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A review by obsidian_blue
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
1.0
Did Not Finish--40 percent
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
All, do not read this review if you have not read the first book in the series, "The Plot."
I have tried to finish this book for weeks now. Sorry, not sorry, I just threw in the white flag of DNFs everywhere. I think the biggest issue is, there is no need for this sequel. I think the first book stood alone, but instead we have a sequel following an unlikable character who is also boring as hell. I just cannot read a book about writing a book again. It just is too tedious for words. And the character of Anna just needed to slink off somewhere in the night instead of being resurrected in this.
I finally got to the 40 percent mark and just could not go on anymore. The biggest reasons were:
1. Anna is not a compelling character. What made the first book so good in my opinion is that you are blind sided by the reveals about her. This one is not interesting, because readers already know what she's capable of. And I think turning her into a best-selling author just made me roll my eyes. It felt very cliche and also the opposite of what the character was in the first book. She wanted to keep her real story from being revealed. Why would she then decide to go out there and become a celebrity (when she hates people by the way) and feed that part that didn't seem to be a part of her make-up. I was just over it after a while.
2. Other characters are not developed at all. Everyone felt like a badly written caricature and I just got really bored. What made "The Plot" so good was that you followed Jacob who we quickly find out is a morally gray character. You in turn feel sorry for him, also despise him, and then that ending. Woof. There is no character that is engrossing enough for me to care about while reading this book (see point #1 above). There's just Anna and others. And honestly that is what this book should have been called.
3. The flow was awful. It just made me start to grind my teeth after a while because reading about Anna and her writing, reading about how she felt about her "fans", publicists, former bosses, and her secret being revealed had me going, oh my God who cares like a thousand times. This is just tedious and a lot should have been cut to just keep readers engaged.
4. After a while it just got boring to watch/read about how Anna was getting away with things.
5. I think that Korelitz needed another character to follow or something to grab you. I think "The Plot" worked so well because we got to see different timelines and then you are shifting between Jacob and others. Reading about just Anna and her point of view didn't really work.
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
All, do not read this review if you have not read the first book in the series, "The Plot."
I have tried to finish this book for weeks now. Sorry, not sorry, I just threw in the white flag of DNFs everywhere. I think the biggest issue is, there is no need for this sequel. I think the first book stood alone, but instead we have a sequel following an unlikable character who is also boring as hell. I just cannot read a book about writing a book again. It just is too tedious for words. And the character of Anna just needed to slink off somewhere in the night instead of being resurrected in this.
I finally got to the 40 percent mark and just could not go on anymore. The biggest reasons were:
1. Anna is not a compelling character. What made the first book so good in my opinion is that you are blind sided by the reveals about her. This one is not interesting, because readers already know what she's capable of. And I think turning her into a best-selling author just made me roll my eyes. It felt very cliche and also the opposite of what the character was in the first book. She wanted to keep her real story from being revealed. Why would she then decide to go out there and become a celebrity (when she hates people by the way) and feed that part that didn't seem to be a part of her make-up. I was just over it after a while.
2. Other characters are not developed at all. Everyone felt like a badly written caricature and I just got really bored. What made "The Plot" so good was that you followed Jacob who we quickly find out is a morally gray character. You in turn feel sorry for him, also despise him, and then that ending. Woof. There is no character that is engrossing enough for me to care about while reading this book (see point #1 above). There's just Anna and others. And honestly that is what this book should have been called.
3. The flow was awful. It just made me start to grind my teeth after a while because reading about Anna and her writing, reading about how she felt about her "fans", publicists, former bosses, and her secret being revealed had me going, oh my God who cares like a thousand times. This is just tedious and a lot should have been cut to just keep readers engaged.
4. After a while it just got boring to watch/read about how Anna was getting away with things.
5. I think that Korelitz needed another character to follow or something to grab you. I think "The Plot" worked so well because we got to see different timelines and then you are shifting between Jacob and others. Reading about just Anna and her point of view didn't really work.