Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am here again, slightly revising my original review. I am thinking that the folks who truly enjoyed this book are, themselves, probably not as interested in how a tale is written as they are in a good old, town-gossip story. That’s an interesting type of reader, those who are easily impressed and entertained by any odd, dramatic, off-beat tale, no matter how illogical the story or how poorly it is written. A twisted love story and a not-well-explained murder only add to the lure. Nothing wrong with that, and it does often sell books. For this niche of readers, a book that simply entertains can be very useful, to pass the time, and not every book has to be “deep.” But, to read some reviewers saying that this was “the best book they had ever read,” or (in one case), they had “read it three times,”—and then to read other reviewers saying the book “was the worst piece of writing ever,” and the one who said she “threw it in the trash”—I was intrigued and could not help marveling at how different our preferences can be, one from the other. I had a light-bulb moment then and thought, “What if, as a test for future compatibility for prospective roommates, life partners, etc., what if the pair each read this book and then compared notes at the end?” I really think it would tell each of the two people in the duo a lot about the other person, and the proposed partners might even be spared some unfortunate liasons from the git-go! As for me, this was, truly, probably the worst book I have ever read, and I could only get through three-fourths of it. Midway through, I simply did not care who had gotten killed (the author having tossed a murder into the nature-girl’s story), nor did I care who did the killing. I was just too bored by then to go on. Starting off, an abandoned, very young child totally raises herself, all alone. Provides her own food, clothing, heat, medicine, etc., and pilots an old boat anywhere she needs to go on the water, all at age seven. I was wondering—at that age, did she also know how and when to pay taxes on her old house? She probably did, as there seemed to be absolutely no hurdle too high for this girl! She meets a town boy and the two of them have a secret manner of communicating—by leaving a feather, hoping the other will find it. I should have stopped reading right there. Then they do get together and become fast friends for many years. She could not read, never attended school, but in what seemed like only a matter of days, he had taught her to read and write so well that she soon became a successful author. He even explained menstruation to her when her period began. Wow! What a friend! Yet, years later, when he went away to college, he, without a word, drops her abruptly, with no explanation whatsoever to her, but while adjusting to college life, he had been thinking that she just would not fit into academia. So much for a long, loyal, friendship! There were so many formulaic frills in this book, I could go on and on with examples of why it seemed like a high-school writing assignment. But I will only add the fact that this first-time author absolutely wore me out with her constant metaphors and adjective-filled descriptions of absolutely anything in nature. Tell me you see a pretty sunset, a fierce wave, or hear raindrops on the roof, or see a spider spinning a web—but don’t think you have to flood me with six adjectives and a metaphor for each one, in order to make me appreciate these things. I hope this lady has earned sufficient funds from this book that she will never attempt to write another.