THE POWER OF ONE (Bryce Courtenay) - July 30/12

Oh sweet Jesus. Oh god. What a horrible, interminable book. I started this monstrosity months ago and had to keep taking breaks. It's unreasonably long but contains very little plot. (I'd guess that there's about 20 pages of plot in a 513 page book.) Courtenay wastes the readers time with long, drawn-out descriptions of things WE COULDN'T POSSIBLY CARE LESS ABOUT. This is especially true of a thunderously boring stretch towards the end in which Peekay becomes a "grizzly man" - I had to skim most of this stuff because it was more dull and dry than the most academic of texts. Courtenay might technically be a good writer, but the dude has to learn how to tell a compelling story. What an ordeal! * out of ****

GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn) - July 22/12

What a twisted little book. I have to admit, though, that as much as I eventually enjoyed Gone Girl, the first half is a bit of a slog. The whole thing is very repetitive and it's impossible not to wish Flynn would just get on with things already. But once the book reaches its literal halfway mark, with the revelation that Amy was behind everything, the book takes off like a rocket almost to the very end. (It took me about a week to get through the first half and a day to get through the rest.) There are so many twists and turns it eventually becomes ridiculous, and it's interesting to note that the book remains engrossing even as it becomes more and more obvious that both the protagonists are fairly reprehensible. The story runs out of steam following Amy's return, but I definitely enjoyed the last-minute twist that Amy is presumably not done torturing Nick. *** out of ****

GOLD (Chris Cleave) - July 12/12

Ah, okay. Now this I liked. Cleave tells the relatively simple story of two friends competing against each other and dwells on their problematic personal lives (Kate must deal with a cancer-afflicted child while Zoe attempts to cope with her tragic past). Cleave's tendency to emphasize flashbacks admittedly does wreak havoc on the book's momentum, but the whole thing is consistently readable and I even choked up a couple of times. *** out of ****

AMPED (Daniel H. Wilson) - July 3/12

Yeesh. Yet another disappointment from an author I thought I liked. Amped was a real chore to get through, which is certainly something I couldn't say about Robopocalypse. The big problem here is that the book reads like a YA novel, complete with the dystopian setting and bland protagonist. There was never a point at which I really cared about Owen or his exploits, and Wilson does the narrative no favors by offering up one grimy, unpleasant locale after another (including the rundown trailer park that much of the middle transpires within). It's just dull, which is surprising given how much action there is. *1/2 out of ****