A review by bansheeslibrary
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater
3.0
A good debut that I devoured in one night. I’ve followed Slater for years on various social accs and always loved her recommendations & reviews so I was really eager for her to release something feral and unhinged.
I mostly enjoyed Slaters characterisation of Roach & Laura and although I usually prefer more *flowery* description, Slater managed to balance both narrative voices well in a way that keeps the reader hooked on the story. I enjoyed the character juxtaposition Laura’s unravelling perfectionism and terror against Roach’s uncomfortable and increasingly menacing demeanour & the satirical insight into the increasing commercialisation of the book industry.
Unfortunately I felt that the narrative itself fell a little bit flat towards the latter stages of the novel and that whilst Slater did provide a resolution of sorts in a neatly tied bow- it just didn’t fit with the slow mounting terror of the rest of the book which I found disappointing. The last chapter in particular felt like a way to tie up loose ends in a convenient way rather than providing an additional few chapters exploring the consequences of this tension between the women in more detail and overall felt a little bit rushed.
Also not a criticism on Slater directly but worth noting- heard that the audiobook chose to make Roach sound working class and Laura middle class which was really unnecessary for the story and actually reinforces a lot of negative working class stereotypes and came off as quite classist! Not great!
That said- I do recommend this book and definitely think it’s worth a read and will most likely be a book I will reread. I know I will definitely read more of Slater’s in the future!
I mostly enjoyed Slaters characterisation of Roach & Laura and although I usually prefer more *flowery* description, Slater managed to balance both narrative voices well in a way that keeps the reader hooked on the story. I enjoyed the character juxtaposition Laura’s unravelling perfectionism and terror against Roach’s uncomfortable and increasingly menacing demeanour & the satirical insight into the increasing commercialisation of the book industry.
Unfortunately I felt that the narrative itself fell a little bit flat towards the latter stages of the novel and that whilst Slater did provide a resolution of sorts in a neatly tied bow- it just didn’t fit with the slow mounting terror of the rest of the book which I found disappointing. The last chapter in particular felt like a way to tie up loose ends in a convenient way rather than providing an additional few chapters exploring the consequences of this tension between the women in more detail and overall felt a little bit rushed.
Also not a criticism on Slater directly but worth noting- heard that the audiobook chose to make Roach sound working class and Laura middle class which was really unnecessary for the story and actually reinforces a lot of negative working class stereotypes and came off as quite classist! Not great!
That said- I do recommend this book and definitely think it’s worth a read and will most likely be a book I will reread. I know I will definitely read more of Slater’s in the future!