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Lenaribka
"We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate."
~Henry Miller
Currently reading
Operation Rubikon
The Future Won't Be Long
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Power of One
The Romanov Mission
Goliath: A Thriller
Last Days of Summer
And the Band Played On
Between the Lines
DNF at 30%
**Don't see this review as a NON-RECOMMENDATION. It is just a classical example of "it's me, not a book."
It saddens me to DNF it. Because I put this author on my "don't forget to check later"- list. I enjoyed his [b:That Day in Spring|22575713|That Day in Spring|B.J. Sheppard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403598752s/22575713.jpg|42044449], and I was looking forward to reading more of him.
I don't know what really happened to his writing style. After numerous difficulties I had with it during the first 10%, I decided to pick up That Day in Spring, my first book by the author to compare the writing. A quick check - nope, it wasn't that theatrical and pretentious.
Is it really the best way to write about people who appreciate the finest in literature?
Some examples:
With her appraisal complete, she pivoted on one far-too-tall heel to regard the man who still stood just inside the door, watching her without movement. She smiled up at him, a smile that stretched from ear to ear and used every muscle in the woman’s face, as she paced back over to the man who seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be holding his breath.
or
The thought was at once foreign but felt entirely at home as it floated through him and came to rest in the silences between his heartbeats, which had quickened under the scrutiny of that illuminating smile.
or
Everyone haphazardly shook hands as the two lines faded away, bleeding seamlessly into one circle, a metaphorical stalemate silently disintegrating boundaries as they gathered at the center line, truce.
I just conldn't get warmed with this writing style.
After struggling through almost a third of the book, I gave up. I can't even tell you anything about the plot, because it has been hidden from me under the long and difficult constructed sentences, many metaphors, one after anther, exceptional adjectives, heavy word building and complicated way of telling.
I have never made a secret out of the fact, that English is my third language, but at that I always add, that my reading English is much better than my writing English.
But maybe one has to be a native English speaker to appreciate this wrting.
What I can say for sure- the author has a rich vocabulary.