This book is disturbing.
Disturbingly BAD.
Although he uses a plot which is intriguing, Harmer's novel is without a doubt one of the worst books I have ever read. The author's biography states that he has written non-fiction books prior to this novel. He should stick with non-fiction.
Not only was the book EXTREMELY slow to get started (no action starts until page 220), Harmer's writing was just painful to read. There is very little dialogue in the book. Harmer completely ignores the first rule of writing: "show, don't tell." He inserts his own opinion into the text without even bothering to attribute it to any character. He comes off as extremely homophobic and judgmental in several areas. Apparently all teenagers are awful because their moms put them in daycare. Who knew? I can't stress enough that the writing here is just awful. His characters all sound exactly the same, from the teenage girls to the old German scientists. I kept waiting for it to get better and it never did.
The ending is a joke. It seems like because he took up so much time getting nowhere in the first 220 pages of the book, he ran out of pages to finish the story with. We never find out what happens to most of the characters, and if this was intentional because of a planned sequel it's doubly tragic as if I ever read a piece by Harmer again I think I will claw my eyes out.
I hate to give bad reviews but seriously. This book is in the top five of Worst Books I've Ever Read. I don't recommend it to anyone. Don't even check it out at the library. I'm a sucker for "end of the world as we know it" stories, but this one is not even worth glancing at. I spent 4 hours reading this travesty of a novel. I want my 4 hours back. ]]>
Kris
read and liked
Clytee's
review of Ere His Floods of Anger Flow:
"This was given to me by a friend that was involved in the self publishing of the book. She asked me to read it if I wanted to, and tell her what I think. I'm afraid to tell her what I think, it's terrible! It's Mormon, "written especially for...more "
"This was given to me by a friend that was involved in the self publishing of the book. She asked me to read it if I wanted to, and tell her what I think. I'm afraid to tell her what I think, it's terrible! It's Mormon, "written especially for...more "
by John Harmer
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I felt the exact same way, down to wondering why I even bothered reading to the end. What a lame book. I'm tempted to write a letter to Deseret Book begging them to take this travesty off their shelves. ]]>
Kris
read and liked
Alissa's
review of Ere His Floods of Anger Flow:
"Unfortunately this wasn't my type of book. I really don't enjoy end-of-the-world books. I need hope. I think I would have liked it better if the author had helped me connect emotionally with the characters, but I didn't know them well enough. I w...more "
"Unfortunately this wasn't my type of book. I really don't enjoy end-of-the-world books. I need hope. I think I would have liked it better if the author had helped me connect emotionally with the characters, but I didn't know them well enough. I w...more "
This book would be an excellent resource for parents of pre-teens and teens, but as the mother of a 2 year old I found only parts of it relevant to my current struggles. I really enjoyed this book but won't read it again until my son is much older. ]]>
This book is absolutely fantastic. I love that the author has actually lived through depression and anxiety and instead of telling readers to buck up and get over their depression, he gives specific ways to overcome. Maybe not beat or cure depression totally, but how to push through with the Lord's help. I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with mental illness. ]]>
I still don't like Cormier's writing, but this was one of the better books by him I've read. Everyone can identify with being forced to sell crap for school (and if you can't, lucky you!) An interesting look at the "seedy underbelly" of school fundraisers. ]]>
This is one of those books that sucks you in and doesn't let go. The beginning starts out a little choppy and it takes some time to get used to the writing style, but the story is excellent. I thought the six-year-jump at the end was a bit disorienting, and could have done with more details in certain parts of the book, but overall I loved this novel. Great story, great characters, and just when you expect something to happen, a completely different twist comes along. ]]>
Teenage boot camps fascinate me, so I was excited to pick up this book. The beginning was all right, but after 500 different instances of the same kid getting beaten in the same way, I was pretty bored. Strasser totally lost me when Sarah gave her reason for being at the camp - her father, "a Mormon elder and apostle," sent her there for not being a good enough Mormon. Cue the eye rolling. It's pretty obvious Strasser has no idea what the LDS church is like just based on that one sentence. Gag me. I finished the book but after that point I was pretty much done trying to connect with the characters. The ending is pretty "meh," and all in all the story is not that great. Wouldn't read this again or recommend it to anyone. ]]>
This book was well-written, but ultimately I found myself bored. I could not connect with the characters and didn't understand the whole point to Askew's game in relation to the story. I wouldn't read it again. ]]>