SBD
Oh, man, I thought this book would be good, but this heroine's over-reacting at the mo. She's major martyr because her parents were killed when she was 3. Now, 23 years later, she's got all the PTSD symptoms -- as if she'd witnessed the murder and clearly remembered the people who died. She's crying all the time and in shock and has just thrown up again after encountering the man who just got out of jail (and who might not have done it).
The thing is, the first description of her as someone who goes through life distrusting happiness and waiting for the bad stuff to happen any second -- that one makes sense. It rings true and fits her circumstances. She had no memory of the event or her parents but their deaths left a real, and believable scar. Operative word here is scar, not bleeding, pulsing wound directly related to the events. That's just not something that works for a regular adult person who was 3 when the bad crap when down.
Those first couple of chapters of Scent of Rain and Lightning were really promising. But then the story switched to melodrama and weird back story stuff -- lots of stuff in there that seemed kind of lazy (as in lots and lots of POV switches when some secrittts might be revealed etc and that "little did they know" omniscient narration, which is fine if it's used as if the author knows that tool.).
But listen, despite the whining, I'm still addicted to reading this book because the woman can tell a story....it's just that I no longer think it's extraordinary.
Okay, update. I finished it and was initially sort of annoyed by the whodunnit part but then decided it made a lot of sense. So it's
1. very readable.
2. not a bad mystery. Which makes it 4/5 because I promised myself to be more liberal with the stars and because, like I said, readable and that counts for a whole lot these days.
The thing is, the first description of her as someone who goes through life distrusting happiness and waiting for the bad stuff to happen any second -- that one makes sense. It rings true and fits her circumstances. She had no memory of the event or her parents but their deaths left a real, and believable scar. Operative word here is scar, not bleeding, pulsing wound directly related to the events. That's just not something that works for a regular adult person who was 3 when the bad crap when down.
Those first couple of chapters of Scent of Rain and Lightning were really promising. But then the story switched to melodrama and weird back story stuff -- lots of stuff in there that seemed kind of lazy (as in lots and lots of POV switches when some secrittts might be revealed etc and that "little did they know" omniscient narration, which is fine if it's used as if the author knows that tool.).
But listen, despite the whining, I'm still addicted to reading this book because the woman can tell a story....it's just that I no longer think it's extraordinary.
Okay, update. I finished it and was initially sort of annoyed by the whodunnit part but then decided it made a lot of sense. So it's
1. very readable.
2. not a bad mystery. Which makes it 4/5 because I promised myself to be more liberal with the stars and because, like I said, readable and that counts for a whole lot these days.
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