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A review by starthelostgirl
Citrus County by John Brandon
3.0
John Brandon was my very first college professor, and remained one of my favorites, so I am not entirely unbiased.
I don’t like this style of writing, where everything is bad all the time and nothing really matters or changes, and all we focus on is terrible people doing terrible things. It’s reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye, which I am not a fan of. I did really care about one character, the 4 year old who was actually very sweet, but found myself feeling disdainful towards any older kids or adults in the novel. The focus on the sexuality of 13 year olds was uncomfortable at times, and at the end of the book I felt like the events had been viewed through a thick fog where nothing really changed despite momentous events happening. I couldn’t tell if the way some adults spoke to the kids was supposed to be unreliably reported, because it seemed too ridiculous to be real, or if that was supposed to be another aspect of the weird disconnect in Citrus County.
Overall I think it achieved what it set out to do, and that just isn’t the kind of story that works for me.
I don’t like this style of writing, where everything is bad all the time and nothing really matters or changes, and all we focus on is terrible people doing terrible things. It’s reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye, which I am not a fan of. I did really care about one character, the 4 year old who was actually very sweet, but found myself feeling disdainful towards any older kids or adults in the novel. The focus on the sexuality of 13 year olds was uncomfortable at times, and at the end of the book I felt like the events had been viewed through a thick fog where nothing really changed despite momentous events happening. I couldn’t tell if the way some adults spoke to the kids was supposed to be unreliably reported, because it seemed too ridiculous to be real, or if that was supposed to be another aspect of the weird disconnect in Citrus County.
Overall I think it achieved what it set out to do, and that just isn’t the kind of story that works for me.