Review of 'Los Renglones Torcidos de Dios' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Somewhat disappointing. The concept is great and the fact that the author admitted himself into a mental facility to do research for the book is very encouraging, and we do get some good glimpses of what it is like to be in a mental hospital in rural Spain, but this book suffers from quite a number of issues. First, the main character is arrogant beyond belief, has no flaws and is apparently the most intelligent person in the novel, surpassing the intellect of probably all other characters combined, including the hospital staff. Every slightly intelligent character in this book exists for the sole reason of being able to recognize how superior and likable and charming she is and eventually become her ally in humiliating everyone else.
The plot is all over the place, with twists that happen for no reason, subplots that get resolved immediately without any sense of progression …
Somewhat disappointing. The concept is great and the fact that the author admitted himself into a mental facility to do research for the book is very encouraging, and we do get some good glimpses of what it is like to be in a mental hospital in rural Spain, but this book suffers from quite a number of issues. First, the main character is arrogant beyond belief, has no flaws and is apparently the most intelligent person in the novel, surpassing the intellect of probably all other characters combined, including the hospital staff. Every slightly intelligent character in this book exists for the sole reason of being able to recognize how superior and likable and charming she is and eventually become her ally in humiliating everyone else.
The plot is all over the place, with twists that happen for no reason, subplots that get resolved immediately without any sense of progression and two halves that read like two different books, the second one approaching the whodunnit genre almost comically. The author also seems to find it appropriate to use the main character's voice to express what I believe to be very biased opinions on homosexuality, psychology and Spain's social issues, making this a not as universal read as it could be. It kept me interested, for what it's worth, but I really was expecting something else, as the premise did sound very appealing and throughout the novel I caught some glimpses of what it could have been.
