Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Goodbye Cousins- Leffler (Book #63)

The title and the cover art intrigued me when I saw this book at a bookstore, so I requested it from the library. The main character was kidnapped as a child by her mother and taken to Europe. Now, an adult she is back in the US living with her cousin and figuring her life out. This book was fascinating but not for the normal reasons. The writing was good, the characters were interesting but the technical aspects of the novel got very much in the way of the tale. As an aspiring writer whose shown my work to others some critique I've received is being careful of my prologue and being easy on the flashbacks. They said that it can take the reader out of the moment and the biggest thing you want is for a reader to be fall into and fully absorb the story. This novel began in fits and starts. The prologue was cute but had no bearing on the rest of the novel. The flashbacks were very disorienting. Lots of plot stories were left hanging. I guess what I'm trying to say is I saw what could have been a fantastic book but turned into quite mediocre due to the mistakes that I've been taught to avoid. So why was this so fascinating? I saw in print what I was told not to do. And I finally understood why.

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