Dad of Divas' Reviews: Book Review: Fragile

Friday, January 28, 2011

Book Review: Fragile

About the Book
For 50 years, Amanda Geist has held a torch for her childhood love Tris Holloway, saving herself and expecting the same from him. Holloway, meanwhile, is stuck in a loveless marriage, having always felt that his life was never fully realized. When Geist walks into the hair salon of single mom Holly Schenck to get a trim before her high school reunion (where she hopes to see Holloway), she sets off a chain of events that bounds all three together. In a failed bid for profundity, debut novelist Katsaropoulos employs a fragmented, head-jerking storytelling style with a fractured point-of-view meant to imitate a film's sense of simultaneous action. Unfortunately, the effect never quite gels; cramped for space and trapped by their own passivity, his characters come across as shallow and unsympathetic. Most frustratingly, Katsaropoulos falls back on easy shock-value plot twists to compensate for a lack of compelling drama.

My Take on the Book
This book looks at how easily a human can be broken and on the lives of three main characters whose lives definitely are in this state.Each of these characters' stories are so poignant and telling, that you are simply drawn into the world that the author constructs and you find yourself losing yourself in the intricacies of the story itself.

I found the writing of this style unique, as much like the characters, the book itself is written in a broken format, with chapters in small segments chopped up, and not in any certain cadence that was evident. This is not a negative trait for the book, but it is something you do not always find in writing styles today.

Because of this fragmented style of writing, it does take a bit of time to get used to the disjointed jumping around that happens. In most cases as a reader you can follow the line of the plot, but there were a few times where I did struggle with this as well.

The author does a great job though in building up his characters, and developing a beautiful and intricate web of interconnectedness that leads the story forward!

Overall a good book, and one that I would recommend, just know that it will be one that will be different than most that you have ever read in the past!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
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