OK, so I'm not sure how this book made it's way to me, but I guess it has something to do with my book club's reading list for the year. Every year, we put a reading list together that draws predominantly on the Vaughan Public Library's Book Club collection. This title was chosen as an easy read that is suitable for the summer vacation season. Surprisingly, this book turned out to be a tough read, but not for good reasons!
The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell, is a mystery set in north England and it the story of a fat woman who stands to inherit her cousin's fortune if she looses 40 lbs in 6 months. She is called every possible demeaning "fat girl" slander, but because it's written from her perspective, I suspect that the reader is expected to accept this offensive narrative. It is poorly written, slow moving and the plot is painfully simplistic.
When I look at other reviews by readers on Goodreads.com, I lose faith in the abilities of my fellow readers to actually distinguish between well and poorly written material. It's shocking to find that there are people who rate this as one of their favourite novels...How is that possible? What else have they been reading? Have they spent their lives reading Harlequin Romances, and branched out to this bottom feeding pot boiler? The most disturbing review that I found was written by an adult who's high school teacher recommended this novel to her as a teenage, and that she loved it. What kind of teacher recommends crap to a young student? Don't teachers realize and appreciate the influence that they wield with their students? How could anyone recommend this novel....I suspect, only someone who has never actually read anything that's well written.
We are all free to form our own opinions, and thus I respect other reader's opinions. However, I am really concerned about how this poorly written, and ill conceived novel could ever make it onto the Book Club reading list at VPL. Of all the award winning, well written and entertaining mysteries out there, I have no idea how this could be an offering for reading groups in Vaughan.
On to better reading!!! Please.
The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell, is a mystery set in north England and it the story of a fat woman who stands to inherit her cousin's fortune if she looses 40 lbs in 6 months. She is called every possible demeaning "fat girl" slander, but because it's written from her perspective, I suspect that the reader is expected to accept this offensive narrative. It is poorly written, slow moving and the plot is painfully simplistic.
When I look at other reviews by readers on Goodreads.com, I lose faith in the abilities of my fellow readers to actually distinguish between well and poorly written material. It's shocking to find that there are people who rate this as one of their favourite novels...How is that possible? What else have they been reading? Have they spent their lives reading Harlequin Romances, and branched out to this bottom feeding pot boiler? The most disturbing review that I found was written by an adult who's high school teacher recommended this novel to her as a teenage, and that she loved it. What kind of teacher recommends crap to a young student? Don't teachers realize and appreciate the influence that they wield with their students? How could anyone recommend this novel....I suspect, only someone who has never actually read anything that's well written.
We are all free to form our own opinions, and thus I respect other reader's opinions. However, I am really concerned about how this poorly written, and ill conceived novel could ever make it onto the Book Club reading list at VPL. Of all the award winning, well written and entertaining mysteries out there, I have no idea how this could be an offering for reading groups in Vaughan.
On to better reading!!! Please.
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