Sarah Braunstein

Alright if I'm going to be completely honest I read this book but I couldn't really tell you anything. It had a lot of different parts that didn't really feel connected. We have Maeve and Jack's relationship, Maeve's obsession with her job, Maeve's obsession with the author, her sense of betrayal for losing her job, her irritation that Katrina and Willie are getting to interact with the author, her upset over her daughter starting her own life, and her desire to prove she was let go for lies and should have her job back. All these pieces are woven throughout and sometimes bump up against each other.

The writing style was really strange for me and I honestly never could keep up with what was literal or figurative. I wish I had more I could say about this one but I honestly still have no idea what even the point of the novel was. It didn't really feel like Maeve faced in hard choices or decisions in her life. She just kind of went along with the flow and was angry about her job. I honestly spent the whole time confused. The allegation against Maeve didn't feel as important to the story as her obsession with getting her job back and blaming the girl was. Maeve was just paranoid someone would find out. I can for sure say this was not my kind of story.… (mehr)

BAD ANIMALS by Sarah Braunstein
I have given BAD ANIMALS a couple days to "sit with me" before writing this review. I'm still not sure how I feel about the book. It was well written, the story was mostly engaging; but I didn't like any of the main characters. I can't decide if Maeve was just a total innocent caught up in circumstances beyond her control or she was a jaded and cynical psychopath who attempted to destroy a child. Or maybe the child was the psychopath who attempted to destroy the adult Maeve. I am certain Harrison was a cynical "user" of people for his own enjoyment and financial gain. Poor Jack was caught in the middle of Harrison and Maeve's shenanigan's and the ultimate loser. The other librarians were simply there for the author's ability to tell the story.
So, would I recommend this book to another reader? Maybe? Maybe not? Would I have finished the book if I wasn't writing a review? NO, I would have given it maybe 100 pages instead of my usual 50 before dropping it, but I wouldn't have finished it. But maybe would I have, if only to find out what ultimately happened to Libby, the only character I cared about.
SO…. 4 stars for writing . 2 stars for story.
3 stars for the total book.… (mehr)

Won from Firstreads. Thank you Goodreads!

I felt a little bit disoriented after reading this book. The jumps through time and from character to character were sometimes hard to follow. By the end, I did see how they were all interconnected, but the trip was not easy to follow. It seemed like a lot of little stories crammed into one book...the childhoods of many different people. More specifically, one defining moment in the childhoods of multiple people. I have read and enjoyed other books that had multiple points of view and stories, but have never finished one with the disorientation I feel after this book. I probably would read more by this author.… (mehr)