A review by vermidian
Dragonfly by Frederic S. Durbin
2.0
I quite reading this book about 90 pages into it and then skipped around a little to see if it got any better. To be really honest with you, most of the people rating this book with four and five star ratings are mostly reveling in the author being a Christian author, which is fine, than actually appreciating the writing style itself. That style, unfortunately, is what disappointed me. What makes that even worse was that I was really optimistic given that it's generally Halloween themed, but even that couldn't save this book.
For one thing, the characters fell flat - including the main character, Dragonfly, for whom the book was named. Dragonfly is a fifth grader, though it's told in past tense, meaning that as the main character is telling you the story, she's older than she is in the story. This creates an odd disconnect. All the other characters are just sort of there. Even though their actions are what seem to drive the plot, and not Dragonfly's actions - all of which seem to be hiding, praying, and generally being swept up in the guidance of side characters.
There's also this weird level of sexual desire in it. Mind you, this is a fifth grader who is being enticed by the smell of the musk of a boy. Having been a fifth grader, I can guarantee you that boys of similar ages to you do not smell good at that age. Hell, you're lucky if they use deodorant at all. Even if they did smell good at that age, there is no way a fifth grader would be smitten with a boy after one chance meeting and continually smell her cloak for hints of his "musk." Seriously. She's twelve, dude. (Spoiler alert: this book is written by a man who has clearly never been a fifth grade girl.)
The final thing that made me want to put down this book was that the author describes everything so extensively that I feel like the book is wasting my time. I question whether or not the editor for this book really read what was being said. These descriptions are tedious, and extensive, and don't actually help the plot along at all. I commented about 50 pages in that it felt like the author would rather be writing poetry than prose. It felt like reading really pointless poems about random topics. And I didn't think they were particularly well written poems.
Ultimately, this is not a book I would recommend to others.
For one thing, the characters fell flat - including the main character, Dragonfly, for whom the book was named. Dragonfly is a fifth grader, though it's told in past tense, meaning that as the main character is telling you the story, she's older than she is in the story. This creates an odd disconnect. All the other characters are just sort of there. Even though their actions are what seem to drive the plot, and not Dragonfly's actions - all of which seem to be hiding, praying, and generally being swept up in the guidance of side characters.
There's also this weird level of sexual desire in it. Mind you, this is a fifth grader who is being enticed by the smell of the musk of a boy. Having been a fifth grader, I can guarantee you that boys of similar ages to you do not smell good at that age. Hell, you're lucky if they use deodorant at all. Even if they did smell good at that age, there is no way a fifth grader would be smitten with a boy after one chance meeting and continually smell her cloak for hints of his "musk." Seriously. She's twelve, dude. (Spoiler alert: this book is written by a man who has clearly never been a fifth grade girl.)
The final thing that made me want to put down this book was that the author describes everything so extensively that I feel like the book is wasting my time. I question whether or not the editor for this book really read what was being said. These descriptions are tedious, and extensive, and don't actually help the plot along at all. I commented about 50 pages in that it felt like the author would rather be writing poetry than prose. It felt like reading really pointless poems about random topics. And I didn't think they were particularly well written poems.
Ultimately, this is not a book I would recommend to others.