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Nov 2019
11:34pm, 28 Nov 2019
42,319 posts
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McGoohan
Well, just finished MSTSK this evening and it was... well, sort of okayish I suppose. Well enough written but in short, oddly on-the-nose titled chapters that, weirdly, put me in mind of Matt Haig. It's selling point is the concept though: what if an attractive young woman was the perpetrator of murderous crimes rather than the victim as is more usual in some crime fic?
And then as there was plenty of evening left, I have gone straight into Bad News, the second Patrick Melrose. The contrast couldn't be greater in terms of the quality of the writing. I imagine I'll end up reading all five of these.
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Nov 2019
7:00am, 29 Nov 2019
116,430 posts
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GregP
what if an attractive young woman was the perpetrator of murderous crimes due to mental health issues arising from an emotionally and physically abusive father?
why do reviewers, even our own Dear McLeader, omit that bit?
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Nov 2019
7:37am, 29 Nov 2019
42,320 posts
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McGoohan
TBH in the context of the book, I thought that felt like lip service to me: give her some motivation for her wrongdoings - insert abusive father. He was a plot device rather than a character. I am a bit confused as to why you took so against it - it seems more of a paint by numbers thing to me.
Having read Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test, I wondered if Oyinkanan Braithwaite had too because those bits where she's describing Ayoola's lake of empathy felt much more authentic. Her character would have been much more interesting *without* having some cod excuse of 'oh well she suffered this abuse in childhood so no wonder she turned out a wrong un'.
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Nov 2019
7:40am, 29 Nov 2019
31,299 posts
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LindsD
I'm onto the third Melrose.
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Nov 2019
7:41am, 29 Nov 2019
42,321 posts
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McGoohan
Oh yes, and there were two 'twists' so telegraphed you could see them coming from almost the opening sentence. In the cold light of day as books go... a bit poor.
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Nov 2019
7:41am, 29 Nov 2019
42,322 posts
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McGoohan
I'm loving Bad News Linds. It's fantastically quotable too.
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Nov 2019
7:43am, 29 Nov 2019
31,300 posts
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LindsD
Isn't it? I loved it too.
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Nov 2019
7:44am, 29 Nov 2019
31,301 posts
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LindsD
....and *spoilers*
My Dad is still by our bed as we haven't got round to doing anything with him....
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Nov 2019
9:45am, 29 Nov 2019
42,872 posts
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Diogenes
While I didn't love MSTSK, I do think there is a more to it than the rest of you found. It's not as simple as simple as Ayoola doing what she did because of abuse, I thought it was more nuanced than that. It's quite Austenesque in some ways. If the telling is glib, or clunky, then that I think is a reflection of the condition in which Ayoola is created. The book is all about appearances and transience. She is a princess, both indulged and abused because of her looks. Being treated thus, but with freedom and autonomy granted by modern society and a online fashion business, she finds men disposable like fashion, when one bores her she gets rid. Meanwhile, the virtuous, plain sister does all the work and tidies up the mess.
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Nov 2019
10:03am, 29 Nov 2019
116,433 posts
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GregP
My reading was that the VPS DATWATUTM also precisely because of the abuse and her role as protector and enabler. There's an uncomfortable co-dependency thing there.
Did I mention I hated it?
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Acts of Minor Dissent
Sep 2024