Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Some Other Town by Elizabeth Collison

Hi guys!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.


It's been a bit of a madhouse in my part of the world in life (oye), weather (30 one minute, 75 the next!), work (don't ask...unless you're in need of an assistant editor?), and also...in READING.  I had hit a streak of really AMAZING reads for a while there and boy did I count myself lucky.  I mean, despite carefully considering each request that comes my way and only accepting those that really grab my attention, that doesn't mean first impressions are always accurate.  Hey, it happens!  Remember, one person's less-than-favorite-read is another person's absolutely-positively-can't-put-down-read...and vice versa.  Let's take today's selection...

Originally, this was going to be a stop along a blog tour, but things happen and alas, I'm doing a solo pitch.  No worries.  We TOTALLY got this...though I'm not certain everything is going to come up roses.  *ahem*  Ladies and gents, please allow me to introduce today's book of choice...


by
9780062348821

About the book...
Margaret Lydia Benning, twenty-eight and adrift, still lives in the same Midwest town where she went to college. By day, she works at the Project, a nonprofit publisher of children's readers housed in a former sanatorium. There she shares the fourth floor with a squadron of eccentric editors and a resident ghost from the screamers' wing. At night, Margaret returns alone to her small house on Mott Street, with only her strange neighbor, Mrs. Eberline, for company.

Emotionally sleepwalking through the days is no way to lead a life. But then Margaret meets Ben Adams, a visiting professor at the university. Through her deepening relationship with Ben she glimpses a future she had never before imagined, and for the first time she has hope . . . until Ben inexplicably vanishes. In the wake of his disappearance, Margaret sets out to find him. Her journey, a revelatory exploration of the separate worlds that exist inside us and around us, will force her to question everything she believes to be true.

Told through intertwined perspectives, by turns incandescent and haunting, Some Other Town is an unforgettable tale, with a heartbreaking twist, of one woman's awakening to her own possibility.




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I admit it.
I almost called it quits while reading this one.
Am I sorry?  No...for both admitting that fact as well as pushing through to the end.  Why?  For several reasons, a few of which I shall now illuminate.


Reason ONE...
I could not for the life of me really get into the book.  I mean the lead characters made their impressions, especially the passages that dealt with Ben or his time spent with Ms. Benning.  I remember the star gazing scenes perhaps the most.  In dribs and drabs I was following things, but that spark, that "glued to the page" magic just never happened.  
*bummer*


Reason TWO...
Ms. Benning's time spent at the Project.
For me, this part of the story was lackluster and free of anything that would connect it to the other bits of storyline running about.  The addition of the ghost story that ran rampant through the staff seemed like an add on that wasn't really needed. The fact that the early reader books they were working on weren't really being worked on was, well in a word, absurd.  I mean really, for a story that for the most part something that could actually happen, that just seemed so far beyond reason that I couldn't swallow it.


Reason THREE...
...the ending.
When all is said and done, the final twist or rather fitting together of the puzzle pieces was definitely a surprise I never saw coming.  Was it something I missed in the details along the way?  Perhaps, but I'd like to think that the author kept it so well hidden, you couldn't see the forest for the trees so to speak.  


In conclusion, though certainly not for every audience (*raises hand*), it doesn't mean that the perfect assembly of readers isn't out there for it.  If you like strange and wandering tales that keep you guessing, with glimpses of past, present, and future running about...this just might be the match you're bookish heart has been looking for.  Just remember....hang on to the facts with both hands, lest you get swept away like Mrs. Eberline in her many personalities.


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Special thanks to Trish (a fantastic book promoter) and the team over at Harper Perennial for the ARC for review.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title as well as the publisher's full catalog, feel free to click through the links included above.  This title celebrated its book birthday just last month, so be on the lookout for the on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.

Until next time...happy reading!



1 comment:

  1. Hallo, Hallo Gina! :)

    Hmm, that was strange. The first time I tried to link to your blog, it pulled up the wrong page!? I re-set the link and it brings this one up, so I apologise but something must've went wrong the first time? Hmm, was your review for this novel, yet it didn't look like your blog at all? Very odd.

    --- On your review:

    You never need to apologise to your readers for being openly honest about your thoughts as you read a book! You should see how honest I am on mine! I even have an entire section called "Fly in the Ointment"!

    I had the opposite reaction, I must confess, where I felt so wholly in step with the story, the little nuances and the little ways in which this story is told out of step with time.

    Alas, the time at the Project! I admit, I had trouble knowing 'how to write!' about this novel; there was so much left to say, half of which I'd spoilt it if I were to be frank about it; which is why I have encouraged the three book bloggers I've found on this blog tour without a blog tour to PM me on Twitter or through my blog so we can talk w/o having spoilt it for readers! :)

    The ghost story aspects I normally would have written about but as they were left quite ambiguously undeclared a bit in the end, I decided to bypass them.

    I honestly foresee the ending coming; there were a few routes to get there, and I knew in the end, this would shatter my heart a bit. It was gutting to say the least, but also, foreshadowed. You have to look into the timelines of both Margaret & Ben; you'll see something quite telling. Then there is the 'time structure' of the novel itself; Ben's been missing for three months.

    If your on Twitter, don't hestitate to DM me! lol

    I agree! Not every book is for every reader, hence why I have a Riffe List entitled: Stories Seeking Love from Readers. You can find the link under 'My Bookish Life' in my top menu.

    My review of Some Other Town: (http://wp.me/p4Y8Bq-2eC)

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