It’s getting cold outside! Time to snuggle up and read a good book. And I do mean a GOOD book, because I’ve had a few disappointments lately in the book department.
I have this problem with books that I don’t like: Even if it’s awful, even if it’s 1000 pages, once I start a book I have to finish it. I can’t quit after the first 2 chapters, despite the fact that I’ve already decided that it’s a terrible book. I don’t know why I’m that way, and I envy those that can easily toss aside a loser, but I just can’t do it. Recently, there have been two books in particular that I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on.
The first one was A Handmaid’s Tale. Now, I know many people are going to disagree with me on this one. After all, it’s a “#1 Best Seller”. Maybe the problem wasn’t even with the book itself, maybe it was with me. All of my friends have read and enjoyed this book, it’s gotten great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and it’s been made into a highly successful TV miniseries. My expectations may have just been too high. In my opinion, it was an interesting story, but it just wasn’t developed to it’s full potential. There wasn’t enough information given about why society collapsed and women’s rights were revoked. It didn’t tell why things were happening the way that they were. The book focused mainly on one handmaid and how her life was affected by what was happening, but it was so uneventful that it was almost painful to get through. It did a good job of depicting how boring her life had become in her new role, but I don’t really like to feel bored when I’m reading a book.
The second book was a lesser known title called We Need to Talk About Kevin. I don’t remember where I got the recommendation for this book, but I’m thinking it was from The Skimm, which is somewhat hit or miss when it comes to book recs for me. The idea of this book intrigued me. It is the story of a fictitious mass school shooting, but told from the shooter’s mother’s point-of-view. When these awful events happen in real life, everyone focuses on the shooter and the “Why”, and then on the victims and their families (rightly so), but you never really hear much about how the tragedy affects the loved ones of the shooter. This book is written in a series of letters from Kevin’s mother to his father. She reflects on their lives from the time they met, through Kevin’s birth and childhood, all the way up to the day of the event and his subsequent incarceration. I’ll admit, it starts very slow. When it finally gets to the point of discussing Kevin as a baby and as a child, I just found the whole thing frustrating. The mother basically implies that her son was unwanted and came out of the womb as an evil human being. She feels no love for her child and spends a lot of time pitying her situation. It begs the question, did his character develop the way that he did because he could sense her lack of affection even though she attempted to disguise it? Despite that, he clearly showed signs of disturbing behavior throughout his childhood, so why didn’t she seek help for him? I just found nothing relatable about her character or her attitude toward her son. As the book goes on, and the drama escalates, it did make the reading move a little faster, but it still wasn’t enough to make me actually like the book. Reaching the end felt like more of a relief to just be done with it rather than the satisfying feeling that normally comes from finishing a good book.
Now I need some GOOD book recommendations to get me through the winter! If you’re looking for something new to read, take a look at my Goodreads list to see what I’ve recently finished. And if you see something on my “Want to read” list that you know I’m not going to like please warn me so I don’t go wasting my precious “me time” on duds that I will inevitably have to finish once I start. 😉