When it comes to reading books, much like choosing a significant other or a profession, my mantra has always been: “To each their own”. My least-favorite book may well be a favorite of someone else. Reading and reviewing is a subjective process, and I try not to judge anything that someone has written too harshly. Of course, there are exceptions *cough* 50 Shades of Grey *cough* to that rule. With that preface, I am sharing the three books I’d consider my “worst” reads for 2019. It’s not because they were poorly written or contrived or boring – I finished all these books and overall enjoyed them. Instead, when looking back, they were missing that secret ingredient that in my opinion makes a book enoyable. My method is a fickle one, but bear with me.
Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe
This book started out well, building the tension and introducing us to a main character with a compelling back story. Her family tragedy becomes the motivation to embroil herself in an amateur investigation. She is tasked with finding out why girls were disappearing from the a long stretch of road next to a dense forest near a quiet town where a famous filmmaker currently resides. These details definitely gave me Stephen King vibes. Wolfe set the stage for some pretty creepy business; which involves scandanavian horror flicks, a wolf sanctuary and a possible cult. It kept me engaged even when I was sure who the “killers” were. The twist at the end was disappointing after so much build up that seemed to be leading toward a sinister revelation. I was preparing myself for something pretty devious (think True Detective) and ended up with anything but. Put this in the “meh” category. While her lesson for the twist focused on “viral” videos and the power of social media, that message was lost in my disappointment.
What I Liked: I enjoyed the use of social media as an influential character in this story. Whether we like it or not, what we put online can go viral and take us places we never thought we’d end up.
The Circle by Dave Eggers
I’d characterize this novel as a long and slow burn. It was a long novel at almost 500 pages. Dave Eggers is a writer who I enjoy immensely and The Circle held up for the most part. Where the novel got bogged down was trying to use the plot as a larger critique on where our “always connected” society. To be frank, we’ve handed our lives over to large technology companies, we’re all being monitored and all of us are willing participants. As the plot evolves, the main character slides into a new program where she’s wearing a camera at all times and recording every interaction in her life, further isolating herself from her friends and family. The reader doesn’t know why she’s been chosen for this position or who within The Circle can be trusted. Some of the events were a bit contrived. The scene with the ex-boyfriend at the end was the nail in the coffin for me liking this book. Even so, privacy is a very real issue in today’s society and Eggers does his best to tackle the human condition through the eyes of an eager but all-too-gullible character.
What I liked: I loved the tension Eggers created through the Circle’s social network platform. It gave me anxiety as a reader, knowing that someone was always critiquing your posts, measuring you value as a person based on whether you were participating enough online. Even reading it I felt the shame of not being active enough on social media – it was truly isolating to not be a part of their social network, sharing every detail of your lives to prove to strangers how likeable you are. It’s truly terrifying and real.
This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps
I think that one of the principal reasons for reading a tell-all celebrity memoir is to have visibility into some of the dirty practices we all know happen in Hollywood. Similarly it helps us as readers and fans bring find somhething relatable about these larger-than-life personas that we know them as on the silver screen. The truth is, celebreties breathe the same air we breath and have the same insecurities and face the same problems that we face (jobs, relationships, etc). I like Busy Philipps and I follow her on Instagram but I found her memoir to be, just okay. Looking back on her career, she has achieved a lot and wanted to known as more than a pretty face, and it’s good to see that she has achieved those things. The ending when she’s promoting her new talk show rubbed me the wrong way….I guess if I were a celebrity I’d use my book to try and promote my next gig too.
What I liked: The chapters were named after songs. Busy has good taste in music.
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
–The Worm
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