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kristianawithak's review against another edition
2.0
The novel's plot seems to read light hearted but it does not read that way. (My kind of light hearted funny book.)
I read a lot of dark books, books with serious themes or dark humour and Arsonist's Guide reads dark, but an unfamiliar dark. I wonder if it is the narrator. (Sorry narrators I never miss an opportunity to blame you for the quality of a book). I never know how much to blame on the narrator of the audio book or on the writing. I have this book at home and may try physically reading it (if I remember how) but I will probably push through to listen to the rest of it - I listened to all but the last page of the book because I ran out of time at work and read the end of it. I believe my inner voice is much less irritating as the main character.
The book seems unbalanced in places. There are statements made about literature and reading that are truly thought provoking, but they are said in such an obvious self aware way that it is distracting.
The author is honest in the mistakes he will make or things that he will regret, so the story is barely mysterious. It is a strange form of reverse forshadowing. He is not subtle in the way the story will play out, but as a reader you are kind of expecting a big reveal. Maybe he won't end up in jail again, maybe what he said is going to happen might not happen.
At the end of the book I found myself wanting to like it more than I did. There seemed to be some good ideas but the style was blase.
Side notes:
Dark comedy that I enjoyed while being entirely disturbed, A Spot of Bother.
I just saw the paperback cover and it is very interesting and I think and improvement from the Hardcover. Not unlike Spot of Bother, but in reverse, the HC was very nice and the TP horrified me and made it pretty unsaleable.
I read a lot of dark books, books with serious themes or dark humour and Arsonist's Guide reads dark, but an unfamiliar dark. I wonder if it is the narrator. (Sorry narrators I never miss an opportunity to blame you for the quality of a book). I never know how much to blame on the narrator of the audio book or on the writing. I have this book at home and may try physically reading it (if I remember how) but I will probably push through to listen to the rest of it - I listened to all but the last page of the book because I ran out of time at work and read the end of it. I believe my inner voice is much less irritating as the main character.
The book seems unbalanced in places. There are statements made about literature and reading that are truly thought provoking, but they are said in such an obvious self aware way that it is distracting.
The author is honest in the mistakes he will make or things that he will regret, so the story is barely mysterious. It is a strange form of reverse forshadowing. He is not subtle in the way the story will play out, but as a reader you are kind of expecting a big reveal. Maybe he won't end up in jail again, maybe what he said is going to happen might not happen.
At the end of the book I found myself wanting to like it more than I did. There seemed to be some good ideas but the style was blase.
Side notes:
Dark comedy that I enjoyed while being entirely disturbed, A Spot of Bother.
I just saw the paperback cover and it is very interesting and I think and improvement from the Hardcover. Not unlike Spot of Bother, but in reverse, the HC was very nice and the TP horrified me and made it pretty unsaleable.
el_entrenador_loco's review
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ketevanreads's review against another edition
2.0
I read this as part of a mini-challenge to read the lowest and highest rated book you own, and I really wanted to prove the reviews wrong. I bought this book thinking it would be a fantastic romp. Unfortunately, this one does deserve its lowest rank. While not the worst book I've ever read, I genuinely think I got nothing out of it. It was bland, odd since so much happens.
I read a lot of reviews that said they didn't enjoy it because our protagonist, Sam, was very unlikeable. And I thought to myself, "Hey! I love unlikeable narrators/characters, surely I'll enjoy it more!" And now I realize that I enjoy characters who are horrible people, while Sam is truly just unlikeable. His bland internal monologue and poor decisions are enough to not like him, but not enough to hate him either. I suppose that's some sort of metaphor about how most people actually are, but it didn't come together well enough for that to work very well.
I read a lot of reviews that said they didn't enjoy it because our protagonist, Sam, was very unlikeable. And I thought to myself, "Hey! I love unlikeable narrators/characters, surely I'll enjoy it more!" And now I realize that I enjoy characters who are horrible people, while Sam is truly just unlikeable. His bland internal monologue and poor decisions are enough to not like him, but not enough to hate him either. I suppose that's some sort of metaphor about how most people actually are, but it didn't come together well enough for that to work very well.
loribulb's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't even finish it. I got a hundred pages in and realized I didn't care about even one character, not even the main one.
cattytrona's review against another edition
3.0
Reads like Lemony Snicket, which isnt necessarily a bad thing, although it’s notable that Snicket feels solidly and specifically more literary. This is much more abstractly about books, if not stories, if not readers. That vagueness about text is definitely is a part of how writers houses work, so at least there’s truth in that.
sweetpeppah's review against another edition
3.0
loved it! i like the somewhat rough, insecure, waffle-y "voice" of the writing. i love the snarkiness about the various reasons someone might have to burn down writers homes.
ger_c_s's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The conclusion came out of nowhere- I would have liked some more hints earlier on so you'd be able to play the detective a little more yourself as a reader.
pharmdad2007's review against another edition
3.0
Nothing groundbreaking about this book, but it did have some funny moments and a clever, slightly off-kilter writing style.