Friday, February 19, 2010

Four books I wish I'd loved (mini-reviews)

I was looking forward to reading Where the God of Love Hangs Out because Amy Bloom writes beautifully, but her Away didn't appeal to me. Unfortunately, she's now 0 for 2 with me. Again, the writing is lovely. And again, the storyline (or lines, in this case, as this is a sort of half collection of short stories, half novella) pushed me away when characters took off in directions I just didn't get. Several connected stories trace the path of an ongoing affair between two married friends; another group of stories follow the relationship with a woman and her stepson that inexplicably veers into inappropriate territory and never finds its way back. I think I know where she was going with these, but she left me behind. (LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program sent me this)

Start off with a self-centered character with a chip on her shoulder. Have the character announce her big plan to her family over Christmas--a plan that is about as mature and well-thought out as a 6-year-old's plan to run away from home, and that involves disrupting the life of her 16-year-old niece/daughter. The family is shocked and angry, the issue is discussed between every possible pairing of family members with the exception of the neice/daughter. Though she's supposed to be the key to the plot, the teen floats through the book cheerfully saying hi to everyone and pointing out cute jeans in magazines. She doesn't seem to have much of a relationship with anyone in the book, least of all her aunt/mother who wants to take her home with her. Toss in a quick semi-romance for the heck of it, and there you have it. (Another book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program)

The Ice Chorus follows Liselle as she retreats from her marriage (destroyed while she cheated on her husband with a painter named Charlie) and her son (equally destroyed, and refusing to speak to her) to a cottage in an Irish fishing village. I enjoyed the village and the stories of the people she met and interviewed there. I only wish the aspects of the story that moved beyond the romance-from-afar --and there were many-- had developed into the main focus of the story, because the flashbacks to the romance with Charlie did nothing to convince me that the man was worth waiting for. I didn't like him, and I didn't like Liselle when she was with him. I had a hard time empathizing with her pain over her son not talking to her, given how she'd handled the end of her marriage. As she waited in the cute fishing village for Charlie to show up, my greatest hope for her was that he wouldn't show, and that she would grow enough through her experiences there to decide she didn't need him after all. (Author Sarah Stonich sent me this book).

This is a classic case of a book coming too highly recommended. The blogger-types, they adore Beth Kephart. And after so much gushing, I expected Nothing But Ghosts to blow me away. And, it was . . . fine.

Fine was not the reaction I was hoping for.

I put off reviewing it for a couple of months, in hopes that its brilliance would reach me through osmosis if it sat next to my bedside table long enough. The result was that I forgot what it was about and had to read all the reviews I could handle (oh, the gushing!) to remind myself. I now remember the plot, but I can't remember why Katie didn't especially grab me, why her grief over her dead mom didn't tear me up even a little, why Kephart's words didn't leap off the page straight into my heart. Just that they didn't, and I wish they had (I bought this book at A Children's Place bookstore).

14 comments:

  1. Ali,

    You aren't the only one who didn't get the warm fuzzies for Ghosts. Jill gave it 3/5 at Rhapsody in Books.

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  2. Ah well, you can't win them all. I know the feeling of not being wowed by books that everyone else (seemingly, at least) gushes over. I haven't read any of these, but Nothing But Ghosts is on my wish list!

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  3. Thank goodness for mini-reviews when we aren't blown away, right?

    Sorry to see that you didn't like Bloom. I haven't read any of her stuff, but she comes so highly recommended in general, I suppose I'll get around to trying her stuff one day.

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  4. I know how you feel since I just reviewed a book that everyone but me loved.

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  5. Away didn't appeal to me either but I did put God of Love on my list of books to read, in fact, I just posted about it today!! Now I'm rethinking investing time into this one. Your mini-review really told me so much about this one and what you said may just sway me not to bother with it. I'm one of those that did however love Nothing But Ghosts..I've pretty much loved all of Kephart's books.

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  6. I was going to say I read a few other negative reviews for NBG. I missed Jill's but I know Swapna felt similarly as did Kristi at the Story Siren. :)

    When I gush about books I love, I always feel slightly worried that this exact thing may happen...that I might oversell a book to people who won't love it. In any case, thanks for giving it a try!

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  7. I'm keeping a copy of this list as a reference!

    I actually liked Ice Chorus more than you did. I understand your point, but I was a little more willing to cut the heroine some slack and buy into the idea that she was following her one rue love. Although I never got the idea that her husband was so bad, so I was always a little uneasy with the whole story.

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  8. I felt the same way about NOthing But Ghosts. I reviewed it and thought maybe over time I'd like or or dislike it rather than being neutral, but it's been six months and I'm still just blah about it.

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  9. ColorOnline, BermudaOnion, and Amanda: thanks, I'll go check out those reviews, to make myself feel better.

    Staci, Andi, & Avisannschild, go ahead and read them--chances are you'll like them more than I did, if the other reviews are any indication!

    Amy, And I felt bad that I was letting you down by not loving it as much as I was "supposed" to!

    R.C.Reader, I saw your review in Library Thing and thought, "Oh, no, G. loved it! I must have missed something!"

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  10. LOL! I just had to reread my review for Nothing But Ghosts to see if I gushed. I'm happy to see I didn't, even though I did love it. But then it had a lot of elements that spoke to me personally. I can understand that it won't appeal to everyone.

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  11. Lenore, If you had actually gushed, I would have worried about you. (Would a gushy reviewer turn the month of Valentines day into Dystopian Fiction month? I think not!)

    Truth be told, even Amy didn't gush! (and by "even Amy," I don't meant that Amy is especially gushy, but that she started the drive that encouraged me to buy the book in the first place). Like you and probably many others, she wrote a thoughtful, positive and honest review that made me question my lack of NBG-love more than those gushy reviews, which I could have cynically dismissed as "Go Team!" rah-rah posts.

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  12. yes, I like the mini-review format for books you don't love.

    And I know how you feel about not be blown away by a book 'everyone' else loved. I just finished one like that. Every review out there is 4 or 5 stars...and I thought it was fair. oh well, it is what it is! ;-)

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  13. Aw, we can't all love the same books or it would get boring around here... (I had to go see if I gushed abt NBG and I gave a short but praising review - not quite gushing... oh well!)

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  14. High expectations have ruined books for me before, so I know how you feel. Sorry that NBG didn't quite work for you!

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