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bookswithlukas's review against another edition
2.0
Christopher Rice loves melodrama.
I had no idea before starting this that Christopher Rice is the son of Vampire author Anne Rice (whose works I've never properly ready anyway) but it was interesting to see that he had followed in his mother's footsteps, minus vampire's of course.
What I can say about this novel is that it's 'okay'. The writing is quite good, and a picture of the town and situation is handled nicely but I felt everything got very melodramatic very quickly. This is a novel that includes mass murder, suicides (by the plenty), rape, domestic abuse, a husband who has drugged his wife into a coma for five years, infidelity, self-harm, alcoholism....it get's to be a lot of issues very quickly. Then come the end of the novel, in case none of that was enough, the author has a hurricane hit the town, for well, no real reason other than because he can. It got a bit much.
Character wise nobody really stood out, it never felt like there was a main character...sometimes it even felt like there were too many. I found myself routinely getting confused as to who was related to who. They were not distinctive enough either, basically all I felt from them is that they were all depressed in some way.
Overall an easy book to finish but not one that I would recommend. The same story has been told much better before, and I found it to be quite an empty read, which isn't really what you want when dealing with the topics and issues that this book does.
I had no idea before starting this that Christopher Rice is the son of Vampire author Anne Rice (whose works I've never properly ready anyway) but it was interesting to see that he had followed in his mother's footsteps, minus vampire's of course.
What I can say about this novel is that it's 'okay'. The writing is quite good, and a picture of the town and situation is handled nicely but I felt everything got very melodramatic very quickly. This is a novel that includes mass murder, suicides (by the plenty), rape, domestic abuse, a husband who has drugged his wife into a coma for five years, infidelity, self-harm, alcoholism....it get's to be a lot of issues very quickly. Then come the end of the novel, in case none of that was enough, the author has a hurricane hit the town, for well, no real reason other than because he can. It got a bit much.
Character wise nobody really stood out, it never felt like there was a main character...sometimes it even felt like there were too many. I found myself routinely getting confused as to who was related to who. They were not distinctive enough either, basically all I felt from them is that they were all depressed in some way.
Overall an easy book to finish but not one that I would recommend. The same story has been told much better before, and I found it to be quite an empty read, which isn't really what you want when dealing with the topics and issues that this book does.
aworthi's review against another edition
3.0
What a strange little book and can I just say... that twist at the end
hazlewood's review against another edition
4.5
Think of something terrible that could happen.
It probably happened in this book.
It probably happened in this book.
aliciablack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lilnikki's review against another edition
4.0
Man. This was an interesting read. I couldn’t justify the mother’s decisions in the end to not tell their sons that they were brother lovers but still give it 4 stars. If I’m still thinking about a book months later that means it must have struck a chord.
iguana_mama's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
hungryhungrybookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Reasonably good for a first book, honestly. But it never managed to grab my attention completely.
The characters were so over the top that they stretched their plausibility for moments. And the plot, well, the plot is worthy of a soap opera, really. With hurricane included *laughs*
But it kept me entertained, so that's good enough.
The characters were so over the top that they stretched their plausibility for moments. And the plot, well, the plot is worthy of a soap opera, really. With hurricane included *laughs*
But it kept me entertained, so that's good enough.
jerefi's review against another edition
2.0
I was just curious what kind of a novel the son of Anne Rice would produce and it was $1. Initially, I thought he had a rather extreme love affair with a thesaurus with the amount of descriptive adjectives he kept throwing in, but that evened out s the book progressed. It was OK. I feel no need to read any of his other books, but I did not hate it. There were even occasional moments where I felt the tug on my emotional heart strings, but not enough to make me feel the need to recommend it.