17 December 2012

Book Review: Lovely Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

Summary, courtesy of GoodReads: Since the night of the crash, Wren Wells has been running away. Though she lived through the accident that killed her boyfriend Patrick, the girl she used to be didn’t survive. Instead of heading off to college as planned, Wren retreats to her father’s studio in the far-north woods of Maine. Somewhere she can be alone.

Then she meets Cal Owen. Dealing with his own troubles, Cal’s hiding out too. When the chemistry between them threatens to pull Wren from her hard-won isolation, Wren has to choose: risk opening her broken heart to the world again, or join the ghosts who haunt her.

I recently learned the hard way that I need to read at least the first two chapters, not just the first one, when "test-driving" a book for travel reading. As my coworker has pointed out, usually the first chapter is the best--it's been workshopped and revised multiple times to catch not just the reader's eye but the agent's and the editor's, too. McNamara's debut novel Lovely, Dark and Deep was yet another YA book that I had high expectations for that mostly just fell flat. Partly because it's written in the first person, present tense (or the "present pernicious," as my friend Rob calls it), it makes the character much less sympathetic and more self-absorbed than your typical teen narrator, even one who has survived tragedy and is filled with guilt.

The short, choppy sentences are probably supposed to indicate Wren's delicate and uncertain frame of mind, but they mostly just serve as examples of bad writing. I opened the book at random and here are some examples I found:

"If he picks me up, I'll have no way out. I'll be stuck at his house. My palms are clammy."

"I sip my latte. The milk's scalding. My tongue will be wrecked for a day or two."

"I step out the door a second. Music's blasting in the studio. Mary's working. The sun's high and huge in the sky. Its own triumph. Good for the sun."

"Winter sets in. The trees sag with snow. Icicles dangle from eaves and boughs."

Still, the book has a very pretty cover and if you're familiar with the small town in Maine where the book is set, you might be able to overlook the distractingly bad prose in favor of enjoying the local color. Despite the Robert Frost allusion, I'd say this book was eminently skippable.

NB: I read an ARC of this book, which was published in October of this year by Simon & Schuster. 

11 comments:

  1. What lovely advice - read the first two chapters. When you said that I was immediately brought back to my creative writing class/workshop. There are some pretty dandy first chapters out there,right? I agree with you about these choppy sentences. Those few were bugging me greatly. Belle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Belle! Does this mean you're back in the saddle and post-grad? Hope the end of your semester went really well and I can't wait to hear your tales!

      Delete
    2. No, not in the saddle quite yet. I graduate tomorrow (Thursday). I miss my blog and your blog and everyone's blog so much though. I am so excited to be just a regular reader-girl again. My Morrison writing assignment went well and for that I am very pleased.

      Delete
    3. oh I disagree, the author is actually a poet as well (and was long before this book) and I think her writing style in this book was a mix of poetry and looking into Wren's choppy, disoriented mind. I think the depiction of grief is so unbelievably accurate and true in this book, and the "choppy prose" affects how you read it intentionally to make you see what it's like

      Delete
    4. hi, Anon, and thanks for commenting. I'm glad the booked for you, even if it didn't work for me.

      Delete
  2. That's good advice. I need to remember it the next time I am considering a book to add to my "review" list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but from now on I'll always read the first TWO chapters instead of just the first one before committing to a book, especially an airplane book!

      Delete
  3. The first two chapters. That's good advice. I'll take it.
    Sorry, but I couldn't resist! Too bad the rest of the book didn't hold up; not only is it a pretty cover but the title really grabs me too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I actually loved it! I love this author very dearly,though i do think it might be better for a younger audience definitely. I found mine in the teen section.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked it--the reviews on Goodreads have been overwhelmingly positive. I did mark the book as YA in my tags but I guess I didn't make it clear enough in the review that that's what it was. Though frankly, I think that a good book is a good book, regardless of the intended audience.

      Delete

Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)