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A review by cosmith2015
The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox by Jennifer Lee Carrell
1.0
I appreciate what Ms. Carrell was trying to do, but she failed. Miserably. This is a nonfiction book, not a novel. I have no problem with adding some flare or even acting like she knew how the people would've felt and how they acted. What I cannot get behind was the ridiculous amount of purple prose.
Paragraphs like this:
" There they emerged, tight lipped, the captain turning heads with his silver-laced, cockaded hat gripped firmly in white-gloved hands, his finely tailored blue coat fastened with gilt buttons above the clean lines of white breeches and gray hose, his black wig tied neatly with a cow, the glean of his sword competing with the flash of immense silver buckles on his shoes". This much description is unneeded. Even in a high fantasy novel.
I originally gave the book 100 pages. It got better around page 80 (when Lady Montague went to Turkey). Then it was mostly bad with a few good parts until page 136. I gave up. I couldn't understand why she'd needed to spend 10 or so pages about the 12 year old working on a ship.
side note: Over 20 pages were spent talking about Lady Montague's relationship with her husband.
Paragraphs like this:
" There they emerged, tight lipped, the captain turning heads with his silver-laced, cockaded hat gripped firmly in white-gloved hands, his finely tailored blue coat fastened with gilt buttons above the clean lines of white breeches and gray hose, his black wig tied neatly with a cow, the glean of his sword competing with the flash of immense silver buckles on his shoes". This much description is unneeded. Even in a high fantasy novel.
I originally gave the book 100 pages. It got better around page 80 (when Lady Montague went to Turkey). Then it was mostly bad with a few good parts until page 136. I gave up. I couldn't understand why she'd needed to spend 10 or so pages about the 12 year old working on a ship.
side note: Over 20 pages were spent talking about Lady Montague's relationship with her husband.