Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor

1 review

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emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Energy: Flighty. Passive. Fitful.
The Scene: 🇺🇸 Modern cliffside mansion in Malibu, California
The POVs: We follow a struggling writer who gets a ghostwriting offer they can’t refuse. We also have journal or novel draft entries from an unknown author. 
 
🐕 Howls: Overstating as mystery/thriller. Main character’s apathy was insufferable sometimes. ‘Romance’ elements…not insta-love, but Olivia’s reaction to male attention was eye-rolling ick. Why so much hand action (everyone always grabbing at or squeezing hands)? 😆
🐩 Tail Wags: Low stakes light read that didn’t feel tropey.  
 
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🎬 Tale-Telling: First person, what you read is what you get. It’s plot-driven but heavy on the character scenes. It read melodramatic but tongue-in-cheek acknowledged when it was being cliché or convenient. 
 
👥 Characters: Olivia was so passive, just waiting for something or someone to just fix her problems while lamenting missed opportunities. Her ‘romantic’ life dominated the story and there was a lot of indecision and a total lack of passion. Someone described her as a wet blanket – agreed! The character development felt rushed near the ending. 
 
🤓 Reader Role: Observers at Olivia's side, privy to her thoughts and experiences along the way. 
 
🗺️ Ambiance: Set through nuanced body language and strategic placement of objects within scenes. Focused on setting the vibes instead of the atmosphere. Not my favourite world-building style but it didn’t detract from the story.   
 
🔥 Fuel: What’s the dynamic between Olivia and her employer? How much will she put up with for this job? How will her personality and choices lead to success or failure? Is she in danger? Why is she continuing despite all the red flags?  It’s low on the mystery, most of the fuel is about the character intentions and what will happen next. This skirts close to being too contrived, but it’s more like Olivia is so indifferent that things keep happening to her and she goes along with it. 
 
📖 Cred Rating: There’s plausibility in the drama but leans more to soap opera-esque. 
 
🚙 Journey: Light-hearted, fluffy escape. The plot looped back on itself but was still enjoyable in its simplicity and commentary.

Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Contemporary fiction with work and romance drama 
  • Rich people behaving badly, living life sadly (cathartic?)
  • Sprinkling of metafiction elements
  • Light themes and commentary about wealth, entitlement, arrested development, authorship, character development, taking initiative, and storytelling.
 
Content Heads-Up: Car accidents. Drug use (brief mention). Alcohol (casual drinking). Loss of a parent. Animal neglect/death (
pet fish
). Sexual content (pressured, uncertain but technically consenting, mention). Drugging (brief; on page). 
 
Rep: Cisgender. White, Jewish, and ambiguous Americans. Heterosexual.
 
👀 Format: Library Digital
 
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