Scan barcode
A review by booksuperpower
Things Mysterious by Matthew Chabin
3.0
Things Mysterious by Matthew Chabin is a 2015 Roane publishing release. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This is a short story that has a very compelling blurb and certainly peaked my curiosity. I thought this would be mystery/romance with secrets and all that good stuff. But, this story is nothing at all like that and I will have to be very upfront with you and say I am still unsure how I feel about this one.
Dasan is adjusting to civilian life after a tour in Iraq and the demise of his marriage. He is going through the motions of life, getting through one day to the next, until by sheer chance he sees a girl that absolutely stuns him. From that day forward she is the real focus of his life. As he gets to know her better, the relationship develops very nicely, but there is something off , not right, and as each day passes Dasan becomes more frustrated. What is Edenia's back story and will he be able to cope with the truth once he knows the whole story?
Filled with the philosophical and the metaphorical, the story digs deep into the psyche leading the reader around on loopy mind trip, all the while dropping subtle hints about what is come. Sadly, I was left feeling a little unsettled and down when the story concluded. I don't always expect wine and roses at a book's conclusion, especially if it is a mystery/suspense novel, which the blurb sort of hinted at, in my opinion, but this story was not a mystery, not a romance, no matter what impression you may draw from the blurb. In fact, the story is quite melancholy, with a kind of dream like quality to it making me wonder if I was in an alternate dimension much of the time.
I will be the first to confess I don't read a lot of super deep material. I pretty much stick to mainstream romance and mystery/thrillers , so perhaps there is a message here the author hoped the reader would would pick up on, but that I didn't quite grasp.
Having said that, I can see the the author has some writing skills, and does indeed have a certain style that captivates the reader. I think if I took things at face value the story was ultimately sad, and I loathe sad endings, but if it was perhaps allegorical, I could draw my own conclusion and believe whatever I wanted to about the conclusion, or I missed the meaning entirely and it sailed right over my feeble little head. Either way, be prepared because the ending is rather abrupt and like I said before, left me feeling at sixes and sevens.
Overall, I give the author kudos for great writing skill and prose and for originality, even though I can't say I was a huge fan of the story itself. This one gets 3 stars
This is a short story that has a very compelling blurb and certainly peaked my curiosity. I thought this would be mystery/romance with secrets and all that good stuff. But, this story is nothing at all like that and I will have to be very upfront with you and say I am still unsure how I feel about this one.
Dasan is adjusting to civilian life after a tour in Iraq and the demise of his marriage. He is going through the motions of life, getting through one day to the next, until by sheer chance he sees a girl that absolutely stuns him. From that day forward she is the real focus of his life. As he gets to know her better, the relationship develops very nicely, but there is something off , not right, and as each day passes Dasan becomes more frustrated. What is Edenia's back story and will he be able to cope with the truth once he knows the whole story?
Filled with the philosophical and the metaphorical, the story digs deep into the psyche leading the reader around on loopy mind trip, all the while dropping subtle hints about what is come. Sadly, I was left feeling a little unsettled and down when the story concluded. I don't always expect wine and roses at a book's conclusion, especially if it is a mystery/suspense novel, which the blurb sort of hinted at, in my opinion, but this story was not a mystery, not a romance, no matter what impression you may draw from the blurb. In fact, the story is quite melancholy, with a kind of dream like quality to it making me wonder if I was in an alternate dimension much of the time.
I will be the first to confess I don't read a lot of super deep material. I pretty much stick to mainstream romance and mystery/thrillers , so perhaps there is a message here the author hoped the reader would would pick up on, but that I didn't quite grasp.
Having said that, I can see the the author has some writing skills, and does indeed have a certain style that captivates the reader. I think if I took things at face value the story was ultimately sad, and I loathe sad endings, but if it was perhaps allegorical, I could draw my own conclusion and believe whatever I wanted to about the conclusion, or I missed the meaning entirely and it sailed right over my feeble little head. Either way, be prepared because the ending is rather abrupt and like I said before, left me feeling at sixes and sevens.
Overall, I give the author kudos for great writing skill and prose and for originality, even though I can't say I was a huge fan of the story itself. This one gets 3 stars