agirlandherbooks's review
This book is so unbelievably boring. The writing doesn’t compel me to finish and after the first 100 pages I have learned nothing except that this book has not been worth my efforts.
abookishaffair's review
3.0
The book follows the story of a family after their son is murdered on the steps of his university library. It takes place in the DC metro area and I enjoyed reading about places that I'm familiar with. The book drags in some places but the end is very good and puts everything together.
vmp5062's review
2.0
Wooo boy was this book not for me. I'm not quite sure what else to write about it.
This book was fairly maudlin from start to finish. My dislike of this book isn't helped by the weird writing styles found in this book. There are so many run-on sentences that contained a staggering amount of commas, to the point where the sentence would no longer make sense unless read multiple times for clarity. Even worse were the diary entries that were supposed to be written for a child. For example: "What I love about the sanctuary I've assembled is its predictable order. It gives me pleasure to walk into my room knowing that everything will be exactly as I left it - the caterpillar on a blue silk cloth, the skeleton of a spider monkey, the fetus of a kitten in a jar of formaldehyde, the dried skin of a milk snake, a swallow reduced by time to feathers arranged in a fan on my bureau." That was supposed to be the diary entry of a 12 year old girl. I have my own diaries from that age that prove that isn't the way a normal 12 year old writes (Unless they are unusually smart, and btw nothing in this book points to the protagonist having above average intelligence).
Now to be fair, this book is a study of how this particular individual deals with their grief. I have been lucky enough in my life to avoid any major, unexpected, tragedy. I haven't had a brother killed right in front of my eyes. But again, this also isn't the kind of topic on which I prefer to ruminate. I can see this being the kind of book someone not like me would consider reading, and probably really enjoy. But I am not that person, at least not at the moment.
This book was fairly maudlin from start to finish. My dislike of this book isn't helped by the weird writing styles found in this book. There are so many run-on sentences that contained a staggering amount of commas, to the point where the sentence would no longer make sense unless read multiple times for clarity. Even worse were the diary entries that were supposed to be written for a child. For example: "What I love about the sanctuary I've assembled is its predictable order. It gives me pleasure to walk into my room knowing that everything will be exactly as I left it - the caterpillar on a blue silk cloth, the skeleton of a spider monkey, the fetus of a kitten in a jar of formaldehyde, the dried skin of a milk snake, a swallow reduced by time to feathers arranged in a fan on my bureau." That was supposed to be the diary entry of a 12 year old girl. I have my own diaries from that age that prove that isn't the way a normal 12 year old writes (Unless they are unusually smart, and btw nothing in this book points to the protagonist having above average intelligence).
Now to be fair, this book is a study of how this particular individual deals with their grief. I have been lucky enough in my life to avoid any major, unexpected, tragedy. I haven't had a brother killed right in front of my eyes. But again, this also isn't the kind of topic on which I prefer to ruminate. I can see this being the kind of book someone not like me would consider reading, and probably really enjoy. But I am not that person, at least not at the moment.
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