Unrealized potential. The murder was transparent. I am not particularly perceptive, but I knew whodunnit within the first few chapters. The main character is an idiot - since she doesn't catch on until the last chapter. The whole story seems to be about the conflicts of this formerly old order Amish girl who leaves and has a successful business career then returns to the old neighborhood - and hangs out, without rejoining the church - having made enough money to buy the old manor house and turn it into a B&B. All this, mind you, before she is thirty.
It is an intriguing setting. The Amish exist as a separate country embedded within our own, but this book didn't really get there. The discussions of cultural differences are definitely told not shown. The red herrings are simplistic and silly.
And as I sit down to critique the second full draft of my daughter's novel, I think again on the immense quantity of absolute schlock that gets published and feel very confident about its publication potential. The story my daughter wrote when she was in the fifth grade had more interesting characters and a better developed plot than this. The scary thing is that it is far from the worst that I have read lately.
No comments:
Post a Comment