*** LIKE ***
Long awaited but long winded
Not all that cohesive
The bottom lone for me was a definite "Meh". I thought it too long, unnecessarily so.
I really (truly!) love a slow reveal, not much has to happen to keep me happy (Secret History is right up there on my Favourites List) but this meandered, and, at times, it seems to lose the thread of where it was headed. By the end it was sermonising and philosophising page after page. A good edit would have done wonders.
Some parts were good, some were laboured. Some characters were vivid (would have loved more Hobie), others cliched, other characters struck me as convenient pop ups (Tom and Pippa). Theo, the main character, wavered inconsistently between boring and stupid.
Some parts were good, some were laboured. Some characters were vivid (would have loved more Hobie), others cliched, other characters struck me as convenient pop ups (Tom and Pippa). Theo, the main character, wavered inconsistently between boring and stupid.
I did not take to Boris and didn't find him believable. He stayed on the
page as a larger than life caricature even though he was fleshed out, copiously, in print. A good "for example" would be that we are told he talks with an
Australian accent ( Kindle 'Loc 4070')- but why are we told this? what evidence is there that he
does? Nothing remotely Australian ever crosses his lips in way of an accent (and just a few possible examples of Oz vernacular ... "dunno"?). I couldn't wait for the Las Vegas section to finish (so much repeated behaviour)... but Boris
made a reappearance for the convoluted, improbable finish.
