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A review by dr_kat
Abandon by Blake Crouch
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Okay…this just wasn’t the right book for me. Many other folks I know LOVED this book so much. But me…I just didn’t. I will say there’s a lot of creep and scary-teasing and build up. But I wouldn’t call this horror so much as adventure.
First, it just felt like it took so long to get started and even 3/4 + of the way through we were learning new things. And I disliked everyone. Everyone. And I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really like ghost stories because they’re all tragedies and so sad.
So in my MFA program I was told over and over to do horrible things to my most likeable characters. I was told this makes great fiction and the reader wants it. Like a safe kind of schadenfreude where it’s just fiction so no one is really hurt. I tho k this is BS advice, though. Yes, testing a person to see how they react will often provide interesting, maybe even entertaining results. But like the “bonus short story” included in my copy of Abandon, at what cost to even a vicarious observer? Yeah, no, no thanks. A story needs complications but I don’t think it needs to be the worst of human nature for nearly the entire cast of characters, which is what this story has. Sorry, I’m not really giving spoilers; just my personal thoughts on why this book disappointed me and troubled me. So I read Lacalle’s Lone Women and it had a similar vibe, similar place and time, but no real cannibals, I guess. That left me with a more uplifted feeling even though it was still tragic. It was creepy and mysterious but not to the point of extreme torture. And there were redeemable people and lots of Justice. I could have used some of that in this novel.
But look, that’s just me. If you liked gold mining westerns and ghosts you may love this. I hope so.
So in my MFA program I was told over and over to do horrible things to my most likeable characters. I was told this makes great fiction and the reader wants it. Like a safe kind of schadenfreude where it’s just fiction so no one is really hurt. I tho k this is BS advice, though. Yes, testing a person to see how they react will often provide interesting, maybe even entertaining results. But like the “bonus short story” included in my copy of Abandon, at what cost to even a vicarious observer? Yeah, no, no thanks. A story needs complications but I don’t think it needs to be the worst of human nature for nearly the entire cast of characters, which is what this story has. Sorry, I’m not really giving spoilers; just my personal thoughts on why this book disappointed me and troubled me. So I read Lacalle’s Lone Women and it had a similar vibe, similar place and time, but no real cannibals, I guess. That left me with a more uplifted feeling even though it was still tragic. It was creepy and mysterious but not to the point of extreme torture. And there were redeemable people and lots of Justice. I could have used some of that in this novel.
But look, that’s just me. If you liked gold mining westerns and ghosts you may love this. I hope so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Murder