Judging a Book by Its Cover

Five books that I'll probably never read, but still feel qualified to judge. 

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The Art of Falling, Kathryn Craft (363 pgs. / January, 2014)

BLURB: "All Penny ever wanted to do is dance — and when that chance is taken from her, it pushes her to the brink of despair, from which she might never return."  *Spoiler Alert: She does. She does return.*

MY THOUGHTS: I mean come on. It's a dramatic black and white photo with pink text. It's got girly script AND a modernist sans serif (so cosmopolitan). It's Chick Lit. Duh. But, like, the best kind. Where it's kind of dark and depressing, but in a way that women love because, honestly, watching a young heroine's life fall apart kind of makes us feel better about ourselves. And, of course, said heroine picks up the pieces of her life and we feel inspired, but mostly just not so guilty about reveling in her literary misery. Would I read it? Yes. Would I remember reading it? Probably not.

AMAZON SAYS: "The Art of Falling touched on many topics including eating disorders, body image, chronic illness, friendships and death which made me feel so many emotions while reading." SO many emotions. SO many questions — like, how does one survive a 14-floor fall? Easy, hope and love and magic and other girly buzzwords.

The Forever Girl, Alexander McCall Smith (320 pgs. / February, 2014)

BLURB: "Amanda and her husband, David, feel fortunate to be raising their son and daughter in the close-knit community of ex-pats on Grand Cayman Island ... Alexander McCall tells a tale of love and heartbreak, humor and melancholy, that beautifully demonstrates the myriad ways in which love shapes our lives." 

MY THOUGHTS: Even knowing that bound galleys are pretty standard and don't really mean anything, there's still always a part of me that sees one and thinks "this could be the long lost book Harry Potter manuscript!". Which, considering I don't care about HP and never finished the published books, is an odd thing to get excited about but I just really like feeling like an insider. As to the actual cover, I'd have to give it a firm "No." It's like a bad motel painting, but worse because it looks like the copy was added on in MS Paint. It seems like the kind of book that might be bought as a summer beach read, but the author would really rather it be dissected in a classroom.

AMAZON SAYS: "The ending was syrupy sweet and not at all realistic. I had the terrible feeling that the author went on a trip to the Caribbean and had to justify the expense by writing a short novel about the place." 

 

(L-R) Why I Killed My Best Friend, Amanda Michalopoulou (257 pgs. / May, 2014) / Street of Thieves, Mathias Enard (203 pgs. / November, 2014) / The Elusive Moth, Ingrid Winterbach (184 pgs. / July, 2014)

BLURBS:

Why I Killed My Best Friend: "Michalopoulou charts the ups, downs, and fallings-out of the powerful, self-destructive bond only true best friends can have."
Street of Thieves: "Exiled from his family for religious transgressions related to his feelings for his cousin, Lakhdar finds himself on the streets of Barcelona, hiding from both the police and the Muslim ... group he worked for in Tangier."
The Elusive Moth: "Tormented by memories of her family and plagued by erotic dreams, Karolina spends her nights playing snooker, drinking whiskey, and dancing herself into a state of euphoria with the mysterious Kolyn."

MY THOUGHTS: As a series, this triplet of translated novels pleases my eye parts (and the smooth matte covers feel good on my finger parts). Usually when I see books like this my immediate reaction is to hope that the contents is as fun and engaging as the outside, but to remain wary of a bait-and-switch situation. Like, these could be edgy, cross-continental yarns or they could be slow, overly-poetic, self-aggrandizing tomes (with covers meant to draw in readers where the words may not).

AMAZON SAYS:

Why I Killed My Best Friend: "I suppose there's a really deep meaning to this book that I'm too ignorant to ferret out, and maybe it's because I'm not familiar enough with Greek politics and history, but I don't think so." / "A rousing coming-of-age novel, Why I Killed My Best Friend explores the never-ending search for values within everyday life while also celebrating the importance of living one's beliefs."
Street of Thieves: NA (This hasn't come yet, but here's a sampling of a review for the author's earlier work Zone:) "Yet for it's deluge of erudition, the book never feels like it's just an intellectual dick measuring contest the way that a lot of sprawling high modernist stuff is."
The Elusive Moth: "Though there are times here in which the philosophizing and the allegorical connotations may begin to overpower the story, Winterbach aims high, a goal to be celebrated even if it occasionally overshoots its mark. An unusual novel set during a unique time in the history of South Africa."