In fact, I DNF'd it, because it annoyed me. This is mostly due to the fact that the author tried to give the main character a unique speaking voice, but it ended up seeming like she didn't understand how verbs work.
Or maybe the main character didn't understand how verbs work.
The story wasn't intriguing enough for me to keep reading despite not liking something about the book, unlike with Riley's Ghost, where the content level annoyed me but I read through it anyway because I wanted to know what happened. However, if a book annoys me and I don't actually care enough about what's happening to wade through it... recipe for a DNF.
Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E10+, for some tense bits involving a |car crash|.
I am afraid this book gets 2 stars. If the main character had understood verbs, I might have finished it, and it might have gotten more. Buuuuuuuuut... no.
(Endnote: The problem with verbs was mostly her using the first person present tense on every verb, regardless of who's doing it and when. But only sometimes. It flickered on and off. Actually, if she'd only ever used the first person present tense, that wouldn't have bothered me, because I'd have gotten used to it. It was the inconsistency that made it annoying.)
Sam, you have a very astute way of dealing with books - how the verbs are used??? WOW! Very interesting! Grammy
ReplyDeleteIn my case, it wasn't a mechanistic thing (as I said in the review, if she'd only ever used first-person present, I would have been fine with it). It was a style thing. I don't care if you break half the rules of verb usage, as long as you do it in a way that makes sense, stylistically.
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