Early Review
of
I Heart Oklahoma by Roy Scranton
This submission is an early review of the audiobook I Heart Oklahoma by Roy Scranton. This book is about the making of a road movie during a trip across the United States. Well, at least that’s the premise, but the book doesn’t really do justice to this premise. The story begins with three very different people travelling together across the States to discover what people think and believe in the heartland of the country, in Trump’s America, as the book says. They are looking for perspectives different than their own urban reality. Unfortunately, most of the book focuses on the interaction amongst the three travelling companions and rarely brings other characters into the story. Their conversations are bizarre, unbelievable, and frankly, just irritating. The book also focuses on two other storylines, including the Charlie Starkweather murders. These other storylines don’t really integrate into the overall story. All in all, this book is a very frustrating and unsatisfactory read. Wouldn’t have finished it, except for the need to do this review.
of
I Heart Oklahoma by Roy Scranton
This submission is an early review of the audiobook I Heart Oklahoma by Roy Scranton. This book is about the making of a road movie during a trip across the United States. Well, at least that’s the premise, but the book doesn’t really do justice to this premise. The story begins with three very different people travelling together across the States to discover what people think and believe in the heartland of the country, in Trump’s America, as the book says. They are looking for perspectives different than their own urban reality. Unfortunately, most of the book focuses on the interaction amongst the three travelling companions and rarely brings other characters into the story. Their conversations are bizarre, unbelievable, and frankly, just irritating. The book also focuses on two other storylines, including the Charlie Starkweather murders. These other storylines don’t really integrate into the overall story. All in all, this book is a very frustrating and unsatisfactory read. Wouldn’t have finished it, except for the need to do this review.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The setting and premise of this mystery were unusual and engaged the reader in some challenging visualizations. The author kept the reader guessing as to who the guilty party was until the very end. One detractor was that none of the characters were likeable and this resulted in less engagement in the story overall.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Olufsen has obviously been influenced by Peter Robinson. Tobias Lange is the Danish version of Alan Banks, minus his vices. Both are very likeable characters.
The plot is well woven and I did not guess who the suspect was until the end of the book.
I have two small criticisms. The first is about timing. The build up to the conclusion was roughly 270 pages and then everything was wrapped up in the next few pages - it seemed a bit abrupt to me. The second relates to the character development. I would like to know more about Tobias' private life and how he became the man that solved the mystery. Similarly, more narrative could be devoted to every day Danish life which would make the readers want to invest more in the main characters.
To summarize, this was a good read; however the ebook format is still not as enjoyable as a real book particularly as I was expecting the latter format.
The plot is well woven and I did not guess who the suspect was until the end of the book.
I have two small criticisms. The first is about timing. The build up to the conclusion was roughly 270 pages and then everything was wrapped up in the next few pages - it seemed a bit abrupt to me. The second relates to the character development. I would like to know more about Tobias' private life and how he became the man that solved the mystery. Similarly, more narrative could be devoted to every day Danish life which would make the readers want to invest more in the main characters.
To summarize, this was a good read; however the ebook format is still not as enjoyable as a real book particularly as I was expecting the latter format.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.