A review by sorrenbriarwood
Bottle Grove by Daniel Handler
2.0
I won't mince words here: the only strong point of Bottle Grove was the prose. I really liked the experimental, train-of-thought type approach, and Handler is clearly a master of his craft. If it hadn't been for the prose, however, I never would have made it through this novel.
I do appreciate that the characters are supposed to be unlikable, but they're so fundamentally unlikable that reading this book feels exactly like being trapped at a party full of deeply annoying people. Acknowledging, in-text, that the characters are all cishet white people dealing with first-world problems doesn't change the fact that the one (1) queer PoC character is shunted to the sidelines here, even if you put those words in his mouth in the form of "jokes." Bottle Grove also dips its toes into some really serious themes, such as child sexual assault, with what feels like a serious lack of consideration or care, which didn't sit well wtih me at all. Overall, this felt like a book that was trying really hard to be high-brow and edgy, but didn't really have anything to say.
I do appreciate that the characters are supposed to be unlikable, but they're so fundamentally unlikable that reading this book feels exactly like being trapped at a party full of deeply annoying people. Acknowledging, in-text, that the characters are all cishet white people dealing with first-world problems doesn't change the fact that the one (1) queer PoC character is shunted to the sidelines here, even if you put those words in his mouth in the form of "jokes." Bottle Grove also dips its toes into some really serious themes, such as child sexual assault, with what feels like a serious lack of consideration or care, which didn't sit well wtih me at all. Overall, this felt like a book that was trying really hard to be high-brow and edgy, but didn't really have anything to say.