bearteddington's review
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading a sample of this, but it actually opened with a pretty good line.
But then it kind of falls flat on its face. The main character, Cyrus, goes from some pretty provocative narration about cutting a cake to slouching and slumping and sighing about how much he hates his office job, how he hates his boss, etc. etc. and how he and his friend wanted to get out of their "dead end" job in the department of records in city hall.
I did like the issues Cyrus had with the sensory overload and the description of that because hello that's me every day so I know there's potential in this book and there's little nuggets of good in here. And I think that's maybe what makes it so frustrating.
When Cyrus finally leaves, he specifies getting into a 2014 Nissan Altima (blue) that he can barely afford payments for. I googled out of curiosity, and at least in my area, a pre-owned Altima can go for ~$14,000 - $23,200; I don't know if they bought the car new or leased it or if it was pre-owned, but idk that's something. This will make sense.
He pulls up to his two-story home, and his wife immediately starts sniping at him for sitting down? For some reason? She said their son's football game was in an hour and she'd have dinner ready for him, but if she's worried about lateness, why not have Cyrus meet them at the game? Why not make a portable dinner or get something from a drive-thru to eat at the game? It seems like drama for the sake of drama to give Cyrus another reason to turn to murders instead of talking to his wife like a reasonable person?
"What position does Chris play again?" Cyrus asked Sara.
"Ummm, I'm not sure. I think he said he plays all the positions," Sara replied.
"All the positions?" Cyrus asked confused wondering why he even thought she'd know.
???? Maybe because she's Chris' mother and cares about getting him to the game enough that she'll get pissy at her husband for no reason or whatever? Everything about this is weird and doesn't sit right, like the book is trying to show everyone at their worst to set up Cyrus's circumstances, but it doesn't come off as authentic or realistic? It's almost lazy that everyone is presented as annoying or just awful (even though he married Sara because she soothes him with a single word?) to help justify Cyrus in becoming a super murderer, and it doesn't work for me.
They get in the car, and Sara scolds Cyrus for being a dick to the coach, and says something about how they can't afford the equipment to stay on the team. This conversation happens:
"Since when are we low on money?" Cyrus asked.
"Clearly, you haven't looked at our bank statements lately," she said, as she rested her head on her hand.
Sitting there in silence, Cyrus didn't have a response to his wife's news about their financial situation. ... Neither of them were making a lot of money. He barely made a couple of dollars above minimum wage working his desk job at City Hall...
Okay first, Cyrus was literally just saying they could barely afford the payments on their blue 2014 Nissan Altima. He then follows up immediately on his salary, which is "a couple dollars above minimum wage," so Cyrus is absolutely aware of their financial situation. The contradictions here undermine the struggle the book is trying to portray -- this family doesn't act at all like a family that doesn't have a lot of money. Like if they specified leasing their 2014 Nissan Altima, maybe they could get reasonable lease rates for like ~$100 or less and I'd believe them? Or if Cyrus had lost a job and had to take a job that made less money and he had to struggle to support his family? But this is a job he's had for years, so this isn't a new struggle. They've known for years what their salaries are and what they can afford.
Second, City Hall jobs are salaried jobs. All government jobs to my knowledge are salaried. Minimum wage rn is $7.25 -- I googled for the salaries in the Department of Records in Philly, because I don't know what city this book takes place in, but this is at least a guideline; the lowest-paid employee in 2016 makes $26,682. That's abooout $12 or $13 an hour. A pretty garbage salary in general, but not the worst -- and that's for a clerical assistant position; clerk typists and Title Registration Aide 1s make above $33,000 and that seems more in line with what Cyrus would probably be doing? Especially since the average first grade teacher makes $42,883 (according to Glassdoor), so even if they both make the bottom salaries in these sources I found, that's still around $50k a year which isn't too bad? I googled and in my area, housing, food, child care, transportation, healthcare, taxes, etc. can be about $65,000 (tho I can't say how they came up with the individual figures so take that with a grain of salt) -- if Chris has a way to work, then he might be able to bring in some money for the family.
But that's not what the book reflects. It's showing a middle class family that doesn't think about money the way someone who's really struggling and making minimum wage does? So instead of actually being in trouble, Cyrus comes off as petty and petulant and just a dick, and not a sympathetic character. Especially since he just gets super drunk and magically makes his way on foot across town to a bar? Like Cyrus drinks half a bottle of some unnamed booze (whiskey or vodka I'm assuming, since it "goes down hard" and he doesn't know why people like it) and is able to somehow walk across town and murder someone by stabbing with a blunt object.
Like, he followed him into an alley and decided to stab him.
There's nothing compelling or likable about Cyrus or the other characters, and the whole thing comes off as petulance and just? It doesn't feel like it's been well-researched, so I can't finish. I gave it a few tries and couldn't get past chapter 2, because I kept getting ripped from the story by things that didn't look right and didn't make sense and were just? Idk I couldn't get past the parts that I didn't like to be able to find things I did like? Is this supposed to be about a guy who just has a bad day and decides to take it out on everyone around him, or is it supposed to be about a mentally ill man? If it's the first, it's about a douche that I don't want to root for (or read about long enough to see him get caught); if the second, it's wildly inaccurate and a dangerous portrayal of mentally ill people as just A Bad Day Away from Doing a Murder (or seven). Like this isn't the Joker's villain origin story? I really feel like this could have been an interesting King-style exploration of a murderer if there was a little more research or care etc that went into it, but. This is gonna have to stay on my dnf shelf.
But then it kind of falls flat on its face. The main character, Cyrus, goes from some pretty provocative narration about cutting a cake to slouching and slumping and sighing about how much he hates his office job, how he hates his boss, etc. etc. and how he and his friend wanted to get out of their "dead end" job in the department of records in city hall.
I did like the issues Cyrus had with the sensory overload and the description of that because hello that's me every day so I know there's potential in this book and there's little nuggets of good in here. And I think that's maybe what makes it so frustrating.
When Cyrus finally leaves, he specifies getting into a 2014 Nissan Altima (blue) that he can barely afford payments for. I googled out of curiosity, and at least in my area, a pre-owned Altima can go for ~$14,000 - $23,200; I don't know if they bought the car new or leased it or if it was pre-owned, but idk that's something. This will make sense.
He pulls up to his two-story home, and his wife immediately starts sniping at him for sitting down? For some reason? She said their son's football game was in an hour and she'd have dinner ready for him, but if she's worried about lateness, why not have Cyrus meet them at the game? Why not make a portable dinner or get something from a drive-thru to eat at the game? It seems like drama for the sake of drama to give Cyrus another reason to turn to murders instead of talking to his wife like a reasonable person?
"What position does Chris play again?" Cyrus asked Sara.
"Ummm, I'm not sure. I think he said he plays all the positions," Sara replied.
"All the positions?" Cyrus asked confused wondering why he even thought she'd know.
???? Maybe because she's Chris' mother and cares about getting him to the game enough that she'll get pissy at her husband for no reason or whatever? Everything about this is weird and doesn't sit right, like the book is trying to show everyone at their worst to set up Cyrus's circumstances, but it doesn't come off as authentic or realistic? It's almost lazy that everyone is presented as annoying or just awful (even though he married Sara because she soothes him with a single word?) to help justify Cyrus in becoming a super murderer, and it doesn't work for me.
They get in the car, and Sara scolds Cyrus for being a dick to the coach, and says something about how they can't afford the equipment to stay on the team. This conversation happens:
"Since when are we low on money?" Cyrus asked.
"Clearly, you haven't looked at our bank statements lately," she said, as she rested her head on her hand.
Sitting there in silence, Cyrus didn't have a response to his wife's news about their financial situation. ... Neither of them were making a lot of money. He barely made a couple of dollars above minimum wage working his desk job at City Hall...
Okay first, Cyrus was literally just saying they could barely afford the payments on their blue 2014 Nissan Altima. He then follows up immediately on his salary, which is "a couple dollars above minimum wage," so Cyrus is absolutely aware of their financial situation. The contradictions here undermine the struggle the book is trying to portray -- this family doesn't act at all like a family that doesn't have a lot of money. Like if they specified leasing their 2014 Nissan Altima, maybe they could get reasonable lease rates for like ~$100 or less and I'd believe them? Or if Cyrus had lost a job and had to take a job that made less money and he had to struggle to support his family? But this is a job he's had for years, so this isn't a new struggle. They've known for years what their salaries are and what they can afford.
Second, City Hall jobs are salaried jobs. All government jobs to my knowledge are salaried. Minimum wage rn is $7.25 -- I googled for the salaries in the Department of Records in Philly, because I don't know what city this book takes place in, but this is at least a guideline; the lowest-paid employee in 2016 makes $26,682. That's abooout $12 or $13 an hour. A pretty garbage salary in general, but not the worst -- and that's for a clerical assistant position; clerk typists and Title Registration Aide 1s make above $33,000 and that seems more in line with what Cyrus would probably be doing? Especially since the average first grade teacher makes $42,883 (according to Glassdoor), so even if they both make the bottom salaries in these sources I found, that's still around $50k a year which isn't too bad? I googled and in my area, housing, food, child care, transportation, healthcare, taxes, etc. can be about $65,000 (tho I can't say how they came up with the individual figures so take that with a grain of salt) -- if Chris has a way to work, then he might be able to bring in some money for the family.
But that's not what the book reflects. It's showing a middle class family that doesn't think about money the way someone who's really struggling and making minimum wage does? So instead of actually being in trouble, Cyrus comes off as petty and petulant and just a dick, and not a sympathetic character. Especially since he just gets super drunk and magically makes his way on foot across town to a bar? Like Cyrus drinks half a bottle of some unnamed booze (whiskey or vodka I'm assuming, since it "goes down hard" and he doesn't know why people like it) and is able to somehow walk across town and murder someone by stabbing with a blunt object.
Like, he followed him into an alley and decided to stab him.
There's nothing compelling or likable about Cyrus or the other characters, and the whole thing comes off as petulance and just? It doesn't feel like it's been well-researched, so I can't finish. I gave it a few tries and couldn't get past chapter 2, because I kept getting ripped from the story by things that didn't look right and didn't make sense and were just? Idk I couldn't get past the parts that I didn't like to be able to find things I did like? Is this supposed to be about a guy who just has a bad day and decides to take it out on everyone around him, or is it supposed to be about a mentally ill man? If it's the first, it's about a douche that I don't want to root for (or read about long enough to see him get caught); if the second, it's wildly inaccurate and a dangerous portrayal of mentally ill people as just A Bad Day Away from Doing a Murder (or seven). Like this isn't the Joker's villain origin story? I really feel like this could have been an interesting King-style exploration of a murderer if there was a little more research or care etc that went into it, but. This is gonna have to stay on my dnf shelf.
More...