Perrin Ireland

I received Chatter, by Perrin Ireland as an ARC and I really fought to get through it. It was an interesting story, just not my style. Sarah's life is turned upside-down when she finds that her husband has a grown daughter. Throughout the story, Sarah tries to find out about the other women in her husband's life. The style is very interesting - filled with news reports and partial conversations, much like our current society. We're bombarded with information and we have to decide what is true and what is false.… (mehr)

“Chatter: to talk rapidly, incessantly, and on a trivial subject” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd college edition). The title of this novel is most appropriate for the random, staccato form of writing. Conversations make abrupt changes from “We have eggplant parmesan.” in one sentence to “Did your ancestors own slaves?” two sentences later. The blurb on the back of the book tells us it is a book about a marriage, secrecy and the world around us. After 50 pages, I just didn’t care.… (mehr)

I got this via the Early Reviewers Program some time ago, and delayed writing a review because I can't actually force myself to read it. One of the very first sentences is so painfully awkward that it's still like nails on a chalkboard when I read it now: "She got dizzy when she thought about when you're looking at your right side in the mirror it's your left side." Alright, it's an advance reading copy -- maybe it was edited before the final release -- but I only have what's in front of me, and what's in front of me doesn't get much better from there. On the next page, the two main characters have an incredibly irritating and inane conversation, in which the wife seems not to be listening to the husband at all, completely ignoring everything he says, including direct questions, and instead just blurting out whatever random thoughts pop in to her head. I do assume this was an intentional choice by the author, intended to illustrate something about the character, but I just find it irritating to read. Add in the too-short sentences, and the overall effect is just so unpleasant to me that I just can't get past page 11 or so. There may be a good story in here, but I dislike the writing style too much to find out.… (mehr)