After the Leaves Fallby Nicole Baart
I picked this book up because I wasn't in the mood for yet another boy-meets-girl, happy-happy, wedding-at-the-end, chick-lit novel. Score points on that one. It's definitely not happy-happy. In fact, it's almost ... gritty. The writing style reminded me very much of Annie Proulx's The Shipping News. This is not a criticism. The writing is very striking. I'm just used to a bit more fluff in my fiction.
The story was not unexpected. As soon as I read the back cover, I was pretty sure what the "one wrong decision [that] changes her forever" would be. And yet, the predictability of the event does not make the story leading up to it any less dramatic.
My one real criticism of the book is the ending. The story ends in the middle. A sequel is scheduled to come out this spring, but I felt the place at which the first book ends leaves the reader hanging.
*****
P.S. This is my first book review--what do you think? Should I tell more of the story or talk in some detail about the characters? Is the link to the publisher's summary enough?
I think it's great! The lovely thing about book reviews is that they are so free-form: You can focus on whatever aspect struck you the most. --Just as you did here!
ReplyDeleteBe sure and link to Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books. On Saturday, of course.
--Jeanne
I think your book review is perfect. I am intrigued enough to want to read the book myself without knowing anything related to the actual story. You did a great job!
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