Helpful Score: 1
This book started out pretty good, but the ending came to a quick close. Almost like the author lost steam so had to tie up loose ends (though I thought some weren't tied up very well.
The positives about this book are: beautiful, full writing (if you go for and overload of adjectives and similies), unique descriptions of everyday things, well-rounded original characters. I really got into this book starting out.
But then a little past halfway, it reeled off in a different direction. It went from a meandering, slow, introspective look into Maggie's life and family to a heart-racing, ridiculous kidnapping plot. And her apartment burned to the ground. And a recent friend added her to his will, despite having what seemed to be a brief and superficial friendship with her. There was an entire cast of characters added. There were lengthy yawns of passages about the virtue of breast-feeding and the bane of society which is formula (with all non-breast feeding mothers as selfish criminals, robbing their child of life-force), which were boring, preachy, and inaccurate.
The second half felt like it came out of nowhere. I thought the author could have written the entire book based on the original premise, a quiz predicting Maggie's death date without all that nonsense in the second half. And then she could have written an entire second novel as the implausible adventure, since that section of the book was rushed, spastic, and awkward and clearly needed more time for development.
But then a little past halfway, it reeled off in a different direction. It went from a meandering, slow, introspective look into Maggie's life and family to a heart-racing, ridiculous kidnapping plot. And her apartment burned to the ground. And a recent friend added her to his will, despite having what seemed to be a brief and superficial friendship with her. There was an entire cast of characters added. There were lengthy yawns of passages about the virtue of breast-feeding and the bane of society which is formula (with all non-breast feeding mothers as selfish criminals, robbing their child of life-force), which were boring, preachy, and inaccurate.
The second half felt like it came out of nowhere. I thought the author could have written the entire book based on the original premise, a quiz predicting Maggie's death date without all that nonsense in the second half. And then she could have written an entire second novel as the implausible adventure, since that section of the book was rushed, spastic, and awkward and clearly needed more time for development.
