Sign in with Facebook
donna backshall's Reviews > Here and Now and Then
Here and Now and Then
by
by
donna backshall's review
bookshelves: on-audible, 136-in-2019, unimpressive-writing, time-travel, fiction, do-over-fresh-start
Jul 23, 2019
bookshelves: on-audible, 136-in-2019, unimpressive-writing, time-travel, fiction, do-over-fresh-start
★ ★ 1/2 stars, rounded up to ★ ★ ★ for the effort
I really wish I could give Here and Now and Then a better rating, but it just didn't make the greatness cut for me.
Why? The entire novel had this stilted translated-from-another-language feel, all the way through. Everything was worded accurately, but hardly ever appropriately, more like a graphic novel than an actual words-only book. The text was littered with short sentence fragments, appearing just as often as actual sentences. Was I reading the novel version of Joey's recommendation letter for Monica and Chandler to adopt a child?
"His heart had sprinted at the mere notion for minutes now."
See what I mean? It's just off somehow. Plus, in Audible, the narrator did the audio version no favors. He read with the weirdest cadence, like he couldn't figure out how to make heads or tails of the writing either. On a happier note, I got to test out just how fast I could dial up the playback speed in my Audible app before I had trouble keeping up. (Apparently my max is 1.20%, then I'm approaching seizure territory.)
So, my take: two and a half stars for a semi-original adventure idea turned into a fun little romp through time with no unnecessary violence, sex, or foul language. It was simply a nice story that needed an editor to slice through the stilted insanity and infuse this baby with some flow.
I really wish I could give Here and Now and Then a better rating, but it just didn't make the greatness cut for me.
Why? The entire novel had this stilted translated-from-another-language feel, all the way through. Everything was worded accurately, but hardly ever appropriately, more like a graphic novel than an actual words-only book. The text was littered with short sentence fragments, appearing just as often as actual sentences. Was I reading the novel version of Joey's recommendation letter for Monica and Chandler to adopt a child?
"His heart had sprinted at the mere notion for minutes now."
See what I mean? It's just off somehow. Plus, in Audible, the narrator did the audio version no favors. He read with the weirdest cadence, like he couldn't figure out how to make heads or tails of the writing either. On a happier note, I got to test out just how fast I could dial up the playback speed in my Audible app before I had trouble keeping up. (Apparently my max is 1.20%, then I'm approaching seizure territory.)
So, my take: two and a half stars for a semi-original adventure idea turned into a fun little romp through time with no unnecessary violence, sex, or foul language. It was simply a nice story that needed an editor to slice through the stilted insanity and infuse this baby with some flow.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Here and Now and Then.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
May 11, 2019
– Shelved as:
on-audible
May 11, 2019
– Shelved
May 14, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 15, 2019
–
Started Reading
July 23, 2019
– Shelved as:
136-in-2019
July 23, 2019
– Shelved as:
unimpressive-writing
July 23, 2019
– Shelved as:
time-travel
July 23, 2019
– Shelved as:
fiction
July 23, 2019
–
Finished Reading
June 19, 2023
– Shelved as:
do-over-fresh-start
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Joe
(new)
Jul 24, 2019 09:44AM
Looking at the sample line, I think it's missing the word "been" and "sprinted" should be "sprinting" if you're going to end it with the word "now".
reply
|
flag
Honestly, I just stopped at a random spot and grabbed an example. The whole book needs the kind of analysis you just did on those eleven words. I think it could be kind of awesome if someone took the time to remove the awkwardness.
