Christy’s review of All the Colors of the Dark > Likes and Comments
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YES! The writing was so confusing! At first I thought the author was trying to be arty and poetic but I genuinely think maybe no one read through this book before it went to print?!
I couldn’t agree more with everything you mentioned! Very well said!
I had to reread so many sentences. I thought I’d misread them due to exhaustion. That sandpiper one is truly awful.
I agree 100%, I got to page 489 (it was a real fight getting that far!) and just could not force myself to go any further.
Thank you! I’m also an LA teacher and I was so frustrated by the writing style. I also thought Shawshank mixed with Forrest Gump, but with kidnapping. Oof.
Too many characters is a false statement. there were at most just over 10. Also, when it comes to storytelling and being grammatically correct and the like, forget it. Rules are meant to be broken. So as much as you are well versed in the rules of the medium, they matter not.
That being said - 100% overwritten. 100% a muddle in the middle that could have been explained in a few chapters without the entire cross country bank robbing nonsense.
This was my main gripe, overwritten, absortion, and homosexuality thrown in to appease the modern day trend.
Also, how the heck did Saint give birth and give away her child in that time frame??? "Oh, I got an abortion", "No wife!"
"Yup, but forget that I am obviously late term enough to birth the child, as well as get the new parents names, and eventually track them down". That was one scene.
It is worth finishing the book though, even with its faults, as I thought he served the audience well with not providing the cliché outcome. But it missed with almost everything else.
Are you saying you wouldn't just naturally describe someone with blonde hair as, "Her hair nearly touched platinum."?
Thank you for this review. I am absolutely struggling to finish this and I was thinking it must be just me
Yes and yes! This is exactly how I felt! This was a DNF for me
This book has so many good reviews and I genuinely, truly don’t get it. I’m grateful to see these other comments here because I feel like I’m on another planet from the 5-star reviewers. His “prose” was borderline incomprehensible. Maybe he thought he could fool the public? Quickest DNF I have ever given a book.
She frowned. He frowned. Just as she turned to leave, she saw it. And that was when he saw it. O.M. G — was there no editor? I seem to have found my people in the comments under your review! Side note- an American-English speaking editor, preferably, since there were several British-isms that I’m pretty sure were never uttered in Missouri. Ugh. Thank you for the validation of my low review.
I agree the writing was so confusing!!
Thank you! I just saw this book being recommended by an IG influencer and almost fell for it. Goodreads and your review came to the rescue in the nick of time.
I am so glad I’m not the only one thoroughly confused and mad at the sentence structures in this. I’ve been pushing onwards to try and see what happens with the plot but I feel I’m in a fever dream with this wording. It gets me so mad!
I also am so disappointed in this novel. After the raves online, I expected a fantastic read. I'm 60% in and just don't care about any of the characters at all!!! Way too long
I feel validated! I thought ok this style of writing is over my head? happy to read these comments because I had a lot of these feelings. I would re read sentences wondering why I couldn’t make sense of them.
So glad I found this thread. Much of how I felt about this book while reading it has been articulated here. I only got through a few chapters (which should have been condensed because why are there 2 paged chapters?) when I decided to return this one. I was frustrated about the style of writing and the oddly specific imagery in all the wrong places. Sounds like this book was great for others. It just wasn't my cup of tea!
I literally thought i was dumb i had to go back and read so many paragraphs three times over just to make sense of what was happening
I really wanted to love this book. I’m not done yet but I am utterly confused as well. Please just resolve the Grace thing, I have forgotten who all the other minor characters are and why they matter 😩
100% agree. Whoever his editor was did a terrible job, the whole thing was confusing.
SPOILER Agree. The way Tooms could have solved many murders years ago but instead felt a secret gay lover and providing abortions to a small town hat apparently every girl needs one is, was a choice.
AND HOW DID SHE HAVE A WHOLE BABY and no one ever noticed she was pregnant? Or recovering from birth? Made no sense
The way I had to keep rereading whole chapters at times to understand what happened
It insists upon itself I 100% agree you’re not alone
Thank you. Not crazy about the writing style. It’s horrible. I was looking forward to reading this but it may end up as a DNF. not sure why it’s so popular
Agree 100%. This book made me so damn angry and yet I kept reading. Uggghhh. One of the worst books I have ever read
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you so much for putting my thoughts into words.
I agree completely. Thought I was going nuts! Thanks for validating my feelings and expressing them so well.
My new theory is he had ChatGPT write the book. It’s the only explanation I have for words simply being used incorrectly.
Yes, to all of this! I do not understand all of the rave reviews this book is receiving. The pronouns instead of names made me crazy - which ‘she’?!?
This book was like a script of a soap opera - like how did all this happen in some small Missouri town? So unbelievably far-fetched
I finally finished this book and everything you said in your review is on point. That sentence bugged the s-it out of me too! I’m exhausted and feel foolish for reading the entire frustrating, flip-flopping, pedantic narrative.
Omg thank you for this review! I genuinely wanted to get into this book, but after 3 chapters the writing style was just too annoying for me, I had to mark it as DNF.
I went on Goodreads to see if I was losing my mind. I’m half way through this book and I think I’m giving up. With all of the glowing reviews, I thought I was missing something, but I can see that I am not. I like to look forward to settling into a book and this one is not that! Thank you for the review. You saved me a lot of time. I’m on to more exciting reads!
This review is so exactly how I feel that I wish I could call you and thank you.
I wondered why I was having so much trouble reading a book with page-long chapters. I kept reading and rereading and thinking my allergies were just clouding my head too much!
Everything you mentioned would drive me BONKERS! Thank you for saving me from adding this to my Want to Read list 🙏🏻 Also, he’s admittedly grammatically challenged but isn’t that what editors are for?!
Thank you! I just kept reading because everyone keeps raving. I waited and waited for something to happen. It was all so confusing. I feel ridiculous to be so lost in a book that everyone loves.
100% agree with you!! I was on chapter 2 and was like wtf am I reading? It made me feel dumb bc I just couldn’t understand the sentences, so I hopped on here to see if I was alone in this and NOPE..you nailed it! I only read to chapter 10 and I’m DONE. Thanks to your review for saving me the long hours of what it would have taken me to fully read AND understand what the heck was going on.
Why didn’t I read this before I bought the book! I was consulting people who studied English while reading, because I thought maybe it was meant to be a creative take on the sentence. When they looked completely confused too it was a relief! If he’s bad at grammar then why not bring in an editor!
So glad I'm not alone in this thinking. I hate not finishing a book, but I think I'll just set this one aside. Makes me wonder how others were able to give it such a high rating.
I had the same problem with the sentence fragments and pretentious, "poetic" descriptions. The trend in modern writing away from cohesive, understandable sentences throws speed bumps into stories I might otherwise enjoy. I read this book based on its glowing recomendations, but was disappointed in the writing style and found the story too slow to develop.
This review is spot on. I don’t understand why this book is getting such great reviews? I was confused half the time and it was a damn task to even finish!
God I felt the exact same when I read the last page??? Confused, annoyed, sad I wasted this book as a Libby hold for two months!!!
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Amy
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Aug 03, 2024 01:55PM
YES! The writing was so confusing! At first I thought the author was trying to be arty and poetic but I genuinely think maybe no one read through this book before it went to print?!
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I couldn’t agree more with everything you mentioned! Very well said!
I had to reread so many sentences. I thought I’d misread them due to exhaustion. That sandpiper one is truly awful.
I agree 100%, I got to page 489 (it was a real fight getting that far!) and just could not force myself to go any further.
Thank you! I’m also an LA teacher and I was so frustrated by the writing style. I also thought Shawshank mixed with Forrest Gump, but with kidnapping. Oof.
Too many characters is a false statement. there were at most just over 10. Also, when it comes to storytelling and being grammatically correct and the like, forget it. Rules are meant to be broken. So as much as you are well versed in the rules of the medium, they matter not. That being said - 100% overwritten. 100% a muddle in the middle that could have been explained in a few chapters without the entire cross country bank robbing nonsense.
This was my main gripe, overwritten, absortion, and homosexuality thrown in to appease the modern day trend.
Also, how the heck did Saint give birth and give away her child in that time frame??? "Oh, I got an abortion", "No wife!"
"Yup, but forget that I am obviously late term enough to birth the child, as well as get the new parents names, and eventually track them down". That was one scene.
It is worth finishing the book though, even with its faults, as I thought he served the audience well with not providing the cliché outcome. But it missed with almost everything else.
Are you saying you wouldn't just naturally describe someone with blonde hair as, "Her hair nearly touched platinum."?
Thank you for this review. I am absolutely struggling to finish this and I was thinking it must be just me
Yes and yes! This is exactly how I felt! This was a DNF for me
This book has so many good reviews and I genuinely, truly don’t get it. I’m grateful to see these other comments here because I feel like I’m on another planet from the 5-star reviewers. His “prose” was borderline incomprehensible. Maybe he thought he could fool the public? Quickest DNF I have ever given a book.
She frowned. He frowned. Just as she turned to leave, she saw it. And that was when he saw it. O.M. G — was there no editor? I seem to have found my people in the comments under your review! Side note- an American-English speaking editor, preferably, since there were several British-isms that I’m pretty sure were never uttered in Missouri. Ugh. Thank you for the validation of my low review.
I agree the writing was so confusing!!
Thank you! I just saw this book being recommended by an IG influencer and almost fell for it. Goodreads and your review came to the rescue in the nick of time.
I am so glad I’m not the only one thoroughly confused and mad at the sentence structures in this. I’ve been pushing onwards to try and see what happens with the plot but I feel I’m in a fever dream with this wording. It gets me so mad!
I also am so disappointed in this novel. After the raves online, I expected a fantastic read. I'm 60% in and just don't care about any of the characters at all!!! Way too long
I feel validated! I thought ok this style of writing is over my head? happy to read these comments because I had a lot of these feelings. I would re read sentences wondering why I couldn’t make sense of them.
So glad I found this thread. Much of how I felt about this book while reading it has been articulated here. I only got through a few chapters (which should have been condensed because why are there 2 paged chapters?) when I decided to return this one. I was frustrated about the style of writing and the oddly specific imagery in all the wrong places. Sounds like this book was great for others. It just wasn't my cup of tea!
I literally thought i was dumb i had to go back and read so many paragraphs three times over just to make sense of what was happening
I really wanted to love this book. I’m not done yet but I am utterly confused as well. Please just resolve the Grace thing, I have forgotten who all the other minor characters are and why they matter 😩
100% agree. Whoever his editor was did a terrible job, the whole thing was confusing.
SPOILER Agree. The way Tooms could have solved many murders years ago but instead felt a secret gay lover and providing abortions to a small town hat apparently every girl needs one is, was a choice.
AND HOW DID SHE HAVE A WHOLE BABY and no one ever noticed she was pregnant? Or recovering from birth? Made no sense
The way I had to keep rereading whole chapters at times to understand what happened
It insists upon itself I 100% agree you’re not alone
Thank you. Not crazy about the writing style. It’s horrible. I was looking forward to reading this but it may end up as a DNF. not sure why it’s so popular
Agree 100%. This book made me so damn angry and yet I kept reading. Uggghhh. One of the worst books I have ever read
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you so much for putting my thoughts into words.
I agree completely. Thought I was going nuts! Thanks for validating my feelings and expressing them so well.
My new theory is he had ChatGPT write the book. It’s the only explanation I have for words simply being used incorrectly.
Yes, to all of this! I do not understand all of the rave reviews this book is receiving. The pronouns instead of names made me crazy - which ‘she’?!?
This book was like a script of a soap opera - like how did all this happen in some small Missouri town? So unbelievably far-fetched
I finally finished this book and everything you said in your review is on point. That sentence bugged the s-it out of me too! I’m exhausted and feel foolish for reading the entire frustrating, flip-flopping, pedantic narrative.
Omg thank you for this review! I genuinely wanted to get into this book, but after 3 chapters the writing style was just too annoying for me, I had to mark it as DNF.
I went on Goodreads to see if I was losing my mind. I’m half way through this book and I think I’m giving up. With all of the glowing reviews, I thought I was missing something, but I can see that I am not. I like to look forward to settling into a book and this one is not that! Thank you for the review. You saved me a lot of time. I’m on to more exciting reads!
This review is so exactly how I feel that I wish I could call you and thank you.
I wondered why I was having so much trouble reading a book with page-long chapters. I kept reading and rereading and thinking my allergies were just clouding my head too much!
Everything you mentioned would drive me BONKERS! Thank you for saving me from adding this to my Want to Read list 🙏🏻 Also, he’s admittedly grammatically challenged but isn’t that what editors are for?!
Thank you! I just kept reading because everyone keeps raving. I waited and waited for something to happen. It was all so confusing. I feel ridiculous to be so lost in a book that everyone loves.
100% agree with you!! I was on chapter 2 and was like wtf am I reading? It made me feel dumb bc I just couldn’t understand the sentences, so I hopped on here to see if I was alone in this and NOPE..you nailed it! I only read to chapter 10 and I’m DONE. Thanks to your review for saving me the long hours of what it would have taken me to fully read AND understand what the heck was going on.
Why didn’t I read this before I bought the book! I was consulting people who studied English while reading, because I thought maybe it was meant to be a creative take on the sentence. When they looked completely confused too it was a relief! If he’s bad at grammar then why not bring in an editor!
So glad I'm not alone in this thinking. I hate not finishing a book, but I think I'll just set this one aside. Makes me wonder how others were able to give it such a high rating.
I had the same problem with the sentence fragments and pretentious, "poetic" descriptions. The trend in modern writing away from cohesive, understandable sentences throws speed bumps into stories I might otherwise enjoy. I read this book based on its glowing recomendations, but was disappointed in the writing style and found the story too slow to develop.
This review is spot on. I don’t understand why this book is getting such great reviews? I was confused half the time and it was a damn task to even finish!
God I felt the exact same when I read the last page??? Confused, annoyed, sad I wasted this book as a Libby hold for two months!!!
