I'm mind boggled by all the great reviews this book is getting. And yes, I am that dissenting voice here, saying, "But the Emperor has no clothes."
I get it - women's voices are IT right now. Novel after novel is released dedicated to the female experience, preferably as viscerally rendered as possible. They don't have to be likable -they just have to be REAl. Well, the protagonist in Creep isn't likable, which alone wouldn't have bene a dealbreaker. But she is also not interesting or compelling. And on top of it, the novel has next to nothing by way of plot. It's a story of obsession, a nasty and tedious to read story of obsession, focused narrowly on a single point of view of someone who just doesn't have that much to say. She spends the entire time daydreaming about a perfect man, who, of course, wants nothing to do with her. And you can't blame him, because as a reader, you don't want anything to do with her either. Obsession is a fascinating subject when done right. Caroline Kepnes' YOU (and its steadily declining in quality sequels) have managed it. This book did not. The narrative is super dense, because apparently being literary these days includes doing away with paragraphs and most of the dialogue. The book is short, but it's a slog to get through. The ending is predictable. Funny thing is that the writing itself is decent, but it takes more than the ability to turn out a nice sentence to create a good book. Overall, a complete waste of time. Thanks Netgalley.
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