First I want to mention that I debated not writing a review due to the
negativity expressed in the other reviews I had seen, but ultimately I
decided to write one anyway because there were just so many things that I
wanted to personally mention.
I will NOT, however, be discussing any
controversy, either related to the author or the book. And if you
aren't sure what controversy I'm referring to, there are other reviews
that mention it, and you can also google it.
Anyway, with that being said, onto the review.
TW: Numerous mentions of/references to rape and sexual assault/harassment.
Where
to begin? I'll say right off the bat that I can't totally hate this
book because it HAS just gotten me out of a reading slump that I've been
in for over a year. However, that doesn't let this book off the hook
for anything.
First of all, the characters were... something.
Pretty much any character that wasn't Robin or Cormoran was described in
an unflattering way, and if they were described in what could
traditionally be described as "flattering" there were airs about it that
left a foul taste. But it seemed like Robin and Cormoran could do no
wrong. (And don't even get me
started on this half-assed "will they/won't they" story-line. It's
bullshit. We all know they'll end up together so this back and forth is
just annoying filler for the already hefty book.)
The whole book reeked of misogyny and it was very grating to read,
especially when a good portion of that came from our protagonists
themselves, more-so Cormoran but Robin wasn't immune either.
Most
of the book could have been cut and it wouldn't have affected the main
story-line at all. Too much focus was given to the side jobs that the
characters were doing. I understand why they were included, I suppose,
but it felt like most of the time the main plot was getting lost in the
fog that was apparently "character development". (Is that what was going
on? I'm honestly not really sure what the purpose of about 80% of this
book was.)
I kept reading solely for desire to find out what
happened to Margot Bamborough, the resolution to which came about very
abruptly considering the meandering mess that was the previous 900
pages. I don't know if I'm thick or what, but the killer seemed to come
from left field. Like they were chosen for the sole purpose of a shock
factor. It's hard to really tell if there were cohesive hints to the
killers identity, given how stretched the story-line was. Like it was
stretched out as much as it was to prevent anyone from being able to
correctly guess, without relying on red herrings or any such device
which feels quite underhanded, in my opinion.
It felt like this
book was trying to be incredibly clever, which didn't exactly feel
poorly executed, but it certainly didn't stick the landing. Like when
the killer was confessing at the end, it really felt as though it came
out of left field as stated above, even as we were being led back
through the reasons they were suspected in the end. I didn't end up
feeling the kind of surprise you'd expect from the killer not being the
person you suspected, but just general confusion at the choice.
There
was also a lot of statements being made throughout the book, mostly
through Robin and they were just... incredibly heavy handed. You could
tell EXACTLY what kind of social commentary was being made and it was
quite jarring whenever it happened.
