Helpful Score: 1
It doesn't matter where you are from, everyone has a superstition that they practice, maybe unknowingly! When I sat down to write this post, I had to take a step back and think if I was participating in anything remotely resembling a superstition. I couldn't think of any! So I turn to ye ole trusted Google and literally googled "Pennsylvania Dutch Superstitions" and lo and behold there it was, my superstition that comes but once a year; eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day for good luck! I grew up with this tradition, and it is extremely hard to step away from a tradition that has been ingrained in you since childhood. What happens if you break tradition? What happens if you step on a crack, does it really break your mother's back? What happens when we ignore stories that are passed on generation after generation?
Andrew Michael Hurley is a new author for me. It's always exciting when I pick up a new-to-me author. You are essentially giving said author a blank slate- there's no comparing, there's really nothing but anticipation! I read the back of this book, and it sounded so good! Immediately my brain went right to things like Blair Witch, maybe even a toned down Stephen King; something that starts out slow but then slowly builds into the horror story that makes you sleep with the lights on.
Going off the synopsis on the back of the book, I was gearing up for a slow burn. I kept waiting. . .and reading. . . and waiting. I was so frustrated with this book because the minute you make some progress, we go back to a story from the narrator's past. . . or the Gaffer's past. I've read plenty of books that bounce back and forth from past to present and back again, but this book really had nothing remotely linear to follow (kind of like most of my reviews here on the blog!). When you finally do start to make traction with the story, Hurley pulls the rug out from under you and abruptly ends the book.
If you're married/dating , have you ever been to a family party on your spouse's side? Ever feel like you were left on the outside of an inside joke? That's exactly how I felt reading Devil's Day. This particular book I could not personally relate to because of location/vocation. A lot of times I had to stop what I was reading to look up a particular word because I had NO clue what the author was saying.
So, if I didn't care for this book, who on earth would I recommend this book for? Everyone! It's okay to NOT LIKE a book. Ok, I didn't care for this one. Would I read it again? Probably not. It's an interesting read, that's for sure. What I would find intriguing is if whether or not this story has any validation to it. Every now and then, I feel we as readers stay complacent in a certain genre, and then lose interest because we are just "genred" out. Step out of your comfort zone every now and then, and pick up something you normally wouldn't. Judge a book by its cover and DON'T read the synopsis. Browse a DIFFERENT section of a bookstore first. Some of my favorite reads have been picked up on a whim.
Andrew Michael Hurley is a new author for me. It's always exciting when I pick up a new-to-me author. You are essentially giving said author a blank slate- there's no comparing, there's really nothing but anticipation! I read the back of this book, and it sounded so good! Immediately my brain went right to things like Blair Witch, maybe even a toned down Stephen King; something that starts out slow but then slowly builds into the horror story that makes you sleep with the lights on.
Going off the synopsis on the back of the book, I was gearing up for a slow burn. I kept waiting. . .and reading. . . and waiting. I was so frustrated with this book because the minute you make some progress, we go back to a story from the narrator's past. . . or the Gaffer's past. I've read plenty of books that bounce back and forth from past to present and back again, but this book really had nothing remotely linear to follow (kind of like most of my reviews here on the blog!). When you finally do start to make traction with the story, Hurley pulls the rug out from under you and abruptly ends the book.
If you're married/dating , have you ever been to a family party on your spouse's side? Ever feel like you were left on the outside of an inside joke? That's exactly how I felt reading Devil's Day. This particular book I could not personally relate to because of location/vocation. A lot of times I had to stop what I was reading to look up a particular word because I had NO clue what the author was saying.
So, if I didn't care for this book, who on earth would I recommend this book for? Everyone! It's okay to NOT LIKE a book. Ok, I didn't care for this one. Would I read it again? Probably not. It's an interesting read, that's for sure. What I would find intriguing is if whether or not this story has any validation to it. Every now and then, I feel we as readers stay complacent in a certain genre, and then lose interest because we are just "genred" out. Step out of your comfort zone every now and then, and pick up something you normally wouldn't. Judge a book by its cover and DON'T read the synopsis. Browse a DIFFERENT section of a bookstore first. Some of my favorite reads have been picked up on a whim.
