Reviews

The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

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bethgee's review

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1.0

Wow, this author is proud of himself. Which is odd because this book is terrible. Long and pointless.

coffee_cake's review

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emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

Gorgeous writing, distinct characters, well laid mystery, strong narration.

marmoset737's review

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2.0

Not as good as I had hoped it would be - I thought it kind of rambled a lot in the middle and the ending was ultimately a disappointment. Good writer though....

This could have been shortened by at LEAST 40%. No one needs random musings on faith, chess, or temptation in the middle of a murder mystery. The author mentioned that the protagonist has never been able to stand up to strong women REPEATEDLY, to the point of eye-rolling because WE GET IT. Finally, the author kept saying "member of the darker nation" and "of the pale nation" in lieu of just saying white and black and it was weird and annoying. I thought about keeping track of how many times he used this phrasing specifically, but I lost count in one of the endless diatribes about something wholly irrelevant to the plot.

kah296's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There was SO MUCH going on and I think probably all of it was important to the book as a whole but it at times I had a hard time keeping up while still feeling like the book was dragging a bit. It was really interesting to read a book from the early-2000s, which seems not that long ago but so many of the cultural touchpoints referenced in the book have become so heightened.