Skinny Dipping Into Books
I like the rain. I want to have a spring bookworming rain party full out with wellies—but not those Hunter Boots; absolutely not—, with yummy airy things like puffed pastries, meringues, mini fluffy cheese cakes, mousse dessert, macaroon, biscuits, crepe, and Earl Grey tea, definitely Earl Grey tea. and Tillandsia. We'd have lots of "air plants". Lots! And We'd read, but not anything structured. We'd bring books, trade books, read out-loud, pass books around between sentences and paragraphs. We'd leave with books we hadn't discovered.
I like books like I like my Jazz; euphoric, dangerous, occasionally a bit manic, sorrowful, bleak, raging, mood-incongruent, mournful, unforgivingly ragged, symbolic in a quiet way, warm apple pie for the soul. Give me a Plath style. Yōko Ogawa, M. Roach,
Criteria: Not rated on likability of characters. Not objective. I like Moxie Soda; chances are you don't.
time spent in that before bed reading slot:
5-until blurry eye 4-Later than I intended, but I still kept to my extended, extended reading time 3-I really should have been to bed an hour ago 2-customary 30 minutes. 1-book. side table. eyes closed.
How are common themes handled?
5-With an aesthetic that repurposes everyday themes into something fresh. Think of Hole Celebrity Skin covered by Cat Power 4-there is a comfortable air of familiarly.
3-Deja Vu 2. No deviation from its mates 1. Devastatingly trite, redundant, and stale.
Where would you keep it post-reading?
5-Next to my bed. 4-it's the center piece of my favorite bookshelf 3. On my other favorite bookshelf, but it's a bit dusty over their 2-Great cheap bookends 1-It never made it out of the box marked 'moving'.
Emotional response-
5- Where is my teddy bear? Emotional-hangover 4- If I wasn't so emotionally stunted I'd cry.
3. Did James Cameron co-wrote this? Artfully contrived.
2- calculative emotional manipulation. This was literally written by James Cameron.1- I…feel…..nothing.
Mechanics (plot structure, voice, presentation, word choice, sentence structure, characters, writing style, pacing, and consistency):
5-Chanel 4-Prada 3-J-Crew 2-Gap 1-Old Navy
underwhelmed, but there is talent here.
Goodreads Giveaway!
here's the thing about books like this; they tend to edge towards shock porn (coughs Flynn). This book however doesn't really do this. In fact i find the comparison to Flynn inaccurate, other than a mystery like novel similar to Dark Places. This is the only place i find that these two meet.
The character development is stronger then Flynn, and while i was critical of this in Jones' text, it far surpassed Flynn's work. In fact this is one of the stronger parts of the book. However, i felt that most of the characters were a tad flat, and the pacing or whatever you'd call it a bit off here and there.
The mystery part was one of its weaker points, as others have noted. However, all my critiques may be a bit biased/off since i read this one so fast (or faster than i typically do... slow read and not much time. i tend to do this with book giveaways and i need to stop this trend. In the end this book is a nice debut, and it's a bit hard to analyses since it's her first work and i haven't read any of her other stuff. typically goodreads giveaways leave me feeling underwhelmed, but this one was awarding in its character analysis. I think that once she gets a bit seasoned she will be a strong and worthy rival of Flynn; that is if her books follow this theme.
so in the end 3.5, above average, but not by much.
you are definitely on my radar for author publications and I'll judge this one according to future ones