A review by rachelkc
The Smoking Mirror by David Bowles

2.0

The Garza Twins discover things about themselves in the midst of dealing with the disappearance of their mother and the their father’s resulting breakdown in The Smoking Mirror. The imaginative aspects of this tale are reliant on the reality of their situation, and they follow the “rules” set forth by the book, allowing Carol and Johnny to explore their relationship with each other and with their new “shapes” while they fight to find their mother and set the world right again. I wasn’t a fan of Bowles’s writing style, especially his dialogue, so I struggled to finish this book. Where there is creativity and imagination involved, certain events and interactions fell flat, and it felt that there was more telling than showing.