A review by sopranopage
Char by Kristina Wojtaszek
This is not a nice review. If you liked the book, you probably won't like what I'm about to say.
So, the positive thing about this book is the author does seem to have a knack for description. It's rare that I didn't have a clear picture of where the character was and what the place looked like.
That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say. I spent a good chunk of the book flailing with no idea what was going on. This book is touted as being a stand alone, but I hope that isn't actually true, because the alternative is the author being really bad at explaining her worldbuilding and introducing characters in a non-overwhelming way. I'm still not totally clear who all the characters are. The author also, for some reason, skipped large chunks of necessary scenes that likely would've aided in understanding what on earth was going on.
Vidar made me supremely uncomfortable from the instant he appeared on the page. Aside from the fact he, despite the fact she was not the only dark-skinned character he knew, decided asking if Luna had been burned to explain her complexion was an appropriate line of conversation, I found his "flirtatious" remarks closer to creepy than affection. Luna's initial reluctance to follow his advances wasn't properly explained as it was happening, and the transition into them having a romantic relationship was not properly developed. This is probably a symptom of the book's overall issue with not really explaining things when it comes to characters' internal thoughts. Whether Luna was actually interested in him wasn't clear through the early stages of creepy flirting.
Vidar's comment about Luna's skin was really par for the course in the way her colour was treated throughout the first half of the book in particular. From narrative description saying her feet were indistinguishable from the dirt on them, to Vidar's charming comment, this girl and her skin just could not catch a break. It's impossible to completely divorce a book from the context of the reader's world, so it's important to take into consideration what might be problematic in the real world, not just the cultural norms of the story world alone.
If I hadn't been reading this for a readathon, I likely would not have finished it.
So, the positive thing about this book is the author does seem to have a knack for description. It's rare that I didn't have a clear picture of where the character was and what the place looked like.
That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say. I spent a good chunk of the book flailing with no idea what was going on. This book is touted as being a stand alone, but I hope that isn't actually true, because the alternative is the author being really bad at explaining her worldbuilding and introducing characters in a non-overwhelming way. I'm still not totally clear who all the characters are. The author also, for some reason, skipped large chunks of necessary scenes that likely would've aided in understanding what on earth was going on.
Vidar made me supremely uncomfortable from the instant he appeared on the page. Aside from the fact he, despite the fact she was not the only dark-skinned character he knew, decided asking if Luna had been burned to explain her complexion was an appropriate line of conversation, I found his "flirtatious" remarks closer to creepy than affection. Luna's initial reluctance to follow his advances wasn't properly explained as it was happening, and the transition into them having a romantic relationship was not properly developed. This is probably a symptom of the book's overall issue with not really explaining things when it comes to characters' internal thoughts. Whether Luna was actually interested in him wasn't clear through the early stages of creepy flirting.
Vidar's comment about Luna's skin was really par for the course in the way her colour was treated throughout the first half of the book in particular. From narrative description saying her feet were indistinguishable from the dirt on them, to Vidar's charming comment, this girl and her skin just could not catch a break. It's impossible to completely divorce a book from the context of the reader's world, so it's important to take into consideration what might be problematic in the real world, not just the cultural norms of the story world alone.
If I hadn't been reading this for a readathon, I likely would not have finished it.