Sunday 21 December 2014

Review: Undone by Cat Clarke


"It's amazing, the lies you can tell yourself. Even more amazing, the lies you can believe when you're desperate enough."

I wanted so desperately to fall utterly in love with this novel. I wanted to be able to immerse myself in this book and take the heart wrenching trek intended along with these characters. Instead, I found myself left with a pounding headache and a broken heart. I didn't fall in love, I fell out of love. A good thing? Perhaps. But certainly not the best.

Reading this book was like teetering on a seesaw and never knowing exactly which side you will end up on when playtime is over. I knew once I had read the blurb of this novel that I wasn't going to be reading a sweet, feel-good story with a happy ending. No, I knew that this story would end tragically. It was the execution that left me wondering. I was aware that due to the intensity of the themes in this novel, that there was bound to be at least some swearing throughout. Some swearing. Some. However, I was disappointed in discovering that certain characters such as Stuart, couldn't go two sentences without at least swearing once. Luckily, the story was centred around Jem Halliday who only swore on occasion.

I very rarely state that I struggled to get through a book, mainly due to the fact that I may have just been in a reading slump at the time I read that book, however,  I cannot say the same for this novel as the books both preceding and succeeding this novel were a quick and enjoyable read for me. It wasn't me this time, it was the book. Now, I had originally heard about this novel from one of my book-loving friends, stating that it kept her engrossed every step of the way, leaving me rather confused as to why this novel hadn't gripped me in such a way. The book gave me several consecutive headaches, Jem annoyed me so much throughout this book, and was probably the main reason as to why this book was a 3 star one for me, instead of a 4 star book.

The saddest part about reading this book for me is that the novel and concepts held such great potential that I feel was wasted due to a poorly written female protagonist. The book is written in first person retrospective narrative stance, which is fine for most novels, however in this one, the inner monologue very quickly annoyed me. This was mostly due to Jem's constant bouts of depression that whilst necessary at times, often distracted from the actual advancements in the story. In real life, I believe that it would be perfectly normal for a girl to mourn over her best friend's suicide for over 500 pages, however, that is what journals are for. This is a novel. Do not get me wrong, the writing was beautiful and descriptive, but there is only so many pages one can write effectively about a single thought or a single trigger. Congratulations to Cat Clarke for keeping me holding onto those initial thoughts for as long as I did though. This book probably wouldn't have been able to be saved by any other author since Cat Clarke has such experience with writing intense and emotional novels such as this one.

This novel did have its redeeming qualities, and as much as I hate to admit it, it did stick with me. It was an experience I never thought I would enjoy until I read the last pages of the book. It takes a hell of a heartbreaking ending to redeem a novel of which I found so many issues with, but the ending of this book somehow brought it out of the water for me. I am a fan of tragedy, and by the end of the novel, the intensity and the swearing became all worth it. I can't say that this was the best novel ever. Some of the scenes near the end felt rushed and at times, out of place. However I can say that this book certainly does take you on a journey. It's a journey that has its ups and downs (unfortunately, more downs than ups) and leaves you bawling at the end. As much as it seems like I did, I certainly didn't hate this book, but even after reading the ending I couldn't bring myself to give this book more than a 3 star rating.

A struggle of a journey but one hell of an ending.




Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

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