Book Club: July/August

[Ainsley Lynch]

I'm about halfway through this book, and I'm not totally sure I'll manage to finish it at this rate

Spoiler

I usually enjoy POV characters who I find horrifying, or frustrating, or otherwise unrelatable in some way. It's usually interesting to me to see the world from such a different perspective, but somehow Tom is just not grabbing me at all. I think it's a combination of unlikeable character and slow pacing that's doing me in - by the time he killed ****ie I had actually given up hope that anything at all was going to happen, I was convinced this was just a slow character study of an unpleasant man. It's such a shame, because I do really enjoy the premise and wish I could feel more invested, but I just keep finding myself struggling to want to read more.

Side note, I'm finding the site's censorship of ****ie's name extremely funny I keep forgetting and reading people's posts like 'why did they censor his name? it's under a spoiler so like... it's not like you have to hide MORE spoilers by censoring it....'

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

I've still not finished with it, basically due to bad time management and the fact I decided to study English literature (I have to prioritise reading other books over this one). I'm struggling with it a little bit but I am finding people's responses to it really interesting (I know I haven't finished but I'm still looking at the spoilers shh). It seems to be a little bit of a divisive read which is possibly good because it means the work inspired a reaction? Idk

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Divisive is definitely not a bad thing!

I finally did finish it last night, and my opinion definitely picked up a bit in the second half.

Spoiler

I think the big problem is pacing. If the book had been about a third the length it would have been brilliant. The prose is fantastic and Tom's character is so rich. If the first half had been shorter and the second half had been longer I think it really would have worked for me. The main issue really was that there was so much setup that all the actual action (and by action I don't mean pew pew car chase I mean like. anything happening at all) wound up squished in far too tight, and it could really have benefited from some of the breathing room that was SO overabundant in the first half.

Conversely, if this book had just been intended as a character study of an awful man, the first half would work brilliantly. It really sets up what kind of person Tom is and the horrible ways he sees other people. If the story hadn't been a murder-thriller and had just been about 'watch this awful man be horrible to everyone who likes him' the first part would stand wonderfully on its own. The two halves just aren't balanced right, and it's such a shame.

 

[Cyndi Kingsley]

I agree with your sentiments, Rowan!