A review by ablotial
The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
2.0
This book had caught my attention on Amazon and a few other people's Goodreads lists, and I was hoping to read it eventually. When the "May Challenge" for my online book club gave me a point for reading this book (because it has the word "map" in the title) I decided this would be a good time to read it.
So. I actually liked the story, the plot, the twists. There were surprises along the way that I really wasn't expecting, great literary references, a satisfying love story or two, and a good ending. I felt like I learned a little bit about Parkinson's and about bipolar disorder. I loved that it was set in Salem, and all the references to sailing, navigation and the ocean.
But I absolutely hated the author's writing style, to the point where it brought this book down to two stars from maybe four or so. Sentences, and sometimes paragraphs, appeared almost word-for-word two (and sometimes three or four) times in the book, like she just copy pasted them from one chapter to another. It got annoying to read the same thing over and over, as if the author thought I couldn't remember and she wasn't capable of paraphrasing. And while I didn't mind the fact that there were two gay couples featured prominently and am even kind of happy that this can happen in mainstream literature without a big fuss, I kind of felt like she was bashing us over the head with it, and with the modern day "witches".
And, in the end,
Interesting book, but I don't think I'll read anything else by this author.
So. I actually liked the story, the plot, the twists. There were surprises along the way that I really wasn't expecting, great literary references, a satisfying love story or two, and a good ending. I felt like I learned a little bit about Parkinson's and about bipolar disorder. I loved that it was set in Salem, and all the references to sailing, navigation and the ocean.
But I absolutely hated the author's writing style, to the point where it brought this book down to two stars from maybe four or so. Sentences, and sometimes paragraphs, appeared almost word-for-word two (and sometimes three or four) times in the book, like she just copy pasted them from one chapter to another. It got annoying to read the same thing over and over, as if the author thought I couldn't remember and she wasn't capable of paraphrasing. And while I didn't mind the fact that there were two gay couples featured prominently and am even kind of happy that this can happen in mainstream literature without a big fuss, I kind of felt like she was bashing us over the head with it, and with the modern day "witches".
And, in the end,
Spoiler
Zee doesn't even learn the whole story. I kind of thought with the description and the title that she would come to know everything about her parents' stories, and how it has affected her life. But no.Interesting book, but I don't think I'll read anything else by this author.