Cristalyne’s Comments (group member since Dec 17, 2018)

Cristalyne’s comments from the THE GOOD LUCK YEAR END READING CHALLENGE OF 2018 group.

Scribe by Alyson Hagy: I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story with no beginning, but I think it has the bones of what could have been an addicting trilogy or at least a much longer story. I was very interested in the world the author created, but she didn’t seem all that interested in sharing it with me. I don’t clearly understand how the world works or the mysterious letter writing magic. The structure also made it hard to care about the characters until the end. I liked the character reveal at the end, but the bad guy who apparently controls the area should have come much sooner. Doing a slow unravel is risky and I nearly gave up on the book because of it. I think this could have been a great book if it didn’t have so many holes and was written in present with more action.

The Hate You Give was the perfect blend of snot-nosed crying and bust a gut laughing. Can’t believe I waited this long to pick it up.

I read Five Plots, which is a collection of lyrical essays by a girl I went to school with. (It was neat seeing the final version of essays I read and commented on.) I don’t understand what a lyrical essay is. One of my many frustrations about studying creative nonfiction in graduate school is we started each new term trying to define the essay (read the back of Best American Essays for an example). To me, lyrical essays resist straight forward language (doesn’t follow subject verb object format). It meanders and is metaphorical. I usually don’t agree with the metaphors and often can’t stand reading them. I am torn about leaving her a review because I am not her audience. I want to give her five stars (like everyone else) because I know and like her and she listed me in the acknowledgments, but I struggle with the style. I am beginning to think I should have went to school for fiction because my favorite nonfiction is written like fiction. Should I give her five stars because I’m excited she published her first book and I want to support her? Let’s be real, I’d want my friends to do the same for me because putting your stuff in the world is hella scary.