Stacy Kingsley - The blog of author Stacy Kingsley

Book Review - THE HERD by Andrea Bartz

7/30/2020

The Herd by Andrea Bartz left a lot to be desired. The novel follows two sisters, Hana and Katie, as they struggle to figure out what happened to their friend, Elenore. They attempt to do this while keeping their own secrets, and while trying to work together around things that are hard for them.

Let's start with the characters. None of them were likeable. Katie seemed whiny and continually complained about why she could not write a book she had been working on. It became dull. Hana and her best friend, Mikki, seemed all over the place, and they were not interesting. They too continued to continually discuss something that they couldn't talk about. Elenore, before she disappears, was also a little to pretentious, and she had zero reasons for some of it. There is a moment, when the book starts off, and there is graffiti in the "bathroom." The graffiti says "Ugly Cunts" and Elenore hates the words, but it is never explained why she hates it so vehemently. This is just one of the things in the books that seemed unrealistic and unnecessary.

The secrets that everyone is keeping never seem to be that drastic, or really that interesting. In fact, Katie's secret was borderline boring. I wanted something juicy, and I got a rotten peach. Then, when I found out the secret Hana and Mikki were keeping, I felt the same. And then at the end of the book, when everything had been settled and figured out, I was done. I feel like I read this book for no reason, and I am upset that all of the positive reviews led me to waste my money on it.

I honestly hate giving bad reviews, especially when a book sounds so amazing, like this one did. However, I hated that I spent my money on this. I don't recommend this novel. It was not as well-developed as I thought it would be.

Book Review - The Shadows by Alex North

7/26/2020

The Shadows by Alex North centers around Paul Adams as he returns to the town he left so long ago to be with his mother before she dies.

The plot revolves around a series of brutal murders done by different teen boys over a span of twenty-five years. The first murder was done by Charlie Crabtree, a teenage friend of Paul's. The murder destroys the town, especially since Charlie disappears right after the murder. This sets in motion a series of events which end up affecting Paul's life when he returns. While dealing with his mother's dementia, he realizes she not only kept secrets from him, but he wonders if his mother, and now him, are being haunted by Charlie, and if Charlie actually did what he had tried to do when they were teenagers.

The characters in this novel were not badly written, although at times Paul was annoying in his indifference to his mother. He is in town to be with her when she dies and to say goodbye, but he doesn't really seem to be with her enough throughout the book, instead he wallows in his own self pity of what happened when he was a teenager. He should have spent more time with his mother, and he should have really stopped wallowing in his own feelings. I would have also like a little more from Detective Amanda and Jenny. Both were dynamic female characters, and both could have been more than what they were, Amanda especially since she is important to the story.

That being said, I didn't hate this book.

There were some spots in the novel that I thought could have been removed, and it took too long going through some of the childhood issues Paul had with his friends Charlie, Billy, and James. I don't think we needed as much of the exposition we got about their dynamics. What we did need was a little more about how Charlie behaved, and the dynamics between him and Paul. However, that being said, there were several surprises, and I found two of them to actually be surprising. One of them actually "took me off guard." I did not see it coming, and was not only surprised, but a little sad. I think this first twist was awesome, and then there were several others. Only one of them worked for me, and I felt all of them together were a little much.

I also enjoyed how this novel ended. It wasn't the fright fest that I was expecting, and the main character behaved in a supremely annoying way towards the police (it seemed unnecessary), but the way almost everything closed up was well done. It also left me questioning if there would be a part two because there was a least one huge arm left hanging out there, and the internet never forgets.

Book Review - THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN by Rufi Thorpe

6/22/2020

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe is a book that might make some people uncomfortable, and to that I say, read it anyway. The story revolves around Bunny and Michael. Bunny is over six foot tall, and may have been since she was in sixth grade. Michael is gay, and comes from a destructive family where he feels like an outlier. Over the years Bunny and Michael become friends, only after she finds him smoking in a corner of her backyard. Their bond seems tenuous at first, but then later it seems that they are important to each other, and maybe they can save one another.

Throughout the book I will admit that there are few characters to like. Bunny is an oblivious princess who is doted on by her alcoholic father. Micheal lives with his Aunt Deedee and his homophobic cousin, Jason. Bunny doesn't know where she should be and due to her size she feels like a monster, with nothing to recommend her to the opposite sex. Michael is so afraid of people finding out that he is gay that he meets men secretly, and only after he finds them on Craigslist and Grindr. These two don't seem like a likely couple to be friends, but it does end up working.

I was disappointed a little in this book because there were no characters that I felt I bonded with. Michael is the narrator of the story, but I didn't feel close to him, partly because he didn't let anyone feel close to him. After a tragedy occurs, I felt that the reader lost Bunny, as she was and could have been a more interesting type. I wanted to know more about the relationships and that information seemed to be lacking. We never really got to know Michael's sister Gabby, nor did we get to the crux of who Bunny's mother was. After the big tragedy in this book, we don't even get to know that family and the relationships there. I wanted more so that I could feel.

I will be honest, at the end of the book I feel more should have been done about Bunny and her well-being. I feel that Michael built this little, happy box for himself, but then he didn't care when Bunny showed back up. I would have liked a little more from him in the end, after he learned what he needed to learn.

This novel spanned several years, and I feel that maybe it could have been shortened. We didn't really need the exposition about how Michael did in college, and who he dated, since the story wasn't really about that. Yes, his sexuality was important, and how he got from the beginning to the end was important, but the story was about Bunny and Michael, not solely Michael.

In the end, I would say that I did enjoy this book, and for me it was a fast read. I would recommend it as a view into a world we don't often take a look into. It may be hard, and it may make some people uncomfortable, and I can't speak towards the realism of how a young gay person might act, as Michael doesn't only put himself in danger, but he sleeps with older men, who are technically abusers due to his age. However, I would probably read another book from the LGBTQIA+ community, I'd just choose something with fewer perverts.

Book Review - THE POSSESSIONS by Sara Flannery Murphy

6/18/2020

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy sounded like an interesting book. A young woman, Edie, acts as a body for those who want to connect with their lost loved ones. She takes a pill and for a short amount of time, she lets the spirit of the dead she is connecting with to inhabit her body. She doesn't know what goes on in these meetings because when someone takes over her body, they take over. She ends up meeting Patrick Braddock and channels his wife, Sylvia. After this she can't seem to get Sylvia out of her mind.

Question - Have you ever read a book, and you kept thinking something was about to happen, and then you finish it and nothing has happened? This was how I felt after reading this book. A lot happened, but nothing really happened. I'll explain below.

1 - A dead body is found. The body is named "Hopeful Doe" and she has been murdered. Edie and a few of her coworkers follow the case. They find out who the girl is, but nothing happens. It seemed to be put into the book as an afterthought. In fact, everything seemed to be put in here as an afterthought.

2 - Edie has a deep dark secret, but one we find out what it is, it isn't deep or dark. Also, the writing was frustrating as she was telling the story of this "deep, dark secret." It took forever and she never once said, "this is what I did when I was 12, I just had this problem and my parents didn't know what to do."

3 - Edie has a dead sister we never learn anything about.

4 - Patrick is one of the most boring men I've ever read about in a book. I don't even remember what he looks like, or how he was described in the book. He has almost no personality. I mean, if he is there to reconnect with his dead life, I wanted more from him about how he loved her, or how he hated her, or anything. Even in the end he was so totally boring.

5 - So much happens, then it ends and is never discussed again. One body, Ana, quits and we don't know what she is going to do. We learn who the killer of "Hopeful Doe" is, but this is anti-climactic. Edie has another secret at the end of the book, but again, we don't have any reason to care.

None of the characters are developed. None of the characters have anything interesting about them. We don't get all of the details. The author tried to do too much in one book and it wasn't successful.

Now, I want to say this was also a debut book. I don't know if this author will develop better stories in the future, so I am not going to say I will never read her again. I'd be interested to see what her next book is about. I thought the premise of this was interesting, just not well executed. I'd skip this book and wait to see what she has next.

Book Review - THE MUSEUM OF DESIRE by Jonathan Kellerman

6/6/2020

Unlike some other popular authors, Jonathan Kellerman has yet to disappoint me. The Museum of Desire is another in the Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis series and it may have been the most interesting yet.

The story revolves around an interesting cast of characters. It begins with.... MURDER.... but of course it does. If it didn't begin with murder then maybe people like me wouldn't keep reading. The murder this novel begins with is unsettling, and even Alex is unsure what to say about it. Through trials and tests Alex and Milo attempt to figure out what is going on, why these people were killed, and who the killers are. There is a lot going on in this book. One thing I did enjoy was we did get to see a little more of Robin in this novel, and she is the reason the case comes to a head.

I'd love to say more about this book, but I feel I would give too much away, so I'm just going to copy the synopsis here:

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis has solved a lot of murder cases. On many of them--the ones he calls "different"--he taps the brain of brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. But neither Alex nor Milo are prepared for what they find on an early morning call to a deserted mansion in Bel Air. This one's beyond different. This is predation, premeditation, and cruelty on a whole new level.

Four people have been slaughtered and left displayed bizarrely and horrifically in a stretch limousine. Confounding the investigation, none of the victims seems to have any connection to any other, and a variety of methods have been used to dispatch them. As Alex and Milo make their way through blind alleys and mazes baited with misdirection, they encounter a crime so vicious that it stretches the definitions of evil.

This is it, this is all I can say.

There were almost no likeable characters in this movie, and every person in this movie is very Los Angeles. What I read were posh people, privileged and spoiled teens, people who used to be someone and think they still are. The only real person, the only person I didn't dislike was a nun. I think that might be the point of this novel, that in certain circles people are just total jerks. This gives a look into parts of Los Angeles I saw when I lived in California. There are people who think that just because you aren't wearing the most recent designer you are less than the toilet paper stuck on the back of their shoe when they walk out of that high end bathroom.

As I said before one thing I enjoyed was that there was more Robin. I do wish that we could see Alex do more of his actual job and a little less policing, since he doesn't belong doing some of the things he is doing anyway. I'd like to see him work with some of the kids and go back to basics.

I am pleased that I have yet to get tired of this series. There have been quite a few series that I have gotten sick of and couldn't read anymore, but the Alex Delaware series is still pretty great. If you haven't read any of the books in this series you should, and if you have, don't miss this one.

Book Review - I'LL NEVER TELL by Catherine McKenzie

5/21/2020

I'll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie is a novel about a dysfunctional family who find that they must make a decision about everyone's future when their parents die. The family is made up of Ryan, Margaux, Mary, and twins Liddie and Kate, and they grew up having to spends their summers at their parents camp, being campers and then counselors. One summer, Margaux's best friend, Amanda Holmes, is found bludgeoned and close to death. What happened to Amanda? Is someone in the family to blame? Twenty years later, after their parents die, they must find out who was responsible and decide the fate of their inheritance and their siblings.

At first this novel was slow reading, as most of the characters were unlikable. I also have become annoyed at books where each chapter is from the point-of-view of another character. This trope is beginning to make me feel as if I don't get to know any of the characters in a novel well enough to care about them. This did have moments like that, and as I stated in the first sentence, most of the characters were unlikable. Throughout the novel, you get snippets from Amanda, from that night to after.

There are a lot of secrets in this novel, and the fact that none of these siblings talked at all was a little annoying and it seemed unrealistic to me. I have siblings, yes you go moments without speaking, but in today's day and age there are times when you can not talk for months but you might at least send a snap to one another. After reading halfway the novel started becoming a little more interesting.

I started to wonder a little more about Amanda. In fact, I wished that there were more about her in the novel. As stated earlier, there were snippets, but we didn't really get to know anything about her, and I wanted more. I wanted to know a little more about her background and her history, even more about her family and her familial relationships would have been something. I would have liked to know more since the entire book revolved around her.

Instead, we read more about the family, and learn that no one knows anything about anyone else. There were a few things in the novel that I would have liked to know more about, and I can't write about them here otherwise I'll give away detail that are important to the novel.

Overall, I did end up enjoying this novel. I did not see the end coming, which was a relief since so many books are predictable. I liked how it ended I just wanted a little more. The reason for the bludgeoning felt a little shallow, and it didn't feel like it was worth it in the end. I wanted more, I often want more.

Now, that being said, I did like this because it did keep me interested, and I did want to know who the bad guy was. Plus, I didn't feel like putting this book down, so that is always a plus.

Book Review - THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE by Jessica Shattuck

4/24/2020

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck has several parts and it covers several years, before, during, and after World War II.

Marianne is the main character. She is a woman who's husband is a resister of Hitler's, and when he and a few other resisters fail in their mission, Marianne is tasked with finding other lost wives and children of other resisters.

This novel followed three women, Marianne, Ania, and Benita. Marianne is stubborn in her ways, but she also wants to see everyone succeed. She is a stubborn and strong character, everything is black or white. Ania is a woman with a secret, and she is unwilling to tell anyone because it might affect her safety and the safety of her two sons. She is a strong woman, and is willing to help Marianna as much as she can, however, it might only be because she doesn't want anyone to find out the truth she is keeping hidden. Benita is a young woman, who depends too much on her looks and smarts to get and keep men. She doesn't really know how to protect herself, even though later in the book we find that in certain instances she isn't the weak little girl she often appears to be.

I, overall, liked this book. I thought it was interesting and a deep read. Being about the different sides of Germany and the reaction people had to Hitler was thought provoking. Of course this is a fiction book, so you can take from it what you wish.

My complaints are small. I wanted more women in the castle. I wanted to see a wider variety of women who had survived as well as they could have. I wanted to see more from people who had different experiences. I also wanted to see a little more development in some of the characters, or at least hear more about their experiences. We don't get too into depth with Marianne, and I feel that her character should have had more change and development. There were some horrifying parts, but I feel like some of it could have been explored more. Most of us know what happened in WWII, and this could have gone a little deeper into the experiences (even as fiction) of the women, and other people they had met.

My other minor complaint was the children seemed inconsequential. There was a part in the beginning when you thought Marianne's daughters would have more to do with the story than they did. I wanted to hear more from them, and more from Ania's sons. I feel that there could have been more written from the different point of views of the children.

This was not a bad book. I did enjoy it. I thought it was a little too long, and at times a little too slow, so it could have been edited down a little bit. That being said, I do recommend this book. It was pretty good and mostly kept my interest.

Book Review - THE TOLL by Cherie Priest

4/3/2020

The Toll by Cherie Priest is about a couple, Titus and Melanie Bell, who are traveling to their honeymoon destination, a campsite near a swamp for a canoe trip. As they get closer to the campsite strange things start to happen and Titus finds himself on a single lane bridge that seems unsafe for travel. Later Titus wakes up in the middle of the road, unsure of how he got there, his new wife missing. In a town not far away lives a cast of characters, Jess, Dave, Cameron, Daisy, Claire, and a crazy old woman (which every small town has).

There aren't many characters in this book who are likeable, and the ones who are, Daisy, Claire, and Dave, aren't used to their full advantage. I would have liked to see a little more development with them, and at least a little more in Dave's backstory since he is not only important to Jess, but Cameron and Titus as well.

Titus is a very unlikable man, and as we meander through the book it often seems as if he doesn't like his new bride. Melanie and him don't seem to get along from the beginning, which is not only uncomfortable, but it makes the reader not really care what has happened to Melanie. The reader doesn't really get to know her, so in the end we don't care what has happened because we don't get much personality. Jess is underdeveloped as well. She could have been much stronger and used better than she was. As she was there was very little to her. As Dave's girlfriend and Cameron's crush she could have been a key plot device, and yet she herself really wasn't.

I was expecting more from this book than I got. After the first chapter I became confused, and I am really getting a little tired of chapters that switch from one character or setting or even timeline to another. Can we just have one timeline? One character, even two is okay, but five is too many. Can we have strong, interesting characters?

The story didn't seem complete. There wasn't enough information for me to feel fear or scared for the characters. There was a big bad something, but since it was never defined, and it was only repeated that every few years the "something" caused people to disappear, there wasn't a defined thing to be afraid of, or scared for the characters.

I'm not sure that horror is Cherie Priest's genre. After reading Boneshaker I feel she should stick to steampunk. This was not the best novel I've read recently, and I personally don't feel that it really fits in the horror genre. I'm not sure I, personally, will read any more of Priest's novels. I wanted more, so much more.

This book was a chore to read. I had to force myself to read it over several weeks, and I am generally a fast reader.

Interview with Horror Author Luke Walker

3/24/2020

Luke Walker has been writing horror, fantasy and dark thrillers for most of his life. His new novel The Dead Room is out now. Other releases by Luke Walker are The Day Of The New Gods, The Mirror Of The Nameless, The Unredeemed, Ascent, Hometown, Die Laughing, and Dead Sun. Pandemonium and The Kindred will be published by Hellbound Books in 2020. Several of his short stories have been published online and in magazines/books. He is forty-two and lives in England with his wife and cats.

Let's meet Luke!

Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A bit of both. I’m generally pretty pumped when I start a new book and find the certain something about it that works. Before that, I might flail a bit but then it kicks in. Same with the end when it all comes together. However, there are plenty of moments during the process, or the edits, when it’s a drag and I’m wiped out by it. Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad, most of the time.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
So many. A big one is thinking your first book(s) will change the world and make you a star, and being self-indulgent and writing about yourself, your experiences, and thinking the rest of the world will care. One issue if writing a book that doesn’t really have a plot or a story. If submitting stuff to agents or publishers, submitting books that aren’t anywhere near ready for submission, and being unprofessional in your submissions. A lot of new authors fall into the trap of talking about writing without actually doing much writing.

I did a few of these back in my early days, I’m sorry to say. We probably all do some of them. The important thing is to learn from them, find our individual voice and go from there.

Have you ever gotten reader’s block?
I haven’t been blocked exactly for the last year, but owing to various personal setbacks, writing has been much harder than at any other point in the last twenty years. I thought I was coming through it earlier this year, but then hit some more personal stuff. Now, of course, we’re dealing with a pandemic and nobody has a clue what’s going to happen. It makes sitting down to make stuff up seem a bit silly. I’m planning a few short stories and a new book and hoping to get stuck in as soon as possible. (This is about writer's block!)

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
I think what readers want is something original. Yes, there are always tropes and familiar areas in all genres. It’s like seeing your favourite band play a gig – you want them to bust out the hits; they want to play you their new album. The writer has to be original and still have fun with familiar angles. I often like to take an overdone trope and play with it. Readers aren’t stupid. They know when you’re pandering to them. When it comes down to it, everyone wants a good, well told tale. The rest is just noise.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
It didn’t change it in a big way. I’ve been writing with an eye on publication for close to twenty-five years. My first book was published in 2013 (and then republished a couple of years later by a different company), so I’d had plenty of time to write, work out what I wanted to say, and how to say it. I knew about editing and rewrites, and the long, hard slog of getting the words down before the slightest chance a publisher would like it. My process has always been pretty much the same. I come up with a basic idea, develop it in to a loose plot with a few background details of the characters and research whatever I have to. I average two drafts, then a tidy up. I love the idea of winging the entire thing and seeing where it goes, but while I did that with my early stuff, I find it hard now. I like it work with notes and an idea. The story often goes its own way which is fine. As long as I can find my way out of it.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
Not so much novel as writers. Gary McMahon, Simon Bestwick, and Laura Mauro are three writers producing some first-rate stuff. Anyone who likes horror that stays with you needs to check them out. Ditto with the smaller publishers. They’ve got the writers I suspect the big presses won’t touch because horror is a dirty word in publishing. If you want great modern horror, the little guys are where you to need to go. (What he says is true, horror gets a bad rap in publishing houses)

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
It depends purely on the book. I often need to research guns, the police, locations, and distances. For my most recent book (yet to be submitted anywhere), I had to get into a lot of medical and tech stuff which really isn’t my thing. The trouble is, the more you look into unfamiliar areas, the more you find you don’t know, so it’s easy to get swamped and lose sight of the story. On average, I probably spend a couple of weeks researching for the first draft and then another couple when I rewrite.

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Not often, but I have done. My books Hometown and The Unredeemed share a couple of characters. Ditto The Unredeemed and Dead Sun. I often use the same town (Dalry) as a backdrop, but that doesn’t mean every book exists in the same version of Dalry. Far from it. As a character in Hometown says: “Dalry has a lot of sides.” Observant readers might spot a line that pops up in most of my books which sums up my fiction. No, I’m not saying what it is. You’ll have to read the books to find out.

What is your favorite childhood book?
Probably The Voyage of QV66. It’s a book by a British writer named Penelope Lively about a group of animals who live together after environmental collapse means humanity has left Earth. They go on a trip across a flooded Britain to find out what animal one of their number is. It’s very 70s and still charming. If you can find it, I definitely recommend it.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
It’s the business side of the artistic process. Publishing is a slow, uncertain industry. The ‘no reply means no’ from agents has become much more prevalent in recent years which is understandable, but it still leaves the writer wondering if their submission has actually been received. Writing in a genre that mainstream publishing doesn’t seem to care for is also hard. My choice, of course, but still a pain. Horror has a loyal, hungry audience, but the big companies aren’t keen on it for the most part. The smaller companies give it the support they can, but their resources are obviously limited.

How can you reach Luke Walker:
www.lukewalkerwriter.com
@lukewalkerbooks
https://www.instagram.com/lukewalkerwriter/
author.to/LukeWalker

Luke welcomes comments at his blog which can be read at www.lukewalkerwriter.com and his Twitter page is @lukewalkerbooks. Sign up to his newsletter at

www.tinyletter.com/LukeWalkerWriter

Luke's New book PANDEMONIUMis available for pre-order now and will be released on 27th March.

http://www.hellboundbookspublishing.com/pandemonium.html

Kidnapped in broad daylight from a busy Edinburgh street, Hannah Wilson has no idea what her abductors want with her, as they chain her in the back of their van and speed out of the city. They tell her she's perfectly safe when she's terrified for her life. Transported to the far north of Scotland with dozens of others, all yanked from their lives across Britain, Hannah is taken to an isolated compound they call Pandemonium, which is an ultra-secure prison ruled by creatures that should exist only in nightmares - a place no one has survived for more than a few months. Hundreds of miles away from help, her family's lives at risk if she disobeys any order, Hannah knows the key to surviving her captivity is to bond with strangers and teach them all to refuse to be victims. But, she's running out of time to convince the other captives to take their fight to the black heart of the prison and its inhuman warden; Hannah is yet to discover she is not the only one about to start a war.
In Pandemonium, all Hell is going to break out.

Book Review - THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD by Maude Julien

2/10/2020

The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien is the non-fiction tale of her upbringing. She was raised by a controlling father and an absent, self-righteous mother. Throughout her telling of her childhood she goes into detail how her mother treated her, and how her father used every thing in his power to assert control over her. Maude grew up alone, in a large house, with no friends except a few animals, and sometimes, her mother.

This story does have some hard parts to read. There are a few detailed descriptions of sexual abuse, physiological abuse, and mental abuse. Maude's mother continually tells her that she hates her, and is jealous of the concern her husband has for Maude. She constantly tells Maude that she is trying too hard to get her father's attention, but she also laughs at times with Maude. The mother/daughter relationship is awkward and unloving, although it seems as though the mother does have feelings for her daughter, because of her own upbringing she doesn't know how to show or be appropriate to her daughter. Maude's mother was raised by Maude's father is a sort of incestuous grooming relationship.

The father seems to be the main abuser in this story, but throughout most of it, it seems as though he is a sad old man who is controlling because he has nothing better to do. There are several uncomfortable scenes, but throughout the mother seems to be crueler than the father. Included in the abusive, imprisoned upbringing, there are several instances of animal abuse. These instances are used to teach Maude and the animal, which further separates her and causes her to be depressed, self-abusive, and so very alone.

After saying all of this about the book, I do have to say that I didn't think it was as well written as it could have been. For a story of an abusive upbringing I felt that the author distanced herself too far from the situation, and this made the book a little flat. Yes, there were horrifying moments, but they didn't resonate as hard as they could have if there was some emotion behind them. I understand why the author has distanced herself, but this created a book that I didn't feel I could connect with, or feel for. There were few moments that I felt upset by what was happening, but most of these moments were things that happened to animals, so obviously the author has a strong connection with the animals.

I can't say I would or would not recommend this book. I think some people may be more disturbed by it than I was. I wanted to feel more, and some might not want to feel what the author was going through. However, that being said, it is an interesting look into a controlling, abusive, and dysfunctional family.