A review by mirandax
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, by Mariana Zapata
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
I picked this up because of a tweet I saw a few months ago. I can no longer remember why they loved it, and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you - nothing about this stood out to me.
The inner monologue is exhausting. It's so repetitive and dull. Someone can sit down and we get two full paragraphs of it, someone yawns and we get full descriptions of each yawn. It's so disruptive to the flow of conversations, and it's hard to ever really enjoy any of the banter because of it.
There was also a lot of telling and never any showing, and it got worse as the story progressed. I struggled to believe the emotions we were told Vanessa was feeling because I never saw any proof of it.
ex. she kept telling us how much she loved her brother, but the only interaction she had with him was an extremely short scene halfway through and then he was never mentioned again except in (very brief) passing. This happened so many times.
By the time our protagonist realised her love I honestly didn't really believe it. Sure, it lined up with some of the things she'd been /telling/ us, but there were rarely any scenes that showed their chemistry.
There was also no real challenge for the couple to overcome together, no real breaking point. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just another thing that made the book fall flat to me.
Past the 80% mark I was able to enjoy the story a bit more, and it got cute for that last stretch, but I was honestly so exhausted by the constant stream of inconsequential internal monologue I didn't have it in me to care properly.
I almost want to rate it lower than 2 stars, but it makes me feel mean lol.
The inner monologue is exhausting. It's so repetitive and dull. Someone can sit down and we get two full paragraphs of it, someone yawns and we get full descriptions of each yawn. It's so disruptive to the flow of conversations, and it's hard to ever really enjoy any of the banter because of it.
There was also a lot of telling and never any showing, and it got worse as the story progressed. I struggled to believe the emotions we were told Vanessa was feeling because I never saw any proof of it.
ex. she kept telling us how much she loved her brother, but the only interaction she had with him was an extremely short scene halfway through and then he was never mentioned again except in (very brief) passing. This happened so many times.
By the time our protagonist realised her love I honestly didn't really believe it. Sure, it lined up with some of the things she'd been /telling/ us, but there were rarely any scenes that showed their chemistry.
Spoiler
And also the way she went from "he could never love me, but I'm resigned to my love being unrequited" to "I know he loves me" when /nothing/ in his behaviour had changed between those two points and she'd needed verbal affirmation throughout the entire story made no sense to me and irked me more than it should.There was also no real challenge for the couple to overcome together, no real breaking point. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just another thing that made the book fall flat to me.
Past the 80% mark I was able to enjoy the story a bit more, and it got cute for that last stretch, but I was honestly so exhausted by the constant stream of inconsequential internal monologue I didn't have it in me to care properly.
I almost want to rate it lower than 2 stars, but it makes me feel mean lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug abuse