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A review by electraheart
The Night Gwen Stacy Died by Sarah Bruni
2.0
I honestly don't have a lot of positive things to say about this book.
Shelia is a basic MPDG, and while she initially starts out strong, her character diminishes almost immediately after meeting Peter. She's hellbent on getting out of her small hometown and moving to France. I was a senior in high school once too, so I know that feeling all too well. I assumed I'd feel a strong connection to Shelia, but more than anything I was confused by the direction she goes in. You're telling me that someone who has been saving money for ages, along with tediously studying the language of the place she dreams of calling home, is perfectly okay with giving all of that up and getting in a vehicle with a man she only knows based off his cigarette preference and moves to Chicago without any complaints? I don't think so.
That leads me to Peter. I have so many problems with him and his relationship with Shelia. For starters, he's clearly someone suffering from a multitude of deep-rooted issues, and he's delusional enough to believe that he has a sense of Spiderman in him. Changing his drivers license so his name is Peter Parker? Constantly feeling the need to rescue people who aren't actually in any danger? Whisking a girl off her feet and falling madly in love because that's how it plays out in the comics? Nah.
And their relationship itself, because it's a wonderful mess. I had a really difficult time believing either of them would be okay with robbing the gas station Shelia works at and stealing a cab to get them to Chicago. Shelia expresses guilt maybe once, and even then Peter shrugs it off. Seriously? Then there's the fact that they just magically, suddenly fall in love overnight. Except not really. The author does such a terrible job at showing how their relationship develops and instead opts to tell us. For the record, they're only gone a few weeks (I believe), and I had to strain to not roll my eyes at how much their love apparently blossomed. They knew nothing about each other! From day one Shelia insisted he call her Gwen. She transforms herself into a fucking comic book character to fit the mold of his fantasy, throwing away every ounce of her that made her unique. Peter was purely in love with the idea he constructed of Shelia, and she was stupid enough to play into it. Their entire relationship is built entirely off a facade, and I can't back that. I just can't.
The writing itself, along with the plot, made it impossible for me to enjoy this story. I had no idea what direction the book would take, but it still wound up going somewhere completely unexpected - and that wasn't a good thing. A majority of the story exists as build up for the ending, and that would be great, if the ending hadn't been horribly expected. Ninety-nine percent of the story takes place over the span of a few weeks in which they...what, exactly? Move into a shitty place in Chicago, find boring jobs to keep a stable income and? There was no plot. Peter's dreams came off as a dull sub-plot that weren't strong enough to grasp the reader's attention. I didn't care about him drinking tap water in his sleep. I didn't care about Shelia buying a blue dress that he constantly begged her to wear for a few minutes.
Their relationship was stale. The writing was stale. The characters were stale. Also what the hell was with the coyote crap? Seriously.
Shelia is a basic MPDG, and while she initially starts out strong, her character diminishes almost immediately after meeting Peter. She's hellbent on getting out of her small hometown and moving to France. I was a senior in high school once too, so I know that feeling all too well. I assumed I'd feel a strong connection to Shelia, but more than anything I was confused by the direction she goes in. You're telling me that someone who has been saving money for ages, along with tediously studying the language of the place she dreams of calling home, is perfectly okay with giving all of that up and getting in a vehicle with a man she only knows based off his cigarette preference and moves to Chicago without any complaints? I don't think so.
That leads me to Peter. I have so many problems with him and his relationship with Shelia. For starters, he's clearly someone suffering from a multitude of deep-rooted issues, and he's delusional enough to believe that he has a sense of Spiderman in him. Changing his drivers license so his name is Peter Parker? Constantly feeling the need to rescue people who aren't actually in any danger? Whisking a girl off her feet and falling madly in love because that's how it plays out in the comics? Nah.
And their relationship itself, because it's a wonderful mess. I had a really difficult time believing either of them would be okay with robbing the gas station Shelia works at and stealing a cab to get them to Chicago. Shelia expresses guilt maybe once, and even then Peter shrugs it off. Seriously? Then there's the fact that they just magically, suddenly fall in love overnight. Except not really. The author does such a terrible job at showing how their relationship develops and instead opts to tell us. For the record, they're only gone a few weeks (I believe), and I had to strain to not roll my eyes at how much their love apparently blossomed. They knew nothing about each other! From day one Shelia insisted he call her Gwen. She transforms herself into a fucking comic book character to fit the mold of his fantasy, throwing away every ounce of her that made her unique. Peter was purely in love with the idea he constructed of Shelia, and she was stupid enough to play into it. Their entire relationship is built entirely off a facade, and I can't back that. I just can't.
The writing itself, along with the plot, made it impossible for me to enjoy this story. I had no idea what direction the book would take, but it still wound up going somewhere completely unexpected - and that wasn't a good thing. A majority of the story exists as build up for the ending, and that would be great, if the ending hadn't been horribly expected. Ninety-nine percent of the story takes place over the span of a few weeks in which they...what, exactly? Move into a shitty place in Chicago, find boring jobs to keep a stable income and? There was no plot. Peter's dreams came off as a dull sub-plot that weren't strong enough to grasp the reader's attention. I didn't care about him drinking tap water in his sleep. I didn't care about Shelia buying a blue dress that he constantly begged her to wear for a few minutes.
Their relationship was stale. The writing was stale. The characters were stale. Also what the hell was with the coyote crap? Seriously.