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A review by cassie7e
The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
2.5 stars - waffled between liking and not liking it, and probably wouldn't recommend in general except to friends who are arc-focused.
A lot of this book is telling instead of showing. That can work for stories about plot or history but this book aims to be about experiences and feelings. For a book centered on scents, I didn't get clear sense of any of them. It talks about so many and with vague language. I'd been hoping for concrete, visceral, emotional scent descriptions, but the narratives just throws scent after scent at the reader and tells us it feels important. And the character's super ability to not only smell well but glean information about people's thoughts and feelings or actions through it felt unbelieveable much of the time. I wish it had been explained as an intuition paired with a strong nose instead of actually reading people through their smell.
Stemming from this same issue with telling, the prose overrelies on ominous-reflection in place of actual foreshadowing. I actually did enjoy the arc of the story, which is the main reason I kept reading, and just balances out the issues I have with the style to be an "okay" book.
A lot of this book is telling instead of showing. That can work for stories about plot or history but this book aims to be about experiences and feelings. For a book centered on scents, I didn't get clear sense of any of them. It talks about so many and with vague language. I'd been hoping for concrete, visceral, emotional scent descriptions, but the narratives just throws scent after scent at the reader and tells us it feels important. And the character's super ability to not only smell well but glean information about people's thoughts and feelings or actions through it felt unbelieveable much of the time. I wish it had been explained as an intuition paired with a strong nose instead of actually reading people through their smell.
Stemming from this same issue with telling, the prose overrelies on ominous-reflection in place of actual foreshadowing. I actually did enjoy the arc of the story, which is the main reason I kept reading, and just balances out the issues I have with the style to be an "okay" book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment