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jdmcn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fishwithcorners's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
It was a very interesting way to write a mystery. It was hypnotic and reflective. It told the story of the mystery as an assemblage of stories where her death influence others in some way. It showed how in death, you have no agency any more and you become a “deus ex machina in everyone else’s story.” So the book was very kaleidoscopic in how we are looking at this single event for every possible angle and how it just gets twisted and morphed and distorted and twisted again.
genthebookworm's review against another edition
3.0
I had a lot of anticipation about Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin and it was just one of the 2020 books I was the most excited about. Unfortunately, after a really great start, it ended up being a reading letdown for me.
I think my lack of connection with this book has to do a lot with what my expectations were when I read the book summary compared to my actual reading experience. I was just expecting something very different!
I love a slow burn with highly detailed characters but this one totally threw me off with the fast-paced beginning. I think if I knew it was going to be less plot-driven I would have had very different expectations for it.
I don’t need twists and turns but this was ending up being so wordy and after a dramatic beginning just lacked any oompf for me after the beginning set me up with so many questions I needed answers for.
Because the characters weren’t likable and even though it was rich with text, I never ended up feeling like I “knew them” which just made me feel uninvested in the storyline. I think this book did have some powerful messages regarding race, class, and privilege, but these fell flat for me with the particularly wordy writing style.
I think Saint X is going to be one of those books that there are strong feelings about. Even just reading the initial ARC reviews on Goodreads, there is a whole range of reactions, some that are very positive. I think, all in all, this just was a case of being the wrong timing and expectations for me as a reader.
Thank you to Celadon Books, NetGalley and LibroFM for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.
*You can read my full review at genthebookworm.com
Merged review:
I had a lot of anticipation about Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin and it was just one of my 2020 books I was the most excited about. Unfortunately, after a really great start, it ended up being a reading letdown for me. I think my lack of connection with this book has to do a lot with what my expectations were when I read the book summary compared to my actual reading experience. I was just expecting something very different!
I love a slow burn with highly detailed characters but this one totally threw me off with the fast-paced beginning. I think if I knew it was going to be less plot-driven I would have had a very different expectations for it. I don't need twists and turns but this was ending up being so wordy and after a dramatic beginning just lacked any oompf for me after the beginning set me up with so many questions I needed answers for.
Because the characters weren't likable and even though it was rich with text, I never ended up feeling like I "knew them" which just made me feel uninvested in the storyline. I think this book did have some powerful messages regarding race, class, and privilege, but these fell flat for me with the particularly wordy writing style.
I think this is going to be one of those books that there are strong feelings about. Even just reading the initial ARC reviews on Goodreads, there is a whole range of reactions, some that are very positive. I think, all in all, this just was a case of being the wrong timing and expectations for me.
Thank you to Celadon Books, NetGalley and LibroFM for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.
I think my lack of connection with this book has to do a lot with what my expectations were when I read the book summary compared to my actual reading experience. I was just expecting something very different!
I love a slow burn with highly detailed characters but this one totally threw me off with the fast-paced beginning. I think if I knew it was going to be less plot-driven I would have had very different expectations for it.
I don’t need twists and turns but this was ending up being so wordy and after a dramatic beginning just lacked any oompf for me after the beginning set me up with so many questions I needed answers for.
Because the characters weren’t likable and even though it was rich with text, I never ended up feeling like I “knew them” which just made me feel uninvested in the storyline. I think this book did have some powerful messages regarding race, class, and privilege, but these fell flat for me with the particularly wordy writing style.
I think Saint X is going to be one of those books that there are strong feelings about. Even just reading the initial ARC reviews on Goodreads, there is a whole range of reactions, some that are very positive. I think, all in all, this just was a case of being the wrong timing and expectations for me as a reader.
Thank you to Celadon Books, NetGalley and LibroFM for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.
*You can read my full review at genthebookworm.com
Merged review:
I had a lot of anticipation about Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin and it was just one of my 2020 books I was the most excited about. Unfortunately, after a really great start, it ended up being a reading letdown for me. I think my lack of connection with this book has to do a lot with what my expectations were when I read the book summary compared to my actual reading experience. I was just expecting something very different!
I love a slow burn with highly detailed characters but this one totally threw me off with the fast-paced beginning. I think if I knew it was going to be less plot-driven I would have had a very different expectations for it. I don't need twists and turns but this was ending up being so wordy and after a dramatic beginning just lacked any oompf for me after the beginning set me up with so many questions I needed answers for.
Because the characters weren't likable and even though it was rich with text, I never ended up feeling like I "knew them" which just made me feel uninvested in the storyline. I think this book did have some powerful messages regarding race, class, and privilege, but these fell flat for me with the particularly wordy writing style.
I think this is going to be one of those books that there are strong feelings about. Even just reading the initial ARC reviews on Goodreads, there is a whole range of reactions, some that are very positive. I think, all in all, this just was a case of being the wrong timing and expectations for me.
Thank you to Celadon Books, NetGalley and LibroFM for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.
alx7p's review against another edition
2.0
Che dire. Prima metà molto intrigante ma poi....uno strazio! Non finiva mai!
alexaah13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
kdubinthisclub's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
amylauren36's review against another edition
3.0
I love the cover, and the title is great, but this book was hard for me to finish. I think the writing was great. My review of this book *might* be clouded by the fact that I was hoping it would be something else. Not the book's fault, but that's how I came to it when I started reading it!
When I first read the description, I thought it would read like a thriller since it's about a murder and it goes unsolved. But as I continued reading the book, it almost felt more like a contemporary fiction book parading as a thriller.
I would be interested to see what Schaitkin write next. I liked her writing style, this story just didn't do it for me!
When I first read the description, I thought it would read like a thriller since it's about a murder and it goes unsolved. But as I continued reading the book, it almost felt more like a contemporary fiction book parading as a thriller.
I would be interested to see what Schaitkin write next. I liked her writing style, this story just didn't do it for me!
laurencain's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Surprisingly loved this, but maybe skewed by the fact that I’ve only been reading romantasy lately? Beautiful descriptions and a few small writing things I loved– like casual references of things Emily/Claire would do in the future, emphasizing how her time in New York was not her future. I’m usually disappointed by crime stories that don’t have a big reveal but this was well-executed
“The city seemed not public but private, a place created for me and the things that were playing out in my life […] I did not care what people around me thought of me because I did not entirely believe they were real.”
“It took strength not to allow oneself to be subsumed by a thing that looked so large.”
“The city seemed not public but private, a place created for me and the things that were playing out in my life […] I did not care what people around me thought of me because I did not entirely believe they were real.”
“It took strength not to allow oneself to be subsumed by a thing that looked so large.”
blankpagealex's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed Schaitkin's prose and her descriptions of the paradise of Saint X and the inability of everyone to truly enjoy it was beautiful. The narrative was less engaging and after the inciting incident I found myself less intrigued by Claire/Emily as a character than I had been with Allison in the earlier chapters.
This is a worthwhile summer read and I devoured it rather quickly, but the narrative is not the most captivating and the inevitable twist was a bit of a letdown.
This is a worthwhile summer read and I devoured it rather quickly, but the narrative is not the most captivating and the inevitable twist was a bit of a letdown.