Why write a critique about a book you didn’t finish? In fact, I’ve often found it annoying to read reviews of books, only to realize the reviewer didn’t read the entire book and therefore, in my opinion, didn’t have the right to write a critique. But as the years have gone on, life seems all too short to spend time in the head of a protagonist that I didn’t enjoy or in a story that I didn’t find compelling. We’ve all had the experience of feeling obliged to continue a book even if we’re not feeling the joy of a great book. On the other hand, we’ve all also had the experience of staying up much later than planned, often to the wee hours of the night, because an author’s writing is so engrossing, the protagonist (or antagonist) can’t be left alone, or the story has us in such a state that putting it down just isn’t an option.
So, I’ve decided to document the books I’ve set aside and the reason. I hope others find this interesting and explore their own reasons for doing so. Now this is not to say that they won’t be picked up later…but in that case, I’ll tell the reasons why and how it worked out.
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Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
Audible Narrator: Barrie Kreinik and Peter Ganim
How far? 4% on Audible
Why I put it down: Historic fiction is one of my favorite genres, especially about brave women who are often left out of textbooks. But the writing just did not engage me, it is a very long book if one is not compelled by the characters, plot, and writing, and the main character turned me off as a feminine exaggeration of the oh-so-beautiful a woman who men find irresistible no matter how snarky. When I found myself bored so early on, I turned to reading reviews, and I found that this real-life WWII spy was actually quite incredible. So, I am disappointed that she was not written more seriously as a character. I know I didn’t get very far, but other reviewers found themselves skipping through long irrelevant descriptions that read more like a romance, so I decided to move on.
Still Live by Sarah Winman
Audible Narrator: Sarah Winman (the author)
How far? 33% on Audible
Why I put it down: The beginning had a lot of characters that I kept confusing with each other and I wondered who was important, so when this ultimately narrowed, I was thankful. Nonetheless, I just didn’t find myself compelled to finish and think it mainly had to do with the audible narrator. Typically I like it when the author reads their own book, as they are so intimately knowledgeable about their characters, that they give it an extra depth, but that was not my experience with this. In fact, quite the opposite. When the story takes us to Italy after the war, I found myself extremely interested in the plot and characters, but would literally retell the narration to myself as the narrator read it with such a downbeat tone that did not match the story. It was very odd. I think I may try it again sometime by reading and not listening as this tone was quite a distraction.
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Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks
How far? 9% on Audible
Why I put it down: This really should’ve been classified as Christian Fiction– lots of biblical references and moralizing, with stereotypic characters. The main male character with the perfectly chissled body, unavoidably interesting eyes, solid Dudley Do-Right standards of behavior and the women are stunning in their wholesomeness. Not my taste…to each his own.
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Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
How Far? 12 % on Audible
Why I put it down? I found the main characters superficial, self-important, and snarky in an unattractive way. This may shift as the book continues (don’t know), but I wasn’t invested in them enough to find out. Many passages seemed trite and forced. The values expressed (at least at the beginning) were the worst parts of American modern culture. It’s likely entertaining and funny to others, just not my cup of tea, so I found myself dreading getting back to it. We’ve all found ourselves thinking that we should continue with a popular book as there must be something later (and admittedly, there certainly may be), but honestly I had to abandon it when another book I was waiting for became available at the library.
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Good Night, Irene by Juis Alberto Urrea
How far? 21% on Audible
Why I put it down? I found the central female characters quite flat, stereotypic, and superficial despite the premise of the book, that these women were part of the Red Cross for WWII, a fabulous avenue for depth and insight into that time in history for women who volunteered for the war effort. The writing seemed stilted, conversations unbelievable, and although there were lots of descriptions to take the reader to that era, the result was somehow boring. It’s possible that this potentially fabulous story fell flat was also due to the “telling, not showing” of the writing. We’re told of friendship bonding or romantic interests, but I could never understand why because there was nothing compelling coming from these characters themselves. When I get to the point in reading in which I’m telling myself I should continue, good premise and something interesting just might happen, yet with the finishing of each chapter it feels more like finishing a bland task than feeling compelled to move forward and excited for the next chapter, it’s time to put the book down and move on. Other reviewers who are Urrea fans, have stated that this is not his finest, but as a first exposure to his work, this does not make me want to rush out for another.
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Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
How far? 7% on Audible
Why I put it down? I was turned off by the lack of depth in some of the main characters, especially the mother from LA who seemed to be a clownish stereotype of successful and driven women in Los Angeles. It’s not just that she was unlikeable, as that too can make for a compelling read. It was the superficiality that turned me off. It is quite probable that there will be character shifts that would make these women more realistic, but cringing and eye rolling at the early depiction does not bode well for the writing.
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The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
How far? 3% on Audible
Why I put it down? As much as I loved Cutting for Stone by Verghese, I just couldn’t get into this one and found myself looking for something else more engaging. True enough that I didn’t give it much of a chance (only 3%), but the length seemed quite daunting (31 hours on Audible) and after discussing my some friends who had read it, I decided to move on to something that compelled me to continue. I no longer read things that I feel I “should” read.
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The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
How far? 15% on Audible
Why I put it down? Despite a fabulous idea– a fictionalization about the brains behind the original Shakespeare & Company Bookstore in Paris…all the famous authors who frequented it, the publication of James Joyce’s Ulyses, etc, this telling just didn’t capture my attention at all. The characters seemed flat, the romance seemed superficial and almost cringe-worthy, and as much as I wanted to hear the story, I found more interesting non-fiction Google searches than having to plod through a fictionalization that was not engaging. In reading other reviews (as I thought I must be missing something), I saw that many readers who had finished the book found the famous author characters also to be quite flat, undifferentiated, and only recognizable by what amounted to as name-dropping.
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The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
I actually finished this book while in high school and had lots of fond memories of it, especially as it is a classic in regard to POV informing the plot. Then, decided to re-read 50 years later. Maybe it’s the current disturbing social environment, the cultural toxicity of today, but I just couldn’t allow myself to continue past 1/3 this time. It is brilliant, but also disturbing. The decline of families of southern aristocrats was just not pulling me to continue this time. Maybe I’ll return one day.
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The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
How far? 4% on Audible or early in Chapter 3
Why I put it down: I was raised in Los Angeles where discussing the who’s who at parties one attended, or ran into at various locations, or neighbors of acquaintences is both frequent, often fictional or at least exaggerated, and downright boring. Very early on in this book I had that sickening feeling that I was returning to that world. I then turned to some reviews in the hope of finding myself dissuaded from this fear, only to see others report the same thing and even worse… the protagonist (Hemingway’s first wife) fell flat for many as a bystander to the brilliant, famous, and often misbehaving. I returned to the book briefly and was turned off by the image of women shopping and discussing how to attract men. I prefer my female protagonist (and my friends) to be more present in the world beyond the men they associate with. Additionally, the writing did not grab me, so I decided to move on.
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The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
How far? 5% or middle of Chapter 1…thus NOT far at all
Why I put it down: This was recommended by a friend who had described the book very differently (I had very different expectations which may have thrown me off). I later learned that she had given me the incorrect name. She meant, and had described, The Glass Hotel.
Nonetheless, I started this one. But it is a memoir which is not my preference of books. Why? I’m a psychiatrist. I make my living hearing other people’s stories, or at least their current renditions of their stories. My job is not to understand truth (not a detective), but to understand that the telling and the current understanding is for a purpose and may (or may not) reflect historical truth. I love fiction because I am not distracted by this process of our often variably accurate memories. For those who love memoir, I hear this is excellent. But for me, can’t do it.
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Lightning Strike by William Kent Kreuger
How far? Chapter 9 out of 65 chapters, or 11%
Why I put it down: Like may of these that I’ve decided to move on from, neither the characters nor the story made me feel compelled to continue. I think Krueger is a very good author, but I find his characters in this one to be a bit stilted, stoic maybe, but I couldn’t relate to their somewhat distant presentation. I felt like I was in the back of the audience, not fully engaged.
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The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
How far? Middle of Chapter 3, or 1.4 hours in Audible.
Why I put it down: Neither the characters nor the story caught my interest, and there was sufficient seemingly unnecessary violence that I decided not to spend my time in this novel. The writing was too much “tell” and not enough “show.” I wanted to like and engage with the young female protagonist, but the writing left me trying to hard to that.
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River Bodies by Karen Katchur
How far? 49% by Kindle
Why I put it down: Although the story caught my interest initially, I just couldn’t stay with it. The writing didn’t pull me in for some reason. It seemed jerky in some way. I couldn’t really ‘feel’ the reason behind the character’s actions. Maybe it’s always like that. Something that is hard to describe and always leaves me wondering if it’s me, whatever is going on in my life at the time, or the writing. Nonetheless, it don’t hold me. As always, maybe I’ll return later.
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Whisper Me This by Kerry Anne King
How far? 32% by Kindle
Why I put it down: I didn’t find the protagonist compelling enough to stay with this one. She was clearly damaged, and that, in and of itself is not a problem (often the best protagonists are quite psychologically disturbed). If I were to guess (without having to read the entire book to find out), I would say that the author was trying to take us through the young mother’s experience of dealing with her own mother’s dying and her father’s dementia, all the while trying to sort out a history of abuse from these folks and have a budding new romance on the side. So far, so good. But, I wasn’t interested enough in mystery of this particular woman’s history to turn page after page to discover her hidden story, which tells me her initial presentation (at least up to 32%) didn’t make me like her enough for the required curiosity.
Additionally, the protagonist’s reliance on her young daughter to be the adult-in-the-room made me cringe. It left me without empathy for this young mother. I prefer strong female protagonists who rise above their own childhood traumas before passing on to their offspring the effects of having a psychologically unreliable parent, which, although it may not be as bad as overt abuse, is damaging to a young child nonetheless.
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The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
How far? About 1/2 via Audible
Why I put it down: I am not a fan of magical realism. I’ve always known that, but thought I could get beyond it due to the compelling press this book and author received. This was chosen by my book club, and as it turned out none of the book club members finished, although one member said he was going to try to finish it and give us all feedback. We’ll see.
Nancy Burkey 