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See How Small
A riveting novel about the aftermath of a brutal murder of three teenage girls, written in incantatory prose "that's as fine as any being written by an American author today." (Ben Fountain)
One late autumn evening in a Texas town, two strangers walk into an ice cream shop shortly before closing time. They bind up the three teenage girls who are working the counter, set fire to the shop, and disappear. See How Small tells the stories of the survivors--family, witnesses, and suspects--who must endure in the wake of atrocity. Justice remains elusive in their world, human connection tenuous.
Hovering above the aftermath of their deaths are the three girls. They watch over the town and make occasional visitations, trying to connect with and prod to life those they left behind. "See how small a thing it is that keeps us apart," they say. A master of compression and lyrical precision, Scott Blackwood has surpassed himself with this haunting, beautiful, and enormously powerful new novel.
One late autumn evening in a Texas town, two strangers walk into an ice cream shop shortly before closing time. They bind up the three teenage girls who are working the counter, set fire to the shop, and disappear. See How Small tells the stories of the survivors--family, witnesses, and suspects--who must endure in the wake of atrocity. Justice remains elusive in their world, human connection tenuous.
Hovering above the aftermath of their deaths are the three girls. They watch over the town and make occasional visitations, trying to connect with and prod to life those they left behind. "See how small a thing it is that keeps us apart," they say. A master of compression and lyrical precision, Scott Blackwood has surpassed himself with this haunting, beautiful, and enormously powerful new novel.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2015
59 people are currently reading
3069 people want to read
About the author
Scott Blackwood
4 books38 followersScott Blackwood is the author of three books of fiction, including the forthcoming novel SEE HOW SMALL (Little Brown and Company and HarperCollins U.K. 2015). Blackwood was a 2011 Whiting Writers' Award recipient and his first novel, WE AGREED TO MEET JUST HERE, set in the Deep Eddy Neighborhood of Austin, Texas, won the AWP Prize for the Novel, Texas Institute of Letters Award for best work of fiction, and was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. His first book was the award-winning story collection, IN THE SHADOW OF OUR HOUSE, published in 2001.
His other two books of narrative nonfiction—produced by musician Jack White and featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, Sound Opinions, and Charlie Rose—tell the curious tale of the rise and fall of the first wildly successful "Race music" label, Paramount Records, whose early recordings of Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Alberta Hunter, Fletcher Henderson, Son House, Skip James, and Charley Patton accidentally changed the face of American music and culture.
Blackwood, a long time resident of Austin, Texas, currently lives in Chicago and teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. More information can be found about his books and background at www.Scottblackwood.com
His other two books of narrative nonfiction—produced by musician Jack White and featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, Sound Opinions, and Charlie Rose—tell the curious tale of the rise and fall of the first wildly successful "Race music" label, Paramount Records, whose early recordings of Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Alberta Hunter, Fletcher Henderson, Son House, Skip James, and Charley Patton accidentally changed the face of American music and culture.
Blackwood, a long time resident of Austin, Texas, currently lives in Chicago and teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. More information can be found about his books and background at www.Scottblackwood.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 330 reviews
November 30, 2022
Loosely based on the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, in Austin, Texas, this story looks at a community's reactions to the unimaginable murder of three girls. The girls ( two sisters, and a friend) were finishing their shift for the night in the local ice- cream parlour, when two men walked in, bound the girls, then set fire to the shop. We see through the eyes of family, witnesses, suspects, firefighters, and even the deceased girls themselves, just how these murders affected, and continued to affect the people of this community.
It's beautifully written, almost ethereal in its style. It gets deep inside the minds of its characters, really deep, catching fleeting thoughts , those that will remain left unsaid. How can something so tragic be so beautiful to read? It's all down to Scott Blackwood's ability to use language in such an entrancing manner. I had to read some sentences twice, just to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. His use of prose and poetry is stunning, and the story carries you along, as you feel you really get inside the minds of all those involved, get to know what makes each character tick. This is undoubtably one of the most beautifully written books ( given the theme ) that I have ever read.
It's beautifully written, almost ethereal in its style. It gets deep inside the minds of its characters, really deep, catching fleeting thoughts , those that will remain left unsaid. How can something so tragic be so beautiful to read? It's all down to Scott Blackwood's ability to use language in such an entrancing manner. I had to read some sentences twice, just to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. His use of prose and poetry is stunning, and the story carries you along, as you feel you really get inside the minds of all those involved, get to know what makes each character tick. This is undoubtably one of the most beautifully written books ( given the theme ) that I have ever read.
April 26, 2016
Hi there. Feeling good? The sun is shining? You can smell the spring? The world seems a fine and decent place, filled with hope and smiles, green grass, blue skies, and puffy clouds? That ends here, with this book review, of this book.
This is a rumination on tragedy.
On December 6, 1991, four young girls working at an Austin I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop were stripped, bound, gagged, sexually assaulted, executed, and burned in a notorious case that immediately went cold. There were no eyewitnesses. No surveillance footage. Much of the physical evidence was destroyed by the high-powered hoses of the firemen.
This real life event is known as the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders. (Because every ghastly crime deserves a reductive title). It went unsolved until 1999, when two suspects were arrested, confessed at gunpoint (literally, a detective held a gun to a suspect’s head), and convicted. Both were released in 2009 when DNA from semen found at the scene failed to match either of the men. The case remains unsolved. Likely, it will ever remain so, barring a deathbed confession.
Scott Blackwell reimagines and fictionalizes this event in his slim, inscrutable novel, See How Small.
There are books about grim subjects that nevertheless give you space to breathe by allowing the smallest glimmer of trust in better days. This is not one of those books.
This novel is a veritable cavalcade of despair. It starts with the murder, elliptically described with only a few, spare details to prime your imagination to do its worst. It then focuses on the aftermath: the grief, the loss, the traumatic echo of memory. The world that Blackwell creates is one in which you cannot escape loss, ever. It is a world in which everyone who is even remotely touched by this murder is irrevocably altered and ultimately consumed. I have a fairly high tolerance for depressing themes (I read a ton of history; therefore, my bookshelves are filled with tales of woe), but this was a bit much. There is not only death, loss, and lives cut short; but there are the omnipresent themes of failed parents and wayward children and people who can’t shake off past mistakes to break through to the other side.
Blackwell tells his story by utilizing two different viewpoints. He uses a traditional limited third person for most of the book, in order to follow a variety of characters connected to the murders, including Kate, the mother of two of the murdered girls; Jack, the fireman who first comes upon the bodies; Hollis, an Iraq War vet with PTSD who might have seen something but can’t make sense of it; and Michael, the getaway driver. Each of these individuals gets their own short chapters to ruminate on the dark spaces of life. Mileage varies drastically from person to person. Jack’s and Kate’s stories are interesting and pertinent. But some of the peripheral figures shoehorned into the narrative, such as a Chicago reporter, just feel like extraneous filler. (You know a book isn’t working for you when you find superfluous material in 207-page novel).
Blackwell also interjects his story with the collective first person narration of the three dead girls, who make up a kind of Greek chorus as they comment on the lives they watch but cannot quite touch. For an author who uses opacity as a way to stand out, it is odd that Blackwell chose such a derivative and tired trope as the ghost-kid narrator, which has already been beaten to death (pun intended) by Alice Sebold in The Lovely Bones and Stewart O’Nan in The Night Country.
I knew exactly what I was getting into when I read See How Small. I was under no illusion that this was a straightforward novel, or that it really had anything at all to do with the crime that sets everything in motion. I knew it was consciously (or self-consciously) literary. That it took ambiguity, elision, and temporal fluidity to an art form. Thus, as I read, I tried to judge this book on the terms it set for itself.
Then I gave up because I just did not like it.
(In the interest of full disclosure: I am a reader of true crime, and not so much a reader of highfalutin literary fiction. So I have my biases. I tried to set them aside. It’s possible I did not try hard enough).
Scott Blackwell is a beautiful writer. His prose, at times, can be absolutely gorgeous. There are other times, though, when it just reads as impossibly pretentious. There are incredibly lucid passages in which he cuts right to the heart of something and it gave me chills. There is, for instance, a small scene in which Fireman Jack remembers the time he lost his daughter at a county fair. It is heartbreaking in ways I cannot describe. But then there are other passages that blur space and time, that you have to read and reread to understand. The book is always jumping backward and forward, and Blackwell makes a virtue out of never allowing you to know where you are in the story’s chronology. See How Small, at its best, is evocative. Unfortunately, for me, it often evoked frustration. This was a mosaic made out of diamond and glass. One chapter might ring like a bell, reaching soaring emotional truths with gloriously wrought sentences. The next might land with the thud of an obnoxious MFA student handing in his homework.
Here is a representative excerpt:
You can read this passage in different ways. You can see it as a mesmerizing bit of writing that ends with an emotional kicker. Or you can see it as ostentatious and showy and emotionally hollow by dint of its obvious mechanics.
Eventually, the parts of See How Small that were unnecessarily allusive, that were confusing, that were overwritten, overwhelmed the parts that were gorgeously redolent of what it means to live and lose and suffer and still live.
This is a rumination on tragedy.
On December 6, 1991, four young girls working at an Austin I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop were stripped, bound, gagged, sexually assaulted, executed, and burned in a notorious case that immediately went cold. There were no eyewitnesses. No surveillance footage. Much of the physical evidence was destroyed by the high-powered hoses of the firemen.
This real life event is known as the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders. (Because every ghastly crime deserves a reductive title). It went unsolved until 1999, when two suspects were arrested, confessed at gunpoint (literally, a detective held a gun to a suspect’s head), and convicted. Both were released in 2009 when DNA from semen found at the scene failed to match either of the men. The case remains unsolved. Likely, it will ever remain so, barring a deathbed confession.
Scott Blackwell reimagines and fictionalizes this event in his slim, inscrutable novel, See How Small.
There are books about grim subjects that nevertheless give you space to breathe by allowing the smallest glimmer of trust in better days. This is not one of those books.
This novel is a veritable cavalcade of despair. It starts with the murder, elliptically described with only a few, spare details to prime your imagination to do its worst. It then focuses on the aftermath: the grief, the loss, the traumatic echo of memory. The world that Blackwell creates is one in which you cannot escape loss, ever. It is a world in which everyone who is even remotely touched by this murder is irrevocably altered and ultimately consumed. I have a fairly high tolerance for depressing themes (I read a ton of history; therefore, my bookshelves are filled with tales of woe), but this was a bit much. There is not only death, loss, and lives cut short; but there are the omnipresent themes of failed parents and wayward children and people who can’t shake off past mistakes to break through to the other side.
Blackwell tells his story by utilizing two different viewpoints. He uses a traditional limited third person for most of the book, in order to follow a variety of characters connected to the murders, including Kate, the mother of two of the murdered girls; Jack, the fireman who first comes upon the bodies; Hollis, an Iraq War vet with PTSD who might have seen something but can’t make sense of it; and Michael, the getaway driver. Each of these individuals gets their own short chapters to ruminate on the dark spaces of life. Mileage varies drastically from person to person. Jack’s and Kate’s stories are interesting and pertinent. But some of the peripheral figures shoehorned into the narrative, such as a Chicago reporter, just feel like extraneous filler. (You know a book isn’t working for you when you find superfluous material in 207-page novel).
Blackwell also interjects his story with the collective first person narration of the three dead girls, who make up a kind of Greek chorus as they comment on the lives they watch but cannot quite touch. For an author who uses opacity as a way to stand out, it is odd that Blackwell chose such a derivative and tired trope as the ghost-kid narrator, which has already been beaten to death (pun intended) by Alice Sebold in The Lovely Bones and Stewart O’Nan in The Night Country.
I knew exactly what I was getting into when I read See How Small. I was under no illusion that this was a straightforward novel, or that it really had anything at all to do with the crime that sets everything in motion. I knew it was consciously (or self-consciously) literary. That it took ambiguity, elision, and temporal fluidity to an art form. Thus, as I read, I tried to judge this book on the terms it set for itself.
Then I gave up because I just did not like it.
(In the interest of full disclosure: I am a reader of true crime, and not so much a reader of highfalutin literary fiction. So I have my biases. I tried to set them aside. It’s possible I did not try hard enough).
Scott Blackwell is a beautiful writer. His prose, at times, can be absolutely gorgeous. There are other times, though, when it just reads as impossibly pretentious. There are incredibly lucid passages in which he cuts right to the heart of something and it gave me chills. There is, for instance, a small scene in which Fireman Jack remembers the time he lost his daughter at a county fair. It is heartbreaking in ways I cannot describe. But then there are other passages that blur space and time, that you have to read and reread to understand. The book is always jumping backward and forward, and Blackwell makes a virtue out of never allowing you to know where you are in the story’s chronology. See How Small, at its best, is evocative. Unfortunately, for me, it often evoked frustration. This was a mosaic made out of diamond and glass. One chapter might ring like a bell, reaching soaring emotional truths with gloriously wrought sentences. The next might land with the thud of an obnoxious MFA student handing in his homework.
Here is a representative excerpt:
She watches the clothes tumble in the dryer window and thinks of tiny particles falling through an endless void and how by chance a few collide with others. How all the stars, planets, animals, and people came to exist by collisions like this and will one day fizzle out into nothing. But in the meantime the particles keep going. Maybe sadder and wiser, but they mosey on (okay, our words, not hers), colliding here and there, a part of us remaining a part of them. And though the physics of all this is over our heads, we’re suddenly there under the utility cabinets in the fluorescent light that’s always on the fritz. Our mother matches socks in her head on the floor and thinks for a moment she can smell our perfume but decides it’s just the fabric softener. She stares into the flickering light for a moment, narrows the gap. See? we say. See how small a thing it is that keeps us apart?
You can read this passage in different ways. You can see it as a mesmerizing bit of writing that ends with an emotional kicker. Or you can see it as ostentatious and showy and emotionally hollow by dint of its obvious mechanics.
Eventually, the parts of See How Small that were unnecessarily allusive, that were confusing, that were overwritten, overwhelmed the parts that were gorgeously redolent of what it means to live and lose and suffer and still live.
September 30, 2015
A hard book for me to write a review for as the concept and the structure is non linear. The beginning grabs you right away, three girls killed in an ice cream parlor, abused and than set on fire. No, this is not graphically nor emotionally displayed.
The book is about this only as it relates to those involved. What happens to the people effected after the event. The author does a great job of describing the grief of a lost child, or children as two of the three were sisters. The sisters sometimes make an appearance in spirit form, sort of like a Lovely Bones type of scenario, but not as often.
The book is very well written, but in the beginning is was hard to keep track of who was who and their relation to the story. Also it jumps around, memory flashbacks which one would expect in a book of this kind. The chapters are short and this was my biggest hurdle, the short chapters made it next to impossible for me to connect to the characters. Yes, I felt horrible for all those involved, except the killers of course, but this was only a surface emotion not a deep felt one that I should have had. So while the story was good, I just expected and needed more.
ARC from Publisher.
The book is about this only as it relates to those involved. What happens to the people effected after the event. The author does a great job of describing the grief of a lost child, or children as two of the three were sisters. The sisters sometimes make an appearance in spirit form, sort of like a Lovely Bones type of scenario, but not as often.
The book is very well written, but in the beginning is was hard to keep track of who was who and their relation to the story. Also it jumps around, memory flashbacks which one would expect in a book of this kind. The chapters are short and this was my biggest hurdle, the short chapters made it next to impossible for me to connect to the characters. Yes, I felt horrible for all those involved, except the killers of course, but this was only a surface emotion not a deep felt one that I should have had. So while the story was good, I just expected and needed more.
ARC from Publisher.
May 29, 2015
Whatever this writing style is, it is not to my taste. I feel nonplussed, completely out of sync with it. It may very well be that it is brilliant; if so, it is lost on this reader. It simply came across as random and disjointed. 'Some stories don't have an ending even if you want them to.' I wanted this story to end, yes indeedy, and was willing to do some skimming in order to accomplish it.
February 21, 2015
I'd give this book 0 stars if I could. It was the absolute WORST book I've read in ages. You definitely have to suspend reason and have a lot of patience to have any hope of understanding anything that is happening. The story made no sense, constantly moving through disjointed, irritating 2-3 page narratives of absurd characters devoid of any degree of emotional stability. I don't know where publishers dredge up reviewers to post such utterly inaccurate statements about novels. Comments that appeared on cover of this book painted a totally inaccurate description of the contents. The only positive is that this was very short book, but then again any amount of time spent reading this is a waste of a few hours of your life. Terrible beyond description.
November 27, 2014
Although this novel features, and revolves around the after effects, of a crime – it is much more literary fiction than a crime novel as such. Three young girls, Zadie, Elizabeth and Meredith, are murdered in the ice cream shop in which they work. These murders unfold within the first few pages of the book and, what follows, is an almost dreamscape view of the impact of these murders on the inhabitants of the small town where the girls lived.
Two of the girls, Zadie and Elizabeth, were sisters and part of the story is told from the point of view of their mother, Kate Ulrich. Other viewpoints are that of Jack Dewey, the fireman who first discovered the bodies, a reporter called Rosa Heller and Michael Greer, the seventeen year old lookout, who thought the shop was going to be torched for insurance purposes and had no idea that anyone was going to be hurt. One of the most interesting things in this novel is the way that, being such a small town, people know each other – or, at least, know of each other. So, we learn that Michael is the stepson of one of Kate’s closest friends and the ties that bind them, even unknown, help the reader to sympathise with the characters, as time goes on and circumstances change, but the shadow of those events still lie over them. This is also a reminder that crimes resonate within communities and that their impact is felt years later. I found this a moving, almost haunting read and beautifully written. It would make a good choice for book clubs, with much to discuss. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Two of the girls, Zadie and Elizabeth, were sisters and part of the story is told from the point of view of their mother, Kate Ulrich. Other viewpoints are that of Jack Dewey, the fireman who first discovered the bodies, a reporter called Rosa Heller and Michael Greer, the seventeen year old lookout, who thought the shop was going to be torched for insurance purposes and had no idea that anyone was going to be hurt. One of the most interesting things in this novel is the way that, being such a small town, people know each other – or, at least, know of each other. So, we learn that Michael is the stepson of one of Kate’s closest friends and the ties that bind them, even unknown, help the reader to sympathise with the characters, as time goes on and circumstances change, but the shadow of those events still lie over them. This is also a reminder that crimes resonate within communities and that their impact is felt years later. I found this a moving, almost haunting read and beautifully written. It would make a good choice for book clubs, with much to discuss. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
August 10, 2014
I rarely re-read books anymore because, well, you understand...so many books, so little time. However, I could easily imagine reading this again somewhere in the future. And I think I would take something different away from a future reading.
I loved the construction of this book. The "event" takes place in the first few paragraphs, but the magic and intrigue that follows is wonderful. I particularly appreciated the fact that so little is spelled out, and that the reader is encouraged to make connections and assumptions. Does it make sense if I tell you that the characters physicalities are somewhat one-dimensional, but their emotions are not? Things are resolved. Other things are not. And somehow, that's okay.
I read an Advance Reader Copy of this book, and several of my co-workers are clamoring to be the next to read it. I suggest that when it becomes available (January 20, 2015), you find a copy, too. Tie a string around your finger, set an alarm on your phone, whatever it takes - read this book.
I loved the construction of this book. The "event" takes place in the first few paragraphs, but the magic and intrigue that follows is wonderful. I particularly appreciated the fact that so little is spelled out, and that the reader is encouraged to make connections and assumptions. Does it make sense if I tell you that the characters physicalities are somewhat one-dimensional, but their emotions are not? Things are resolved. Other things are not. And somehow, that's okay.
I read an Advance Reader Copy of this book, and several of my co-workers are clamoring to be the next to read it. I suggest that when it becomes available (January 20, 2015), you find a copy, too. Tie a string around your finger, set an alarm on your phone, whatever it takes - read this book.
December 19, 2014
A special thank you to Little, Brown and Company and First Reads for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Scott Blackwood delivers spellbinding, SEE HOW SMALL, a short novel of the aftermath of a brutal murder of three teenage girls with magical lyrical and creative prose – intrigue, incarnation, human dynamics, and supernatural elements.
They were daughters.
They were loved.
They were innocent.
They were cursed.
They were unlucky.
They were careless.
They asked for it.
They had no choice.
They were afraid.
They were brave.
They trusted.
They were betrayed.
They suffered.
They heard a voice
They saw the light.
A small Texas town, three teenage girls, two strangers, an ice cream shop; a robbery, an innocent one, a fire. A crime, brutal murders, an act of violence. What comes next is grief, suspects, guilt, a plan of revenge, mother (Kate), firefighter and finder (Jack), bad guys-arsonists, Rosa (reporter), Iraq vet (Hollis), getaway teen driver (Michael); the human mind, and spirits from beyond. They are being observed.
Five years after the still unsolved crime, the three girls continue to visit and observe the town and the people left behind. The characters are flawed and troubled. “See how small a thing it is that keeps us apart,” they say.
A haunting and powerful novel from past to present of three teenage girls: Elizabeth, Zadie, and Meredith. Readers learn about each character, as we move from one anniversary to another of the grief, and aftermath of this brutal crime. The community, the close connections, the dead and the living.
There have been many mixed reviews of SEE HOW SMALL. Possibly for some readers, adding titles of each section by character name would have been easier to follow. However, the novel works and may not appeal to everyone, so keep an open mind.
If you enjoy imagery, creativity, some ghostly resurrections, dreams, symbolism, human dynamics, an eccentric and creepy factor, the human mind, and unsolved cases – written skillfully, with cleverness and compassion; you will enjoy this short thought-provoking and unique book.
For me, it was more about the writing style, as a work of literary fiction, versus the actual story as not a big fan of the supernatural; however, find it intriguing to explore the human mind.
SEE HOW SMALL would make an excellent choice for book clubs or discussions, diving into each character’s personality. This was my first book by Blackwood, and look forward to reading more!
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books
Scott Blackwood delivers spellbinding, SEE HOW SMALL, a short novel of the aftermath of a brutal murder of three teenage girls with magical lyrical and creative prose – intrigue, incarnation, human dynamics, and supernatural elements.
They were daughters.
They were loved.
They were innocent.
They were cursed.
They were unlucky.
They were careless.
They asked for it.
They had no choice.
They were afraid.
They were brave.
They trusted.
They were betrayed.
They suffered.
They heard a voice
They saw the light.
A small Texas town, three teenage girls, two strangers, an ice cream shop; a robbery, an innocent one, a fire. A crime, brutal murders, an act of violence. What comes next is grief, suspects, guilt, a plan of revenge, mother (Kate), firefighter and finder (Jack), bad guys-arsonists, Rosa (reporter), Iraq vet (Hollis), getaway teen driver (Michael); the human mind, and spirits from beyond. They are being observed.
Five years after the still unsolved crime, the three girls continue to visit and observe the town and the people left behind. The characters are flawed and troubled. “See how small a thing it is that keeps us apart,” they say.
A haunting and powerful novel from past to present of three teenage girls: Elizabeth, Zadie, and Meredith. Readers learn about each character, as we move from one anniversary to another of the grief, and aftermath of this brutal crime. The community, the close connections, the dead and the living.
There have been many mixed reviews of SEE HOW SMALL. Possibly for some readers, adding titles of each section by character name would have been easier to follow. However, the novel works and may not appeal to everyone, so keep an open mind.
If you enjoy imagery, creativity, some ghostly resurrections, dreams, symbolism, human dynamics, an eccentric and creepy factor, the human mind, and unsolved cases – written skillfully, with cleverness and compassion; you will enjoy this short thought-provoking and unique book.
For me, it was more about the writing style, as a work of literary fiction, versus the actual story as not a big fan of the supernatural; however, find it intriguing to explore the human mind.
SEE HOW SMALL would make an excellent choice for book clubs or discussions, diving into each character’s personality. This was my first book by Blackwood, and look forward to reading more!
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books
November 1, 2024
See How Small was one of my top anticipated releases for this year, and oh how disappointed I was.
Whilst Scott Blackwood surely has a talent for beautiful prose, and there were some sentences that were just absolutely gorgeous, the story felt so disjointed. It seemed to skip around from character to character and event to event, with no real link to what happened next. Because of the constant flitting between characters, I never got a chance to get to know any of them, and as a result felt very removed from the story. What did it matter to me if X was having an affair with Y? As well as this, I often completely lost track of who I was following because one minute it was one character, the next a totally different one.
Ultimately, whilst the story started off well, it just did not work for me. The book felt so uneventful and I was actually bored in parts – I’m just glad it was a quick read, because I was very much tempted to give up on it. I was also disappointed at how little the girls were involved considering the blurb – they may have been the ones narrating, but you wouldn’t have known if not for a short section at the beginning.
However, whilst this book did not work for me, it appears to have been a hit with many other people, with many four and five star ratings on Goodreads. I just wish I could agree with them!
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
Whilst Scott Blackwood surely has a talent for beautiful prose, and there were some sentences that were just absolutely gorgeous, the story felt so disjointed. It seemed to skip around from character to character and event to event, with no real link to what happened next. Because of the constant flitting between characters, I never got a chance to get to know any of them, and as a result felt very removed from the story. What did it matter to me if X was having an affair with Y? As well as this, I often completely lost track of who I was following because one minute it was one character, the next a totally different one.
Ultimately, whilst the story started off well, it just did not work for me. The book felt so uneventful and I was actually bored in parts – I’m just glad it was a quick read, because I was very much tempted to give up on it. I was also disappointed at how little the girls were involved considering the blurb – they may have been the ones narrating, but you wouldn’t have known if not for a short section at the beginning.
However, whilst this book did not work for me, it appears to have been a hit with many other people, with many four and five star ratings on Goodreads. I just wish I could agree with them!
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
February 9, 2015
See How Small was inspired by the real life yogurt shop murders in Austin TX in which four young girls were killed. In See How Small three girls - two sisters and a friend are assaulted and killed and then burned in the ice cream shop in which they work. The book does not follow the traditional format in which a story is told sequentially but rather we are privy to thoughts and actions of those individuals affected by the girl's death, one of their mothers; a first responder; a homeless man, etc. as well as occasional visitation of the girls themselves. Each of the characters are treated compassionately and through these brief glimpses of others pain, while I felt at times like a voyeur, I also began to invest heavily in the emotional lives of the characters. I so desperately wished to have different outcomes for some of the characters (especially Michael, I so wanted redemption for him) but this is no easy novel where redemption or closure is granted. My guess is that many folks will not like the end of the novel but "Some stories don't have an ending even if you want them to." A beautiful, eerie, and at times dreamlike book. The subject isn't pretty so it's not for everyone but for others it is well worth your time to seek it out.
November 3, 2014
So I broke my rule while reading this book. I looked at other reviews. Here is the thing; the book grabs you in the first chapter with the murder of 3 girls. After reading the reviews, I realized I was not the only one that felt a little lost in my reading. After each chapter, you are introduced to a character that was affected by the murder of 3 girls. These chapters are short and each person affected by the murder is mixed with confusion and hopelessness.
The individual that I was most intrigued about was Michael. He was from what I can gather, was used by the murders to “keep watch”. He had no idea that these murders were going to take place and at the time did not know of the murders until after the fact. In dealing with these murders, he is suffering from guilt, shame and his life is messed up.
The prose is well written and I would like to read more from this author. There is nothing to understand when a heinous crime is committed and this prose reflects that.
Thank you goodreads give away and Little, Brown & Company for the book and the opportunity to review.
The individual that I was most intrigued about was Michael. He was from what I can gather, was used by the murders to “keep watch”. He had no idea that these murders were going to take place and at the time did not know of the murders until after the fact. In dealing with these murders, he is suffering from guilt, shame and his life is messed up.
The prose is well written and I would like to read more from this author. There is nothing to understand when a heinous crime is committed and this prose reflects that.
Thank you goodreads give away and Little, Brown & Company for the book and the opportunity to review.
May 30, 2015
The bodies of three murdered teenage girls are discovered in the burnt remains of an ice cream shop. That much I know for sure about this novel.
And then some other stuff happens. Or doesn't. I'm not really sure.
Blackwood shifts point of view from chapter to chapter between the fireman who discovered the bodies, the mother of the girls, the reporter covering the story of the murders, and several other characters including the dead girls themselves. Many of the chapters are very short, lyrical and impressionistic. Unfortunately, the number of pov characters combined with the array of short chapters prevented me from getting inside any of the characters long enough to see a fully developed side of the story from any of their perspectives.
And then some other stuff happens. Or doesn't. I'm not really sure.
Blackwood shifts point of view from chapter to chapter between the fireman who discovered the bodies, the mother of the girls, the reporter covering the story of the murders, and several other characters including the dead girls themselves. Many of the chapters are very short, lyrical and impressionistic. Unfortunately, the number of pov characters combined with the array of short chapters prevented me from getting inside any of the characters long enough to see a fully developed side of the story from any of their perspectives.
February 23, 2015
Interesting premise but difficult for a reader to follow the story.
April 26, 2015
Hated it. Confusing and unrealistic, full of undeveloped, superficial characters.
September 19, 2015
According to Kindle I made it through 36% before finally throwing in the towel. And this book is tiny - but jeepers, not tiny enough. Pretentious dreck.
November 14, 2024
For a book about murdered girls, there's a disturbing amount of sexism in here... Just confirms why I tend to stay away from books written by straight white men. Seriously - every single woman had her breasts described or mentioned. The only character who wasn't sexually assaulted or described through her boobs is one character's young daughter. Even the murdered girls are marked by their brutal assault. Sure this book's prose is "intriguing" but this is genuinely vile & is a high contender for the worst thing I've ever read. I write this review as a writer, reading this book for a class on craft. As someone who reads dark and sad content, and as someone who is trying to write dark and sad content, I can respect the technique he uses to craft mystery, but this book just feels cruel with its treatment of women. It doesn't paint any characters in a favorable light, but at least the men feel more complex, and are not objectified in the way the women are. The men are the ones who are looking, who are acting, and the women are always on the receiving end of these looks and actions. You might call it social commentary, but I say that this is a great example of the male gaze. It isn't commentary when women are constantly experiencing these violences – especially in today's landscape, where womens' rights are being called into question around the globe.
March 16, 2018
I loved the structure of this book; the short, driven chapters that moved the story, the brief inside glimpses that presented the characters without anything superfluous; the changes in perspective, and the presence of a trio of ghosts, told as ethereally as they find themselves. Creative, powerful, beautifully written.
March 6, 2015
Five things to consider before curling up and listen to See How Small
Broken into small chapters, the author captures the grief of losing a child, the guilt, and the endless questions of what if. The time line is erratic sharing with the reader the actual event, then giving us flashbacks as it shares the aftermath. It does not follow a specific timeline, and this may be off putting for some readers. I felt it more closely resembled an investigation where suspects, victims’ families and such are interviewed. It takes place in a small-town with strong community’s ties. The way in which each perspective knows the other is interesting and resonates with small-town communities.
Delivered in various point of view the tale shared the perspectives of Kate Ulrich, mother of two of the murdered children, Elizabeth and Zadie. We also get those of reporter, Rose Heller and Jack Dewey, the firefighter who discovered the bodies. Blackwood also provides the voice of seventeen-year-old Michael Greer, who stood lookout the night of the fire. He beautiful fleshes them out sharing their actions and emotions.
A subtle paranormal element featuring the girls, who make appearance was intriguing but did not overpower the novel. I would not classify this in the paranormal genre. Those who have read My Lovely Bones will draw comparison to this element.
The journey for the reader is not fully fleshed out, leaving us to make assumptions, come to conclusions and question the characters. It is almost as if we are the detectives of the case and listening to pre-recorded interviews. At least this was the feeling I reached while listening to the audio. The audio is not quite five hours in length. However, it is not one you will listen to in a single sitting. In fact, it took me almost a week to listen.
See How Small is beautifully written, raises questions and perfect for a reading club. For me the strongest aspect was the beginning and I was completely captivated. As I continued listening, the multiple perspectives and jumping time-line with these short chapters left me slightly detached even as I was in awe of Blackwood’s writing. Quotes abound within See How Small. Having said that, it was after I unplugged and reflected that I felt more enjoyment and appreciated what Blackwood was trying to accomplish here. It actual made me go back and change this from three cups of coffee to three and half.
The narrator, Rengin Altay did a wonderful job reading See How Small, and her subtle tones only enhanced Blackwood’s prose.
Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Broken into small chapters, the author captures the grief of losing a child, the guilt, and the endless questions of what if. The time line is erratic sharing with the reader the actual event, then giving us flashbacks as it shares the aftermath. It does not follow a specific timeline, and this may be off putting for some readers. I felt it more closely resembled an investigation where suspects, victims’ families and such are interviewed. It takes place in a small-town with strong community’s ties. The way in which each perspective knows the other is interesting and resonates with small-town communities.
Delivered in various point of view the tale shared the perspectives of Kate Ulrich, mother of two of the murdered children, Elizabeth and Zadie. We also get those of reporter, Rose Heller and Jack Dewey, the firefighter who discovered the bodies. Blackwood also provides the voice of seventeen-year-old Michael Greer, who stood lookout the night of the fire. He beautiful fleshes them out sharing their actions and emotions.
A subtle paranormal element featuring the girls, who make appearance was intriguing but did not overpower the novel. I would not classify this in the paranormal genre. Those who have read My Lovely Bones will draw comparison to this element.
The journey for the reader is not fully fleshed out, leaving us to make assumptions, come to conclusions and question the characters. It is almost as if we are the detectives of the case and listening to pre-recorded interviews. At least this was the feeling I reached while listening to the audio. The audio is not quite five hours in length. However, it is not one you will listen to in a single sitting. In fact, it took me almost a week to listen.
See How Small is beautifully written, raises questions and perfect for a reading club. For me the strongest aspect was the beginning and I was completely captivated. As I continued listening, the multiple perspectives and jumping time-line with these short chapters left me slightly detached even as I was in awe of Blackwood’s writing. Quotes abound within See How Small. Having said that, it was after I unplugged and reflected that I felt more enjoyment and appreciated what Blackwood was trying to accomplish here. It actual made me go back and change this from three cups of coffee to three and half.
The narrator, Rengin Altay did a wonderful job reading See How Small, and her subtle tones only enhanced Blackwood’s prose.
Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
February 5, 2015
The title comes from the voices of the dead who still haunt the living "see how small" is a thing that separates us? Cool concept but are they still part of the living world because of the way they died? I wish we could have heard more from those voices.
At first the writing style really pulled me in. Telling the story of three murders through the eyes of those closely affected, those a bit removed and even the three dead girls was haunting. As the book progressed though, I had a very hard time keeping track of time and voice. By the end I was hoping for something bigger to happen that would tie things together... it doesn't.
At first the writing style really pulled me in. Telling the story of three murders through the eyes of those closely affected, those a bit removed and even the three dead girls was haunting. As the book progressed though, I had a very hard time keeping track of time and voice. By the end I was hoping for something bigger to happen that would tie things together... it doesn't.
February 9, 2017
This is an delightfully unusual little novel that begins with a dramatic triple murder that sends shockwaves through the victims families and the small community where they live. This part of the book is based on a real even which makes it and the rest of the book all the more poignant as we follow the girls families, friends and neighbours as they come to terms with what happened. We also follow the girls' souls/spirits/whatevers as they move from person to person, reliving the moments they remember and finding peace in their recollections. This doesn't move along a linear timeframe and jumps back and fore as people remember various points in their own and the girls lives but this doesn't seem to affect the flow of the story (once you get used to it anyway) and actually adds to it as it heightens the feel of something else going on, something you can't quite put your finger on, something other worldly.
August 21, 2023
Beautifully written, absolutely devastating. Very difficult to read.
February 24, 2015
Last night I watched Rosie Batty on television. She was on a panel that was responding to questions about domestic violence. Towards the end of the program, she was asked by a young woman about the advice she would give to someone who was living in a violent relationship. Batty hesitated and tightened her lips. There was a silence. I thought she might push back. Maybe on the grounds that she was not THE expert. Maybe because the whole show had been about that topic anyway. Maybe on the grounds of being sick and tired of talking about it. Or on the basis of the devastation that domestic violence caused in her life.
Instead, she said slowly “You know - advice… Is it a good thing?... I would say…” and she proceeded to talk sensibly and resolutely about the ways in which women might try to keep themselves and their kids safe. Of course she did. It’s what she’s been doing since her son was battered to death by his father just over a year ago. There is something in her quiet, calm resoluteness and generosity that resonates deeply with everyone I know. She is dignified and determined. And remarkably patient; I thought that if I had been in her shoes last night I would have told Tony Jones that I no longer wanted to recount the details of my son’s death; that enough was enough.
After I watched the program, I thought about this novel which is inspired by a crime in Austin Texas in 1991. A yoghurt shop in a small suburban clump of shops was set ablaze after four teenagers were raped and shot there. The fire, and the high-pressure water used by firefighters, destroyed much of the evidence. To this day, after a string of arrests, dismissed charges and more than 50 confessions, the case remains unsolved. This novel is not about domestic violence but it is about living with the aftermath of violence, as Batty does, and with loss and grief.
The novel opens with a similar scenario. The murdered girls’ voices are joined in a ghostly kind of Greek chorus that comes and goes in the novel, creating a kind of liminal space between the dead and the living. (This makes it sound like a zombie film but it’s not. Think more ‘The Lovely Bones’ than zombie.) Most of the 60 short chapters in the book are from the perspective of one of five people affected by the crime. They are Kate Ulrich, whose daughters, Elizabeth and Zadie, were murdered; Jack Dewey, a firefighter who is the first to discover the dead girls; Michael Greer, the teenager who drives the getaway car; Rosa Heller, a journalist; and Hollis Finger, a brain-injured veteran who lives in his dilapidated “art car” and hovers on the periphery of the story.
The novel circles around that opening scene for the life of the book. It reminded me of the ways in which film-makers often tell stories- in short elliptical fragments. Characters sometimes appear unexpectedly on the periphery of another character’s narrative. That central violent episode has the pull of a vortex but nothing is easily resolved as time moves on. This is a great meta-metaphor for what is happening to the main characters. The writer, Blackwood says of the book: “There was a time when most stories ended in a marriage or birth or some kind of coming together, a righting of what had been out of balance. That’s why so many people love a straight mystery because it takes something that’s at first disjointed—our “not knowing,” the world’s causes and effects hidden from us—and shows that it’s an illusion, that we can know the world, can piece it together and find the truth. It’s a good feeling to find the world back in its recognizable shape. But I wanted to push this some. What if that world doesn’t go back together so easily? What if all the usual ways of making sense of it fail us?”
It’s no surprise that his favourite author is Denis Johnson – they share a way of circling the plotline, creating ambiguity, making the reader work quite hard. The fragments work really well in one way; creating fragile characters adrift in the aftermath, but the structure also means that there is an emotional distance; it’s hard to feel what the characters are feeling. One reviewer describes it this way: “the novel is strikingly creepy, if a bit affected – the brevity of the chapters and gauzy prose have a lyrical effect but also make the story feel diffuse, with no one peculiar, uncanny moment given the chance to build up a head of steam. Blackwood is an excellent stylist, though in the name of unconventionality, the reader lacks a few narrative toeholds.” (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re... me it was a lot like watching a film like Babel where the story swirls around and the viewer is kept at an emotional distance.
This guy really can write; the prose is assured and evocative. But I felt that I should have felt more for Kate, for the firefighter, for the others damaged and bewildered forever by a random act of violence.
Instead, she said slowly “You know - advice… Is it a good thing?... I would say…” and she proceeded to talk sensibly and resolutely about the ways in which women might try to keep themselves and their kids safe. Of course she did. It’s what she’s been doing since her son was battered to death by his father just over a year ago. There is something in her quiet, calm resoluteness and generosity that resonates deeply with everyone I know. She is dignified and determined. And remarkably patient; I thought that if I had been in her shoes last night I would have told Tony Jones that I no longer wanted to recount the details of my son’s death; that enough was enough.
After I watched the program, I thought about this novel which is inspired by a crime in Austin Texas in 1991. A yoghurt shop in a small suburban clump of shops was set ablaze after four teenagers were raped and shot there. The fire, and the high-pressure water used by firefighters, destroyed much of the evidence. To this day, after a string of arrests, dismissed charges and more than 50 confessions, the case remains unsolved. This novel is not about domestic violence but it is about living with the aftermath of violence, as Batty does, and with loss and grief.
The novel opens with a similar scenario. The murdered girls’ voices are joined in a ghostly kind of Greek chorus that comes and goes in the novel, creating a kind of liminal space between the dead and the living. (This makes it sound like a zombie film but it’s not. Think more ‘The Lovely Bones’ than zombie.) Most of the 60 short chapters in the book are from the perspective of one of five people affected by the crime. They are Kate Ulrich, whose daughters, Elizabeth and Zadie, were murdered; Jack Dewey, a firefighter who is the first to discover the dead girls; Michael Greer, the teenager who drives the getaway car; Rosa Heller, a journalist; and Hollis Finger, a brain-injured veteran who lives in his dilapidated “art car” and hovers on the periphery of the story.
The novel circles around that opening scene for the life of the book. It reminded me of the ways in which film-makers often tell stories- in short elliptical fragments. Characters sometimes appear unexpectedly on the periphery of another character’s narrative. That central violent episode has the pull of a vortex but nothing is easily resolved as time moves on. This is a great meta-metaphor for what is happening to the main characters. The writer, Blackwood says of the book: “There was a time when most stories ended in a marriage or birth or some kind of coming together, a righting of what had been out of balance. That’s why so many people love a straight mystery because it takes something that’s at first disjointed—our “not knowing,” the world’s causes and effects hidden from us—and shows that it’s an illusion, that we can know the world, can piece it together and find the truth. It’s a good feeling to find the world back in its recognizable shape. But I wanted to push this some. What if that world doesn’t go back together so easily? What if all the usual ways of making sense of it fail us?”
It’s no surprise that his favourite author is Denis Johnson – they share a way of circling the plotline, creating ambiguity, making the reader work quite hard. The fragments work really well in one way; creating fragile characters adrift in the aftermath, but the structure also means that there is an emotional distance; it’s hard to feel what the characters are feeling. One reviewer describes it this way: “the novel is strikingly creepy, if a bit affected – the brevity of the chapters and gauzy prose have a lyrical effect but also make the story feel diffuse, with no one peculiar, uncanny moment given the chance to build up a head of steam. Blackwood is an excellent stylist, though in the name of unconventionality, the reader lacks a few narrative toeholds.” (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re... me it was a lot like watching a film like Babel where the story swirls around and the viewer is kept at an emotional distance.
This guy really can write; the prose is assured and evocative. But I felt that I should have felt more for Kate, for the firefighter, for the others damaged and bewildered forever by a random act of violence.
December 30, 2015
2.5 stars would be more appropriate, but I guess I am willing to round up to 3 stars since I was able to quickly finish it and thus must not have found it as absolutely disjointed and indecipherable as many of the 2 star reviewers appear to have.
Briefly, as most people picking it up will already know, this novel is very, very loosely based on an actual crime that occurred in 1991 in Austin where 4 teenage girls were murdered during closing time at a frozen yogurt shop. If you want more details on the actual crime, I suggest Googling "Austin Yogurt Shop Murders"- you'll find many write-ups of the crime scene and discussions of events surrounding the crime. Although convictions were made, they were overturned after it was revealed that confessions were coerced at gunpoint, and that DNA from one of the victims didn't match any of the accused. So, the crime remains unsolved.
This crime, in a slightly altered form (3 victims instead of 4, some other small details changed), was the jumping off point for the author's imagining of how multiple characters' lives would unfold in the years after the murders.
The good points about the book are 1) short chapters, so only brief attention span required; 2) no graphic descriptions of violence against the girls or anyone else, so no need to brace yourself for that; 3) stilted, intellectually preoccupied prose that makes it possible to remain entirely emotionally removed from the characters, such that I never had to genuinely feel anything about any of them. Easily digestible! And, in the most concise and accurate review I have seen on its book jacket, the brief comment from Margaret Quamme of the Columbus Dispatch: "Thought provoking."
Which is a decent lead in to what I found unappealing about the book....it may have, at times, provoked thoughts, but never feelings for me. I know, I know, I listed that as a positive above, but when we're talking about the cold-blooded murder of innocent teenage girls and the heart-rending loss associated with that, well, shouldn't I feel *something*? The only point in the novel where I felt any tension was
And, really, there were so many characters who didn't need to be there. I think we could have followed Michael and Kate in detail and there should have been more than enough material with which to work. If you read that "spoiler" and you're saying to yourself, "What? What does any of that have to do with these girls' deaths?"- trust me, you are not alone.
If this guy wanted to attempt a lyrical exploration of the ways in which grief and uncertainty touch the lives of all of us and most evil and unfortunate deeds have no ultimate explanation, he didn't need the vague connection to the Yogurt Shop Murders to do that. This book could have stood alone just as (questionably) effectively without using that well-known crime as a tie-in, and sprinkling the prose with conversations between the dead girls, who are now ghosts, but are OK, because someone saved them, meaning either Jack when he showed up with his firehose, or the 9 year old boy they all babysat who peed on himself and appears to them in a vision as they're dying. Except they're not saved. They're dead. And their banter in italics throughout the book is pretty much irrelevant to anything else that goes on. It serves only to remind us that THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE YOGURT SHOP MURDERS and it is thus VERY DEEP AND IMPORTANT.
The actual murders were terrible and this book could have been distressing, moving, and intense, but instead was a confusing mess that ineffectively used the murders as a plot device to pull me into its mediocrity. But, it was, mercifully, short. (Deliberate choice, or did even the author get bored writing about all of those loosely connected, underdeveloped ancillary characters? Another mystery unsolved.) That all now having been said, I think I have talked myself into downgrading it to 2 stars.
Briefly, as most people picking it up will already know, this novel is very, very loosely based on an actual crime that occurred in 1991 in Austin where 4 teenage girls were murdered during closing time at a frozen yogurt shop. If you want more details on the actual crime, I suggest Googling "Austin Yogurt Shop Murders"- you'll find many write-ups of the crime scene and discussions of events surrounding the crime. Although convictions were made, they were overturned after it was revealed that confessions were coerced at gunpoint, and that DNA from one of the victims didn't match any of the accused. So, the crime remains unsolved.
This crime, in a slightly altered form (3 victims instead of 4, some other small details changed), was the jumping off point for the author's imagining of how multiple characters' lives would unfold in the years after the murders.
The good points about the book are 1) short chapters, so only brief attention span required; 2) no graphic descriptions of violence against the girls or anyone else, so no need to brace yourself for that; 3) stilted, intellectually preoccupied prose that makes it possible to remain entirely emotionally removed from the characters, such that I never had to genuinely feel anything about any of them. Easily digestible! And, in the most concise and accurate review I have seen on its book jacket, the brief comment from Margaret Quamme of the Columbus Dispatch: "Thought provoking."
Which is a decent lead in to what I found unappealing about the book....it may have, at times, provoked thoughts, but never feelings for me. I know, I know, I listed that as a positive above, but when we're talking about the cold-blooded murder of innocent teenage girls and the heart-rending loss associated with that, well, shouldn't I feel *something*? The only point in the novel where I felt any tension was
And, really, there were so many characters who didn't need to be there. I think we could have followed Michael and Kate in detail and there should have been more than enough material with which to work. If you read that "spoiler" and you're saying to yourself, "What? What does any of that have to do with these girls' deaths?"- trust me, you are not alone.
If this guy wanted to attempt a lyrical exploration of the ways in which grief and uncertainty touch the lives of all of us and most evil and unfortunate deeds have no ultimate explanation, he didn't need the vague connection to the Yogurt Shop Murders to do that. This book could have stood alone just as (questionably) effectively without using that well-known crime as a tie-in, and sprinkling the prose with conversations between the dead girls, who are now ghosts, but are OK, because someone saved them, meaning either Jack when he showed up with his firehose, or the 9 year old boy they all babysat who peed on himself and appears to them in a vision as they're dying. Except they're not saved. They're dead. And their banter in italics throughout the book is pretty much irrelevant to anything else that goes on. It serves only to remind us that THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE YOGURT SHOP MURDERS and it is thus VERY DEEP AND IMPORTANT.
The actual murders were terrible and this book could have been distressing, moving, and intense, but instead was a confusing mess that ineffectively used the murders as a plot device to pull me into its mediocrity. But, it was, mercifully, short. (Deliberate choice, or did even the author get bored writing about all of those loosely connected, underdeveloped ancillary characters? Another mystery unsolved.) That all now having been said, I think I have talked myself into downgrading it to 2 stars.
September 14, 2017
I remember listening to a podcast about the girls being killed in the ice cream shop in Texas. this adds to it, done well but was at times a lil bit confusing
July 4, 2020
Didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but I kinda liked it. It was different, but in a good way.
January 3, 2016
I received this free from the publisher via netgalley
In a Texas town, three girls are bound and murdered in an ice-cream shop. See How Small follows the lives of those affected by the murder, such as the family, witnesses and suspects.
This is a really hard book for me to review. The beginning seemed promising, but due to the nonlinear narrative, I found it really hard to get my head around and to actually enjoy it. While I was very intrigued by the beginning with the strong opening, I just couldn't get into it at all. Like I said, my main problem with See How Small was the narrative - it just made it very hard to read. So, no, it was not necessarily a bad book, it just was not for me.
There was a lot of jumping around due to the narrative. There were memory flashbacks which were back and forth, back and forth. There were jumps from one character to another so fast that it was hard to keep track of the story or the characters. There were so many characters and they were introduced so fast in the beginning that it made me a little lost as I was not sure how they were connected to the event or what their role played. It would go from one character to another, which left me no time to connect with any of them, so I was not at all emotionally invested in the story because I had no emotional connection to the characters.
Of course, it is easy to admit that Scott Blackwood is a gifted writer and See How Small definitely has a haunting prose, but unfortunately the way the story was told was not for me. I feel like I need to stress that this is not necessarily a bad book, it is a 'it's not you it's me' type of read.
In a Texas town, three girls are bound and murdered in an ice-cream shop. See How Small follows the lives of those affected by the murder, such as the family, witnesses and suspects.
This is a really hard book for me to review. The beginning seemed promising, but due to the nonlinear narrative, I found it really hard to get my head around and to actually enjoy it. While I was very intrigued by the beginning with the strong opening, I just couldn't get into it at all. Like I said, my main problem with See How Small was the narrative - it just made it very hard to read. So, no, it was not necessarily a bad book, it just was not for me.
There was a lot of jumping around due to the narrative. There were memory flashbacks which were back and forth, back and forth. There were jumps from one character to another so fast that it was hard to keep track of the story or the characters. There were so many characters and they were introduced so fast in the beginning that it made me a little lost as I was not sure how they were connected to the event or what their role played. It would go from one character to another, which left me no time to connect with any of them, so I was not at all emotionally invested in the story because I had no emotional connection to the characters.
Of course, it is easy to admit that Scott Blackwood is a gifted writer and See How Small definitely has a haunting prose, but unfortunately the way the story was told was not for me. I feel like I need to stress that this is not necessarily a bad book, it is a 'it's not you it's me' type of read.
October 18, 2014
**I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.**
I thought that the concept of See How Small was very interesting, and I was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I almost stopped reading but wanted to give it a fair chance so that I could give it an accurate review.
First of all, there were too many characters introduced too quickly. I found it hard to keep track of everyone, how they related to the story line, and how they related to each other. Also, based on the summary on the back of the book, I thought and was hoping that the three murdered girls would be involved more directly since it said that they would sometimes make visits to the town after dying. I felt like the story jumped around too much and was too confusing.
However, Blackwood is definitely a gifted writer and has a way with words. There were parts of the story that I got into, mostly the parts featuring Michael and Alice, but each time that I thought I was getting into the story, I'd be disappointed again. I can understand why others would enjoy this book, but it wasn't for me.
I thought that the concept of See How Small was very interesting, and I was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I almost stopped reading but wanted to give it a fair chance so that I could give it an accurate review.
First of all, there were too many characters introduced too quickly. I found it hard to keep track of everyone, how they related to the story line, and how they related to each other. Also, based on the summary on the back of the book, I thought and was hoping that the three murdered girls would be involved more directly since it said that they would sometimes make visits to the town after dying. I felt like the story jumped around too much and was too confusing.
However, Blackwood is definitely a gifted writer and has a way with words. There were parts of the story that I got into, mostly the parts featuring Michael and Alice, but each time that I thought I was getting into the story, I'd be disappointed again. I can understand why others would enjoy this book, but it wasn't for me.
February 14, 2015
This book is one that changes points of view, uses a lot of imagery, and even has a crazy guy whose point of view we hear every now and then. While I was reading it, I thought, "either this is really brilliant or it's awful." I still and not sure of my conclusion, but I am leaning toward the latter. It really reminded me of "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner, except that I love Faulkner. I imagine that if I read this several times it would start to make sense, but certainly not on the first, "just read it" run through. There is definitely some significant imagery with fire and light that I didn't get but probably would if I read through it again. Every now and then the girls narrate a chapter. The time period shift back and forth quite a bit. If you want a book to read over and over again and ponder the meaning of narration, imagery, and use of language, this is a great book. If you are just looking for something to read because you already finished school and want something to enjoy, this is not the book for you.
February 23, 2015
While this is a short book, it manages to convincingly convey a broad range of emotions through a variety of narrator voices. Although some readers found this confusing, to me, it created a poignant pacing and spiritual connectedness of characters. Blackwood plainly recounts the heinous murder of three teens in the first pages with a minimum of detail. This clearly belies his skill as a writer, because as the reader's imagination embellishes the facts of this brutal scene, he then periodically inserts a sentence or two throughout the book to augment to the crime's horror. This has almost a Hitchcockian effect (think Psycho)and creates a profound impression. Sadly, the book does not end with a real sense of justice for the crimes, but then again, as this reader felt at the end, what could ever truly give a sense of closure for the pain suffered?
January 28, 2016
I picked this book back up a few days ago thinking maybe I wasn't into it the first time I tried reading it. I really struggled to get through it. It grabbed my attention right away (I had to start over since I last picked it up), but then several chapters in, it dropped off. I understand what the author was doing with the characters. I get that we were suppose to see where their lives went after the tragedy. But it just didn't cut it for me... I can't remember the last time I forced myself to read a book... I can't say I would recommend this read to anyone. And I dislike saying that... I did give it a 2 star rating because I think the main storyline is intriguing. But I guess this book just wasn't for me...
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