A review by melbsreads
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
challenging
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Trigger warnings: war, death, death of a parent, death of a sibling, death of a friend, murder, genocide, cannibalism, racism, violence, rape, body horror, blood, child abuse, animal death
Holy hell. This was brutal from start to finish. The subject matter makes for extremely difficult reading, but the revelation at the end that it's inspired by someone's actual story made the whole thing worse. That being said, I REALLY didn't enjoy the writing style. I suspect McCormick wrote it based on her conversations with Arn Chorn-Pond and that his speaking style flowed through into her writing?? But yeah, the way the story was written pulled me out of the story time and time again, and it just...wasn't for me.
Ultimately, I was left wishing I'd read a nonfiction book about this prior to picking this up to give me some more context around the story. But it still manages to pack a solid emotional punch for so short a book.
Holy hell. This was brutal from start to finish. The subject matter makes for extremely difficult reading, but the revelation at the end that it's inspired by someone's actual story made the whole thing worse. That being said, I REALLY didn't enjoy the writing style. I suspect McCormick wrote it based on her conversations with Arn Chorn-Pond and that his speaking style flowed through into her writing?? But yeah, the way the story was written pulled me out of the story time and time again, and it just...wasn't for me.
Ultimately, I was left wishing I'd read a nonfiction book about this prior to picking this up to give me some more context around the story. But it still manages to pack a solid emotional punch for so short a book.