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A review by alisonbee26
Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica
2.0
I wanted to give this 3 stars, but as I started composing this review, I realized that I just can't do that. I'm with several other readers here in that while I enjoyed the storyline, it really did drag on and on. Toward the end, I admittedly started skimming Alex's chapters in the hopes that something would happen with Quinn. Turns out that was a decent approach to this novel....
I was initially drawn to this book because of its comparisons with Gillian Flynn's work. The shifting perspectives is an interesting narrative structure that seems to be trending right now, but it's not an easy style to master. Here, I felt like there were so many moments when the characters' persona didn't match the language the author supplied. For example, it seemed odd to me that Quinn, who professes to be rather dumb, remarks that her encounter with Ben on the couch was not "libidinous." Would she really use that word, especially with it being in 1st POV? Would anyone? SAT-word moments aside, Alex at one point refers to Ingrid as being "tuckered out," a phrase I don't think I've ever heard an 18-year old use. There were actually a number of similar instances in the book when I felt like the vocabulary was disconnected from the characters and I kind of wanted to go in and revise.
So I don't know...cool concept, but the execution was lacking for me.
I was initially drawn to this book because of its comparisons with Gillian Flynn's work. The shifting perspectives is an interesting narrative structure that seems to be trending right now, but it's not an easy style to master. Here, I felt like there were so many moments when the characters' persona didn't match the language the author supplied. For example, it seemed odd to me that Quinn, who professes to be rather dumb, remarks that her encounter with Ben on the couch was not "libidinous." Would she really use that word, especially with it being in 1st POV? Would anyone? SAT-word moments aside, Alex at one point refers to Ingrid as being "tuckered out," a phrase I don't think I've ever heard an 18-year old use. There were actually a number of similar instances in the book when I felt like the vocabulary was disconnected from the characters and I kind of wanted to go in and revise.
So I don't know...cool concept, but the execution was lacking for me.