Two DNFs in a Row
Apr. 23rd, 2023 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearBecause of You by Dawn French:
There are a lot of five-star reviews for this book - but it didn't do anything for me at all.
The writing felt simplistic and repetitive - and the tenses were inexplicably all over the place.
I quite liked the initial contrast between the two couples, but it quickly became the same observations and inner monologues over and over again. Plus, the issues with the logistics of what happened were legion...
I persevered for a bit, but it got worse rather than better.
Hey ho - my copy got snapped up on Bookswap within an hour of me posting it, so I guess people are keen...
White Teeth by Zadie Smith:
I'm very glad I didn't start my Zadie Smith journey with this one, because then I never would have read On Beauty, which I loved.
Starting this, it felt like a very different writer, though there are only five years between them.
The writing certainly wasn't bad, but it didn't inspire the exquisite awe of On Beauty.
Additionally, a lot of the presentations of the characters, the language used and the attitudes portrayed felt - offensive is too strong a word... Distasteful? Sounds like I'm clutching my pearls... Certainly off-putting...
I didn't get very far...
There are a lot of five-star reviews for this book - but it didn't do anything for me at all.
The writing felt simplistic and repetitive - and the tenses were inexplicably all over the place.
I quite liked the initial contrast between the two couples, but it quickly became the same observations and inner monologues over and over again. Plus, the issues with the logistics of what happened were legion...
I persevered for a bit, but it got worse rather than better.
Hey ho - my copy got snapped up on Bookswap within an hour of me posting it, so I guess people are keen...
White Teeth by Zadie Smith:
I'm very glad I didn't start my Zadie Smith journey with this one, because then I never would have read On Beauty, which I loved.
Starting this, it felt like a very different writer, though there are only five years between them.
The writing certainly wasn't bad, but it didn't inspire the exquisite awe of On Beauty.
Additionally, a lot of the presentations of the characters, the language used and the attitudes portrayed felt - offensive is too strong a word... Distasteful? Sounds like I'm clutching my pearls... Certainly off-putting...
I didn't get very far...
Really?
Date: 2023-04-23 10:43 pm (UTC)