Kate Gale

My opinions and impressions of this book left me conflicted. On one hand, I loved the story. It was creative, unique, and felt authentic. Some topics felt flippant and blindsided, like her family history. Some moments felt extremely sincere and even poetic. Ok, here's what threw me: the dialogue. It was disjointed, like a run-on sentence, difficult to follow who was speaking, and felt amateur. Instead of Point A talking to Point B, it felt like the conversation veered somewhere off the side. The sentences didn't respond exactly to each other. Is this how the character speaks? By sidestepping and not responding directly to what someone says? I'm unsure. I kept questioning if this could be intentional. It was very distracting. There were also some moments where the main character had absolutely no reaction to the weird things people said to her, and sometimes she acted out inconsistently. Is this purposeful? Again, I have no idea. In all, I enjoyed the book. I wonder how it would feel different if those things were changed.… (lisätietoja)

I liked the premise of this book contrasting the differences in the life, and in some instances, the morals of the reasonably rich in the city of Los Angeles, and the poorer workers who came to take care of their houses and their children, but it felt like the author kept intruding into the story with comments to make sure we understood her point of view, as if we might miss it from the story line. I finally quit trying to follow which houses the workers were cleaning as they all felt about the same with drugs and sex and Fox news being the main themes. I think there could be a good story in there,and with the help of a good editor I believe the author definitely as something important to say.… (lisätietoja)

I wanted to like this. The story is okay but the characters are one-dimensional & often speak exactly the same, so it’s hard to keep track of which person is getting told off for watching FOX News this time — there are two nearly identical rants, just pages apart. I agree, but don’t we all know that FOX is toxic? There’s also repeated use of “man cave,” 5 times in the first 25 pages, the last three uses all on pages 24 & 25. The repetition isn’t for hyperbole’s sake; it’s just repetition. When the characters say something new, they tend to lecture each other in long, stilted, declaratory sentences.

There’s also some weird, noble poor stuff about how admirable it is to have your rich employer’s child & never sue him for child support, though your own family hasn’t enough to eat. It’s like Patient Griselda. And endless telling without showing. Those lectures the characters exchange? The narrator addresses quite a few to us, her readers, as well, making for rambling clunkiness.

I’ll stop. You get my point.

I wanted to like this, but it was impossible.… (lisätietoja)