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A review by sharondblk
Lost Without You by Rachael Johns
1.0
I was given this book as an ARC from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
I DNFd this at 67 percent. I really wanted to do the author the courtesy of finishing, but when I found myself highlighting passages to use in this review, just to show how the writing annoyed me, I realised it was time to call it.
There are 4 main characters in this book and 4 main issues with this book:
1) The characters had no interiority. Despite the various viewpoints, the voice of the book is a very surface level third person narration, which more than once, jarringly, judges the protagonists actions. Related to this, all emotions are felt through the body. For example “she grew so anxious she made herself physically ill”. Other symptoms of feelings include headaches, shaking and nausea. I was given no reason to like any of the characters. They are all petulant, selfish and boring. Once reason I could stop 2/3 of the way through was that I didn’t care what happened at all.
2) There is a lot of detail that is completely irrelevant, like what the assistant in the op shop is wearing, what kind of fish was ordered. So much discussion about driving and parking, and descriptions of making tea and coffee. A good editor should have sorted all that out.
3) This book contains weird slightly offensivestatements. One of the pointless asides is about a woman who is knitting “She was not just knitting pointlessly. She was making fiddlemitts”. I’m glad Rachel Johns read a column somewhere about fiddlemitts, but if she’s been knitting baby bootees, or a shawl, or a swatch, would that have been pointless? That’s not nearly as weird as later in the book where she drops this gem “Old people had a lot of wisdom to offer if you bothered to pay attention.”
4) The entire plot is driven by a series of unlikely coincidences. This might have worked in the hands of a more subtle writer, but here it just falls flat. Except for one twist, the mystery is obvious from the beginning, and the not caring overwhelmed any desire to find out if they stop sulking and sort it out of not.
Well, it was honst.. thanks for the ARC, Netgalley.
I DNFd this at 67 percent. I really wanted to do the author the courtesy of finishing, but when I found myself highlighting passages to use in this review, just to show how the writing annoyed me, I realised it was time to call it.
There are 4 main characters in this book and 4 main issues with this book:
1) The characters had no interiority. Despite the various viewpoints, the voice of the book is a very surface level third person narration, which more than once, jarringly, judges the protagonists actions. Related to this, all emotions are felt through the body. For example “she grew so anxious she made herself physically ill”. Other symptoms of feelings include headaches, shaking and nausea. I was given no reason to like any of the characters. They are all petulant, selfish and boring. Once reason I could stop 2/3 of the way through was that I didn’t care what happened at all.
2) There is a lot of detail that is completely irrelevant, like what the assistant in the op shop is wearing, what kind of fish was ordered. So much discussion about driving and parking, and descriptions of making tea and coffee. A good editor should have sorted all that out.
3) This book contains weird slightly offensivestatements. One of the pointless asides is about a woman who is knitting “She was not just knitting pointlessly. She was making fiddlemitts”. I’m glad Rachel Johns read a column somewhere about fiddlemitts, but if she’s been knitting baby bootees, or a shawl, or a swatch, would that have been pointless? That’s not nearly as weird as later in the book where she drops this gem “Old people had a lot of wisdom to offer if you bothered to pay attention.”
4) The entire plot is driven by a series of unlikely coincidences. This might have worked in the hands of a more subtle writer, but here it just falls flat. Except for one twist, the mystery is obvious from the beginning, and the not caring overwhelmed any desire to find out if they stop sulking and sort it out of not.
Well, it was honst.. thanks for the ARC, Netgalley.