nt deserves it. That is what she shall be referred to from now on.
The title of this book is misleading. It's not said c*nt asking for forgiveness for her crimes, but rather a quote from a letter she stole. C*nt was an occasional writer and full time drunk who blew through the money she made on what little she published and lived off of welfare and selling her own book collection. She stumbles upon a letter from a more well known author and sells it for a small amount of money. She quickly starts forging letters and gets more and more brazen with her lies.
For example, she calls an antiques dealer to inquire about a forged letter she's sold him, and gleefully delights in his enthusiastic sales pitch. In another incident, she sees one of her letters on display at a store and taunts the owner by mailing him a letter using the same paper and typewriter, saying it's a fake. When one store owner catches on to her, he quietly tells her to pay him back or he'll turn her in. Now she gets judgemental and mocks his psoriasis and the tip he leaves the bartender (he pays for her drinks BTW).
Her glee doesn't stop with her crimes. In another example, she seeks pest control advice from a Chinese restaurant that she felt once got too dirty for her to eat at - when in fact her own apartment is so soaked with cat urine that an exterminator refuses to enter - then makes a racist comment about the owner's accent and pronunciation of fly paper.
When c*nt realizes her forgery scheme is up, she starts stealing actual letters from libraries in the New York area. This is where she takes the time to mock another accomplice, a desperate ex-con with AIDS. She eventually gets arrested for her crimes. As she walks home from jail, she steals from a liquor store. New York apparently has dumb as shit libtard judges because she's sentenced to probation for the letter theft and the robbery is tossed. All she has to do is go to AA meetings, which she is too excited to tell the reader that she never did. She gets banned from libraries, and seems genuinely offended that she was kicked out when she tried to sneak in.
The worst part is that she literally writes that she doesn't feel about the forgeries. Well, lemme tell you about a cute kid I saw at a Star Trek convention - little fella with thick glasses and an adorable crew cut. I watched him buy an autographed commemorative DS9 plate with what looked like allowance money he'd been saving for a long time, then carry it away gingerly, taking tiny steps. He would have been heartbroken if the autograph was faked. This kind of stuff means a lot to some people. Her lack of remorse is appalling and very scary because there are many people behind bars who are truly sorry for their crimes.
Don't waste your time on this. Let her rot and be forgotten....more
What a letdown. All of the hype and even a movie, and all for this shitty story of a rather nasty protagonist. The story barely has anything to do wit What a letdown. All of the hype and even a movie, and all for this shitty story of a rather nasty protagonist. The story barely has anything to do with Cinderella until the end, when we have some glass slippers and a ball thrown in. There are so many little side plots that led nowhere. Hear me out (mild spoilers):
Yes, Ella is under a well-intended but awful "gift" of obedience. It's downright dangerous - if someone tells her to jump off of a cliff, she has to. Fortunately, only a few people know about the curse so she can get by relatively easily until her father romances a widow with two daughters.
There's a bizarre and longwinded sequence in which Ella visits a zoo and speaks in ogre (?) for no reason. The prince of their kingdom shows up out of the blue at her mom's funeral and says how much her mom meant to him (?). Ella is set to boarding school, where most of the novel takes place. Her stepsisters figure out the curse and use it to their advantage, but Ella's no shrinking violet. Her revenge is downright hateful, such as stealing her stepsister's wig.
She leaves the school to try to find her fairy godmother to cancel the curse, but all she does is get lost and eventually rescued from a group of ogres by the prince. A side plot of her visiting some elves and receiving three gifts also goes nowhere.
All of this just gets tossed together with Ella cancelling the curse herself because the power was in her all the time, or some such garbage. The magic of the ball, pumpkin coach, and slippers only comes into play in the last 10 pages or so, presumably once the author remembered this was a retelling of Cinderella. Watch the movie instead of reading this; at least there's a cute sequence of the characters singing "Somebody to Love"....more
Complete and utter garbage. The book might have some use as emergency toilet paper, but your tooshie deserves better.
The book resorts to the ole unrel Complete and utter garbage. The book might have some use as emergency toilet paper, but your tooshie deserves better.
The book resorts to the ole unreliable narrator trick, but tries to make it different by having it narrated from multiple viewpoints, including the protagonist - Ava - and a few other characters that pretty much piss themselves trying to help her, We're not talking spending an hour or two helping her search property records. These characters literally stop what they are doing and go on multi-day errands for her - one even blows off his perfectly lovely fiancee for Ava. What is so special about Ava? She's a drunk and a slob and not particularly likeable or interesting.
Ava's adoptive mother has died recently and left behind some bits and bobs, one being a photograph of a house where a violent murder took place years before. Her aunt tries to help but treats Ava with an odd combination of love and hesitation. So how did Ava identify said house? Who gives a shit about the random lines of poetry scribbled on old photos? Does anyone fall for the "yep, they're dead" line without actually seeing a body?
The big reveal is so ridiculous (view spoiler)[Ava is a serial killer! She can overpower grown adults when she's a scrawny teenager! (hide spoiler)] but the big escape is even more unfathomable. It's like this is a caricature of the mystery genre, or maybe it's a prank along the lines of Naked Came the Stranger. Trust me, don't waste your time....more
This is what happens when a poorly written jumble of bad ideas have a disgusting orgy and birth this disaster of a book.
So, a bum on the run from a lo This is what happens when a poorly written jumble of bad ideas have a disgusting orgy and birth this disaster of a book.
So, a bum on the run from a loan shark/thug encounters a woman who's expecting him and hands him a jacket with a key in it.
Said bum makes his way to a house, opens it with the key, and quickly discovers he can walk out the door into other time periods. He makes use of this gift by targeting little girls that "shine", then hunts them down later to torture and murder them.
We never learn what makes them shine, or otherwise attracts him. We also don't know anything about the bum. There is a gratuitous brief chapter that flashbacks to the bum torturing a baby chicken, a chapter presumably added when a publisher or editor told the author to gimme some backstory.
The murder chapters are horrific. The writer spends significant time building up the victims and making us care, then showing the grief left in the wake of their deaths. One victim survives the attack - we relive it in graphic, awful detail. These poor girls are slaughtered and ritualistically killed with again, no explanation.
The survivor, Kirby, teams up with a disgraced reporter. I found Kirby annoying as hell and only liked her out of pity once I got to her attempted murder scene. They start to figure out that something supernatural is at stake. The book looks like it's going to have a happy ending by taking advantage of time travel...and doesn't. I get it; that would be too cliche, but seriously, there's nothing redeeming in this book. An incomprehensible mess start to finish....more
There needs to be a genre of books just called "Stupid and Irresponsible Women". I am absolutely sick of books of this genre that disguise themselves There needs to be a genre of books just called "Stupid and Irresponsible Women". I am absolutely sick of books of this genre that disguise themselves as something else, like Mystery or Suspense. We need a damn label so that readers know what they're getting into instead of getting catfished.
So, I won't go into spoiler territory here, but suffice it to say that the ONLY way this plot works is for it to be told backwards. The book opens with day 14 and tells a tale in reverse to day 1.
Nicolette aka "Nic" is a dipshit who pretty much ran off from her North Carolina (or was it Virginia? Oh wait, I don't care) home shortly after her best friend disappeared and subsequent breakup with her high school boyfriend. She reluctantly returns 10 years later to help her sister prepare their childhood home for sale and get ready to dump their father into a nursing home. He's suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's or something very sad but apparently not worthy enough for the author to clarify.
She quickly reunites with her old boyfriend, despite having a loving fiance. You know, 'cause every male character in the book except the father has the hots for Nic. Another local girl, Annalise, goes missing and Nic finally decides to try to figure out what happened to her friend, Corrine. In flashbacks, Corrine seems to have been a pretty toxic friend. The one piece that left me scratching my head was how very little work on the house was taking place. There's a lot of dead air.
Let's just say it turns out that there is really no mystery at all. Nic is a selfish, disgusting person who knowingly let innocent people suffer, ensured the guilty were never punished, and gets everything she ever wanted in the end. The only way to save this book would be if in the last sentence she got hit by a bus and turned into worm food, but that seems insulting to the worms.
Spoiler time. (view spoiler)[Let's see. Nic watched Corrine get hit by a car and thrown off the highway. She took her boyfriend's word that Corrine wasn't there. And 10 years later she really doesn't think that maybe Corrine died that night and her body was there? She let Corrine's poor mother think her daughter had run off when in fact Nic could have spared her 10 years of grief and said "Hey, I hit her with a car. Maybe that has something to do with it? Let's check hospitals?".
This turns Nic into the eye-rolling unreliable narrator but it is such a far stretch that no one would bother to read this book if the story were told in linear fashion, as the first reveal would be that Nic knew Corrine had at least been critically injured.
Annalise was a very unsympathetic villain, but letting the sister and brother in law get away with murder was over the top. Nic's selfish actions also made her father suffer, as the poor man thought he'd killed Nic in a drunk driving crash. Though any man who'd bury a teenage girl to cover his tracks is a bit of a shit, so I was kind of glad Annalise ruined his golden years.
Nic's convenient miscarriage was ridiculous. I hated that in order to make us not hate her more for dumping her fiance for Tyler, the author slipped in a random sentence that the fiance gripped Nic too hard, insinuating that he had potential to be abusive. Nic winds up back in her hometown, knocked up and single, just like she was when Corrine died. So she set everything back to normal of sorts, which as a piece of shit person, she doesn't deserve. (hide spoiler)]
This is a bait-and-switch. It lures the reader in with an intriguing hook, but doesn't even attempt to live up to its premSometimes taglines lie, too.
This is a bait-and-switch. It lures the reader in with an intriguing hook, but doesn't even attempt to live up to its premise. The coma has little to do with the story arc. The coma sequences could have just as easily been narrated while said narrator was taking a crap and it would have made just as much sense. Her relationship with her husband seems pretty normal and I really didn't see any blatant lies.
The book switches between current events, useless subplots, and events of years past, clumsily held together by Amber's unreliable narration from a coma. She's having trouble with her husband, has a toxic relationship with her sister Claire, runs into an old boyfriend, and plots to sabotage her boss's career. The ease with which Amber utilizes social media to accomplish that last task is astonishingly easy. Going viral is a one in a million chance but she manages to do it. What's up with the inconsistencies between now and the childhood diary? Does she have ulterior motives? Does a bear doodoo in the woods? Anyway, I digress.
The story takes a long time to go anywhere and it's not until the last few pages that it comes together with not one, not two, not three, but something like eleven twists. I have to go into spoiler territory below to fully achieve my rant.
SPOILERS BELOW!!! * * (view spoiler)[ Seriously, a grown woman with an imaginary friend? Amber was social enough to find a husband but not have any friends? The diary not belonging to Amber was a good idea, but all it did was cause confusion for me. There were two bits that I thought here off. One was the diary narrator mentioning her mom's miscarriage but not a sister. I thought the girls were very close in age so I wondered if the age span was much wider, perhaps the mom had another child later on. The other clue was the relationship with the parents. Diary girl hates her parents, but the ones that visit Amber in the hospital are loving. But I didn't realize they were clues. That's how sloppy the writing was. I thought they were just plot holes, not true clues.
Amber's relationship with Paul wasn't important. They really love each other, though the man doesn't know he's married to a bunny boiler.
The bizarre explanation of Claire sabotaging Amber's relationship with Edward but poor Edward also being a pyscho lessened Claire's role as the villain. So who's worse, the rapist or the arsonist? Or Amber, who may have planned the whole thing and cooked a guy in a tanning bed? I thought Edward was dead at the end and that Claire had somehow survived the fire. It was never clear that Madeline was charged with Claire's murder. You think there would be a body.
But it's just such a stupid story that I really didn't give a shit by the end. I figured the whole thing was made up in Amber's head and that the story is one big lie she tells herself on her lunch breaks with the imaginary friend. (hide spoiler)]...more
This is one of the worst books I've read since joining Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ 6+ years ago. I have no idea how Jo Nesbo got the greenlight for this compilation of This is one of the worst books I've read since joining Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ 6+ years ago. I have no idea how Jo Nesbo got the greenlight for this compilation of paper pages that would have been better utilized as emergency toilet paper. Maybe the publisher was charmed by his good looks or maybe there was literally nothing else in the Nordic crime genre.
[I'd heard such positive things about this series and have lately been on a crime/thriller kick, so it seemed perfect. To be fair, after reading this pile of crap I learned that it had only recently been translated into English, primarily because the consensus is that it wasn't worth the effort. Apparently the series does a 180 at book 3.]
So back to the review. This Nordic crime thriller is set in Australia. WTF? The protagonist is the very unsympathetic Harry Hole, which is pronounced differently than spelled (I really wish I'd read to that point before a nice guy at a restaurant asked me what I was reading). He's in Australia to investigate the murder of a Norwegian citizen; after I learned more about his background, I am astonished that even a fictional detective with his record would be permitted to represent his country's interests abroad. He doesn't do much in the way of detective work so much as he hangs out with an Aboriginal detective, attend a circus performance, and repeatedly bang a hot Swedish bartender.
Even when he is investigating, the writing is so poor that we miss it. For example, the writing describes him looking at a corpse's legs. Later, he mentions that he saw track marks on the victim's legs. A more skilled writer would have given us a clue that the legs were important, such as "He stared at the legs intently for several moments, then wrote some items in his notebook". I kept having to flip back through pages to reread passages to see what I missed.
The resolution is roughly 2 sentences of some of the most ridiculous and racist insinuations I've seen in print.
Spoilers follow: *
Harry doesn't seem too bothered about the fact that he killed one person and permanently disabled another. I also don't think too much of his colleagues for using their police power to prevent him from being prosecuted for his crimes. Sure, he quits drinking - eventually - but it doesn't take much for him to go right back to getting sloshed once the investigation goes sour.
The Aboriginal people were subjected to horrors that are some of the worst in the history of imperialism. No one can deny that. It doesn't make it ok to write a story in which Aboriginals refuse to report a serial killer to the police because they feel it's some sort of racial obligation for reparations. That's an insult to everyone. At least the bad guy got eaten by a shark.
1. The protagonists are thieves. Safiya is a rich noble, but chooses to It took a lot of effort to write a book this bad.
Let's add up all of the crap.
1. The protagonists are thieves. Safiya is a rich noble, but chooses to con and steal along with her bestie, Iseult. When a smarter con artist outcons them, they decide to steal their money back, thus setting the story in motion.
2. Super muddled backstory. Sweet mercy, what the fork is going on here? Magic wells, a zillion types of special powers, a war, a truce, and a bunch of other stuff that is never explained. I know YA avoids info dumps but I'm kind of a fan of them.
3. Special snowflake Safiya. See, she's not just any kind of witch. She's a Truthwitch, which makes her extra super special and unique. She could be killed at any moment for her power. You'd think she would lie low, but nope, she's loud and about as discreet as a hamburger at a vegan luncheon.
What really pushes my button is how 90% of the plot could be avoided had Safiya and Iseult just followed instructions. The outcome is the same, but takes longer and just stretches the story out for no reason. For example, the two bitches get into so much trouble that they have to go on the run. Iseult's friends arrange for safe passage. She just has to not be a bitch for 5 minutes. Instead, she goes ballistic to a good natured catcall and attracts attention to herself. This leads up on a stupid chase and escape that has her wind up....right in the arms of the safe passage. The entire book is full of such drivel.
Safiya told to keep a low profile? Nope, she practically fraks some impoverished prince on the dance floor and attracts attention to an assassin.
Iseult told to not talk to anyone? Yeah, now's a great time to seek out your long-lost mother, who was at the city limits the entire time.
And last but not least:
4. Random mythological or prophecy come true comes out of nowhere. Oh, so there's some myth about twin magic girls, one dark and one light, that comes into play in the eleventh hour. If you actually cared about it, God help you and your taste in reading.
Let's say that 1,000 years from now, YA authors of the future start writing books from the perspective of ISIS terrorists and make them out to be the Let's say that 1,000 years from now, YA authors of the future start writing books from the perspective of ISIS terrorists and make them out to be the good guys. I will rise from my grave as a zombie and bitch-slap them until they understand that terrorists are never, ever to be glorified or celebrated. And no one that has any decency should have a problem with that.
This book is literally about terrorists as protagonists. And we're supposed to root for the terrorists.
Meet Mare, a worthless piece of shit (though with a name like that we could cut her some slack). She's a Red, which means she is part of the poor working class that lives in the shadows of the privileged Silvers. They live in some futuristic dystopia that reminds me a little bit of New York City with frequent mention of crossing islands and taking old subways. Mare's brothers were all drafted into the military, her father is a disabled veteran, and her little sister earns an honest living as a tailor.
What does Mare do?
Steal from her fellow Reds.
Yep, that's her "job".
When her best guy pal / emergency dick in a box gets drafted, Mare decides to steal more from her fellow Reds to pay a bribe so that he can dodge the draft. So now we have thieves AND cowards. Shame.
This leads to a ridiculous sequence in which Mare winds up getting a job in the household of the governing family of Silvers. She's now stuck - albeit very happily - as a spy for a group of Red terrorists. These terrorists bomb civilians and terrorize the nation for the purposes of...well,not making their lives better, just making Silvers' lives suck more by contrast. There is a chapter in which Mare momentarily thinks that maybe murdering innocent people is a bad idea, but a Red terrorist leader tells her that the sacrifices of civilians lead to a greater good. Mare is cool with that.
IS THIS FOR REAL? Mare then cries a few crocodile tears when the family of a kindhearted Silver is blown to bits, senseless murders she could have prevented. Had this been her turning point, the story might have taken a turn for a tale of redemption. But nope, she just keeps going along. She risks her life repeatedly for her fellow terrorists, but never did anything remotely as extreme for her own family.
Oh, and of course we learn that Mare is a special snowflake with - literally - special blood.
Maybe if this book had a big twist where we realized we were reading from the villain's perspective all along, I could forgive it, but that's not the case. This is a poorly written, badly constructed story from the start with a truly disgusting plot line. What the hell is wrong with the author and the people who helped get this atrocity published?
The fact that the target audience - teens - rates it highly is a pretty good indicator of why lowering the voting age to 16 is a shit idea. ...more
Except for this turtle. I do not like the intergalactic space turtle, nor do I understand it. And apparently, nobody else does.
There are few au[image]
Except for this turtle. I do not like the intergalactic space turtle, nor do I understand it. And apparently, nobody else does.
There are few authors I respect and admire more than Stephen King. The man has the most awe-inspiring work ethic that anyone, not just writers, can strive to live up to. He's rich - he could retire in ridiculous luxury, but he keeps writing. He seems to genuinely care about his fans. And he's tough. The guy got run over by a car and STILL wrote.
However, I have to say that I just do not care for his writing. I've now read four of his novels to make up for the four that I couldn't finish because I found them too boring. That doesn't mean that I do not appreciate his work.
I read this book to conquer my fear of the "It" miniseries that terrified most kids who stumbled across it. Obligatory story time: it was on TV while I was at a slumber party in middle school. I closed my eyes during the paper boat scene, but screamed bloody murder when Georgie winked at the camera. I begged my friends to change the channel and hid my face in a pillow until they did as I asked demanded. I took my face out of the pillow, instead saw a terrifying creature on the screen, screamed again, and told my friends that was a mean trick. They laughed because they'd changed the channel to Star Trek TNG and I was in fact scared of a Klingon.
The book flips back and forth between a group of friends as 11 year olds and as adults 27 years later. The adults, except one, have all left Derry and have no memory of what happened. So it's a clever way for the reader to go along for the ride as the adults get their memories back and we learn what happened 27 years ago.
The friends are:
Bill - the writer Richie - the comedian Ben - the builder Eddie - umm, not sure. The brave guy forced to be a sissy by his mom? Stan - he's Jewish? Mike - token black character? Beverly - this one's easy, she's a girl
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!
*** Anyway, back to the review. You'd think that in over 1,000 pages you would get some explanations. But you just get space turtle and an orgy of 6 11 year old boys taking turns banging the token girl in their group - and it's her idea! She more or less forces them to have sex with her.
I wasn't scared. I was shocked at how sad the book made me. The bullying the Losers' Club suffered at the hands of Henry Bowser & Co was difficult to read, but the grief of the parents in Derry as their children die terrifying and painful deaths was too much. Bill's parents never recover from losing Georgie, and neither does Bill. I flinched when I read about the mom who was put into a mental institution after discovering her toddler drowned in the toilet - with his skull bashed in and back broken in half.
The worst was little Eddie Corcoran, a severely abused child who has already watched his stepdad murder his brother. The only place he feels safe is in the Barrens, where he avoids going home even though it's freezing and his parents won't buy him a warm coat. The kid gets slammed into a door hook and is in so much pain that he raids the liquor cabinet and urinates blood for three weeks. What the hell? Can that get worse? Yeah, when It gets him and squeezes his head off.
And somehow, Mr. King made me feel a moment of pity for the adult bully, who is still so scared of It that he keeps a Donald Duck nightlight in his jail cell. Then of course, I hated myself for feeling sorry for one of the evil children in the literary world.
The book goes into so much detail about characters like Patty Uris, who exists only to discover her husband's body. How did Eddie's wife handle the news of his demise? Why was there the unnecessary road trip of Beverly's husband, Tom? The story of the Black Spot was good, but long enough to be a novella within the book.
I do think they killed It for good, but the book disappoints there. They just say yep, It's dead, let's go. They bypass a repeat of the orgy.
There is no explanation for why they lost their memories, had good fortune, or were sterile. However, I'm more puzzled as to how 2 kids on a bicycle pedaling uphill can outrun a werewolf.
I appreciate the concept of beliefs turning into reality, and how our belief is strong enough to create a way to destroy something. This topic was explored, but not enough for me.
Then it goes space turtle and I just had to accept that I did not like this book.
But maybe there is something to belief. I read the paper boat scene at night and the next morning babysat my little niece. She dressed herself (in a winter coat and church sandals) and grabbed a duckie pull toy she hasn't used since she was a baby and SAT DOWN IN FRONT OF A STORM DRAIN to play. For 20 minutes. Damn straight I was keeping a close eye on the storm drain. Yes, everyone floats down there. Except for my niece. Hands off, It. No one gets her on my watch, not even you.
P.S. You're not even as scary as a Klingon. And they weren't scary in ST:TNG....more
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