Book Reviews: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing; Rainbow's End
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
by Melissa Bank
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Fiction/Chick Lit
Definitely chick lit. It's not skanky chick lit, like Paris Hangover, it's more of the introspective musings on relationships type of chick lit.
Have I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of chick lit?
D destroyingangel had read this and said it was really good (Ok, D says she didn't read it... who the heck was it, then? ?_?) - Marisa too - and I'd had it in a box of books in my parents's basement for YEARS, so... now I can at least get rid of it in good conscience, knowing that I did get around to reading it.
While there were some humorous parts, my least favorite part was the really strange choice the author made to switch between perspectives, seemingly without purpose. The book is divided into sections rather than chapters, and the middle section is suddenly from the perspective of the main character's upstairs neighbor, with no interaction with the main character except a brief mention of how she lives downstairs (so you'd get some idea of who is talking). Then, the next to last chapter is written by someone who is finding out they have breast cancer... and because the entire chapter uses only "I" and "he" etc. you never get any confirmation of whether it's the main character this is happening to or not. Very, very confusing. It's as though the author had two short stories floating around while working on the novel, and she liked them so much that she decided to stick them in the book regardless of continuity or logic.
I think this woman writes well, but the subject matter didn't really get me that interested.
Rainbow's End
by Ellis Peters
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mystery
My dad picked this up because he loved the Cadfael mysteries so much. He didn't like it too well, but he passed it on to me anyway. As it turned out, I quite enjoyed it! I liked the characters, the plot was interesting, and it was intriguing reading about a murder investigation in a small town where everyone pretty much clams up and that isn't considered an obstruction of justice - it's expected. It poses some interesting problems.
I would read some of the other Inspector Felse mysteries.