A review by schnaucl
Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  Instead, I struggled with it to the point that it took almost two months to read, and it's not that long.   Part of it is just the physical structure of the book. There are four sections, one for each season, but no chapter breaks so it was sometimes difficult to find a natural stopping point.

I can't decide if it's not for me (in the sense that I'm not the intended audience), which is obviously fine but might be why I struggled with it.

It's very disjointed.  Purposely so, I think.  There are a lot of characters, who nearly all have their own backstories.  I often found myself really interested in a backstory about the time the backstory was wrapping up.  

The book had a lot to say about race and class and gentrification and the last season in particular is very bleak.

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