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A review by immovabletype
Finder by Emma Bull
2.5
The aesthetic of this book is so eighties. Or, more precisely, the part of the early nineties that still hadn't realised how much it would look back on the previous decade and cringe. It actually took me a while to get past this! I didn't even know it was possible for a book to do this!
I'm having a hard time figuring out what I was meant to get from this story. The writing was competent — smart, even — the characters were likeable enough, the mystery was engaging. But it was strangely episodic in a way that made it feel like the narrative wasn't enough to contain the important emotional moments. Instead of having the impact they were supposed to, I felt cheated and angry and like the onus had been put on me to find meaning when I'd only just begun to know and care about the characters. And I simply don't see the necessity or benefit of these turns to the narrative — it would have required hitting on a much stronger theme throughout in order to have been successful at it.
This was a solid three stars for the majority of the book, but this problem toward the end knocks it down to 2.5 stars.
I'm having a hard time figuring out what I was meant to get from this story. The writing was competent — smart, even — the characters were likeable enough, the mystery was engaging. But it was strangely episodic in a way that made it feel like the narrative wasn't enough to contain the important emotional moments. Instead of having the impact they were supposed to, I felt cheated and angry and like the onus had been put on me to find meaning when I'd only just begun to know and care about the characters. And I simply don't see the necessity or benefit of these turns to the narrative — it would have required hitting on a much stronger theme throughout in order to have been successful at it.
This was a solid three stars for the majority of the book, but this problem toward the end knocks it down to 2.5 stars.