Reviews

Candy by Kevin Brooks

alexblackreads's review against another edition

2.0

I like Kevin Brooks's writing style, and I loved the ending. It left me with this feeling of incompleteness, a finishing of the storylines with a lack of closure. The story was never about Candy, it was about Joe and his life and obsession with this girl, so the ending made sense to me and felt perfect for the story.

But that was about it for the things I liked. For starters, the racism in this book is a lot. And it's not really about racism. They point it out a few times (the father being prejudiced about his daughter's black boyfriend), but for the most part it's just written as a bunch of big scary black men are the bad guys pimping out desperate, addicted white teenage girls. It's beyond uncomfortable and not remotely what the story was about. I'd have different feelings if it was making a point of the racism, but it rarely felt like it was.

Second, the whole story is about this girl, but it's not about her. It's named after her and her existence is the catalyst for the events that unfold, but she's barely treated as a person. She's a weird combination of manic pixie dream girl and damsel in distress, but never a full person in her own right. The main character meets her and immediately becomes obsessed, even though he knows nothing about her. She talks about her beauty and how she's struggled with jealousy and being treated different after growing up to be incredibly beautiful, but that's literally all the main character sees in her. They have no connection, he just sees a beautiful girl and half loses his mind. But it doesn't seem like a critique of that either. It's treated as real emotion in the book instead of some twisted version of love that isn't real.

Not a fan of this one. But because I did enjoy his writing style, I plan to read more. I'm hoping some of his other books are better because I've heard better things about them, but I wouldn't recommend this one.

lizsly99's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ameera_'s review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

dezaray_the_pale's review against another edition

1.0

I'm glad that this book was a fast read because I would have been upset to spend anymore time with it. No character development, lacking details and excitement, the focus on characters' blackness without it being relevant, and the main character, Joe, was a drag.

taliac36's review against another edition

it was a really interesting book :) but it isnt the types of books I normally read :/ , it wasnt really what i expected it to be about. Reading this book i felt so sad for candy ! :( and well for joe, i had mixed feelings for him. Aside from that, Brooks really writes this book so well,he really explained the events thoroughly with joe's emotions written so well and thats what i liked about his novel also! (: For the Ending, it wasnt what i expected but it was still all right, it had a good ending. (:

audreykerr's review against another edition

1.0

Give me the strength not finish books.
Nothing happened in this, there was no character development, no reason for the mc to be so hopelessly in love with Candy. The writing sucked. Here's the climax: "it was just so... I don't know. Just so much."

jolandaisy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

thebluemoon's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mirast's review

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nicnacnoo's review against another edition

3.0

Was it just me , or was this like a toned down version for teenagers of Candy by Luke Davies.

They both feature main girl characters called Candy

There both addicted to herion

There both prostitutes.

Either way , i liked it.