Where the Crawdads Sing had been highly recommended on social media: book of the year, top read, loved it etc etc. While I certainly enjoyed aspects of this novel -- it's highly atmospheric, with an unusual swampland setting, a central murder mystery, and an appealingly independent heroine -- ultimately the implausibility of the story, the stilted dialogue and mostly flat characters gradually began to annoy me and by the end I was actively hating it (this novel has been massively successful so I don't feel bad for adding my two cents of dislike to the shedloads of praise it's received). I just couldn't buy that an abandoned child with no schooling whatsoever could end up writing botanical textbooks and speaking more like a 'southern lady' than her hick neighbours thanks to occasionally hanging out with a nice boy...
On the other hand, Australian YA author Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow was recommended by a single reviewer (albeit someone whose opinion I trust completely: hello, Sue), and while it's a genre that I am wary of, ie horror, I was utterly captivated. This was a thoroughly creepy, beautiful and elegant story that I devoured avidly. The three mysterious sisters with their shared childhood trauma, their damaged parents, the glamorous London setting and the weird otherworld to which they seem to be connected, all bewitched me.
I bought one of these books and borrowed the second from the library -- how I wish I'd done it the other way around!
Couldn't agree more about Where The Crawdads Sing. Maybe the author is a good writer on natural history, but someone should have stopped her writing a novel. But I've noticed lately that so many books that come with pages of gushing quotes from reviewers at the beginning and on the covers are ultimately really disappointing. It makes me wonder if the reviewers have only read maybe a third of the book before they write their puff pieces.
ReplyDeleteHm, that's an interesting theory, Ann! You might be right... However, the first third of Crawdads was the strongest, I thought, and for another much-hyped novel, I found the last third was the best, so who knows!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kate! I am glad you read AND enjoyed House of Hollow...and yet again, we're on the same page...Where the Crawdads Sing was such a disappointment.I couldn't for the life of me work out what all the excitement was about. As you suggest, the setting...? I remember reading a book called Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter when I was little. Naturalist, orphan, Everglades... I must track it down, it might deliver what Crawdads didn't.
ReplyDeleteIt's appearing on so many Best Of lists and I just don't get it! Maybe the movie will be better...
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