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A review by _rusalka
Cemetery Lake by Paul Cleave
2.0
I have a big soft spot for Christchurch. I think it is a lovely city which, like my own here in Aus, gets knocked more than it should. So that this was set there, and the fact that I've been trying to keep my eye out for more Kiwi authors, I was excited to read this one.
And I was unfortunately disappointed. Firstly, I seem to have got my hands on an American version of the book. So there were sidewalks, vacations, cell phones, etc all through the book. And no self respecting New Zealander would talk about those things that way. I was pulled out of the setting every time the wrong word was used. I also, as an aside, still cannot fathom why Americans need translated texts. But that is a rant for another day.
Theo is deeply flawed, particularly impulsive, arrogant, reactive, and short sighted. These traits, along with his others made him incredibly hard to sympathise with or to care about him. The story was very waffley in places, and I found out at the end that the American edition I had had added in an extra 7000 words to the text from the original version. I am not sure if the problem was those extra 20 pages inserted in, or just generally, but when you just want to be done and there is waffling, it just makes you more fed up.
Finally, grave robbing is not fun. It's exceedingly gross. I am not meaning morally, again that's a debate for elsewhere. Decomposition is messy, smelly, confronting, and disgusting. And apparently it is where my line is (good to know I have one) because all the playing around and moving multiple corpses who weren't just a little dead, but very long time dead and decomposing, did not appeal to me. So yes, just disappointing.
And I was unfortunately disappointed. Firstly, I seem to have got my hands on an American version of the book. So there were sidewalks, vacations, cell phones, etc all through the book. And no self respecting New Zealander would talk about those things that way. I was pulled out of the setting every time the wrong word was used. I also, as an aside, still cannot fathom why Americans need translated texts. But that is a rant for another day.
Theo is deeply flawed, particularly impulsive, arrogant, reactive, and short sighted. These traits, along with his others made him incredibly hard to sympathise with or to care about him. The story was very waffley in places, and I found out at the end that the American edition I had had added in an extra 7000 words to the text from the original version. I am not sure if the problem was those extra 20 pages inserted in, or just generally, but when you just want to be done and there is waffling, it just makes you more fed up.
Finally, grave robbing is not fun. It's exceedingly gross. I am not meaning morally, again that's a debate for elsewhere. Decomposition is messy, smelly, confronting, and disgusting. And apparently it is where my line is (good to know I have one) because all the playing around and moving multiple corpses who weren't just a little dead, but very long time dead and decomposing, did not appeal to me. So yes, just disappointing.