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A review by keithmac
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
3.0
Eh.
Honestly, eh.
It started off so good. The colourful, fluid prose of Beukes really comes off the page and brings the story to life.
But all the cliches are there. Serial killers. The upstart young journalist who you root for. The seedy underbelly of a big American city past and present - in this case, Chicago. A mystery involving numerous dead women - all gutted and butchered in Jack the Ripper fashion - and said wannabe journalist is on the hunt to solve it. Oh! What's more? This journalist happens to be a survivor of that serial killer, one of his rare failed "killings".
Enough cliches for you? How about the writing? As good of a writer Beukes is, she does litter her pages with numerous literary cliches. I made a note of a couple of them in my Kobo reader but somehow they have disappeared. So you'll just have to believe me.
But the whole thing is turned on its head with the introduction of time travel as an essential plot device. As it happens, the serial killer in the story is also a time traveller. Said wannabe journalist catches on to some strange things about each of these horrific murders - for instance, a baseball card of a player who could not have possibly been playing at the the time of the murder, as he would have just been a kid at the time. So she puts two and two together and... OK, I won't give away the story too much.
Suffice to say, I found Shining Girls an enjoyable read. It's not the best I've read, not by a long shot, but it's certainly great airplane reading. I blazed through it pretty quickly, maybe in a week or two's time, and finished the last 75-100 pages in one sitting. "Hold on, honey," I said to my wife, "I's just gots anudda 65 pages to go an' then ah'll come ta bed." And it wasn't even half an hour until I was done. That's how quickly and easily I could read it.
So, overall verdict? I give mega-points to Beukes for her clever premise, and I'll hand it to her that she has pulled off the idea with a good, solid story that made for intriguing reading. The book was never boring. But at the same time, it never seared into my imagination and knocked my socks off the way other books can do. Just as I sat to write this review, I even had to strain to remember the name of the book, and it took a moment or two to recollect what had happened.
Reading the reviews out there, I see that Beukes gained massive accolades for her scathingly accurate portrayal of Chicago past and present, its culture, its streets, its people, all the little things that make Chicago, well, Chicago. But me? I wasn't that impressed. I know Beukes is from South Africa, but honestly, anyone with a bit of time on her hands and access to the Internet could have come up with the stuff she came up in that book.
I've also learned that plans are underway to turn the book into a TV series. OK, I can totally see that happening. The book reads very much like a movie or TV show, and it makes total sense as a show. I'd watch it.
But in the end? I won't be fighting my way to the front of the lineup to get Beukes' next book. I'm intrigued by what she may come up with next, but take away the premise and you have yourself just a general, above-average, well-written story that is just, eh, pretty good. Nothing to knock your socks off.
Honestly, eh.
It started off so good. The colourful, fluid prose of Beukes really comes off the page and brings the story to life.
But all the cliches are there. Serial killers. The upstart young journalist who you root for. The seedy underbelly of a big American city past and present - in this case, Chicago. A mystery involving numerous dead women - all gutted and butchered in Jack the Ripper fashion - and said wannabe journalist is on the hunt to solve it. Oh! What's more? This journalist happens to be a survivor of that serial killer, one of his rare failed "killings".
Enough cliches for you? How about the writing? As good of a writer Beukes is, she does litter her pages with numerous literary cliches. I made a note of a couple of them in my Kobo reader but somehow they have disappeared. So you'll just have to believe me.
But the whole thing is turned on its head with the introduction of time travel as an essential plot device. As it happens, the serial killer in the story is also a time traveller. Said wannabe journalist catches on to some strange things about each of these horrific murders - for instance, a baseball card of a player who could not have possibly been playing at the the time of the murder, as he would have just been a kid at the time. So she puts two and two together and... OK, I won't give away the story too much.
Suffice to say, I found Shining Girls an enjoyable read. It's not the best I've read, not by a long shot, but it's certainly great airplane reading. I blazed through it pretty quickly, maybe in a week or two's time, and finished the last 75-100 pages in one sitting. "Hold on, honey," I said to my wife, "I's just gots anudda 65 pages to go an' then ah'll come ta bed." And it wasn't even half an hour until I was done. That's how quickly and easily I could read it.
So, overall verdict? I give mega-points to Beukes for her clever premise, and I'll hand it to her that she has pulled off the idea with a good, solid story that made for intriguing reading. The book was never boring. But at the same time, it never seared into my imagination and knocked my socks off the way other books can do. Just as I sat to write this review, I even had to strain to remember the name of the book, and it took a moment or two to recollect what had happened.
Reading the reviews out there, I see that Beukes gained massive accolades for her scathingly accurate portrayal of Chicago past and present, its culture, its streets, its people, all the little things that make Chicago, well, Chicago. But me? I wasn't that impressed. I know Beukes is from South Africa, but honestly, anyone with a bit of time on her hands and access to the Internet could have come up with the stuff she came up in that book.
I've also learned that plans are underway to turn the book into a TV series. OK, I can totally see that happening. The book reads very much like a movie or TV show, and it makes total sense as a show. I'd watch it.
But in the end? I won't be fighting my way to the front of the lineup to get Beukes' next book. I'm intrigued by what she may come up with next, but take away the premise and you have yourself just a general, above-average, well-written story that is just, eh, pretty good. Nothing to knock your socks off.