Kråka reviewed Bird box by Josh Malerman
None
1 star
This could have been a very interesting idea and premise but it ended up feeling rather dull and poorly executed.
To begin with the characters: they felt uninspired with no exception, more like average horror/thriller movie tropes, which could have been okay if the rest of the book had been more interesting. Unfortunately, a large part revolves literally and repetitively about what the protagonist is thinking (often in both UPPER CASE AND ITALIC to obnoxiously emphasize parts). This, again, might have been okay if everything wasn't simply on-the-nose statements devoid of much reflection or development. Furthermore, the story is mostly told from the protagonist's perspective, both present and in flashbacks, but sometimes it seemingly randomly switches to other character's perspective, thoughts and feelings (which is fine in the case where it is a whole chapter, but inconsistent and confusing when, for example, Cheryl goes to feed the birds).
In large …
This could have been a very interesting idea and premise but it ended up feeling rather dull and poorly executed.
To begin with the characters: they felt uninspired with no exception, more like average horror/thriller movie tropes, which could have been okay if the rest of the book had been more interesting. Unfortunately, a large part revolves literally and repetitively about what the protagonist is thinking (often in both UPPER CASE AND ITALIC to obnoxiously emphasize parts). This, again, might have been okay if everything wasn't simply on-the-nose statements devoid of much reflection or development. Furthermore, the story is mostly told from the protagonist's perspective, both present and in flashbacks, but sometimes it seemingly randomly switches to other character's perspective, thoughts and feelings (which is fine in the case where it is a whole chapter, but inconsistent and confusing when, for example, Cheryl goes to feed the birds).
In large parts this felt more like a script than anything else. Maybe it works better for the movie, I don't know as I haven't watched it, but in my opinion this works poorly for a novel.
Finally, a lot of what happens in the book to advance the plot seems improbable at best (a dog and birds in a cardboard box?? somehow surviving in a garage for months, the protagonist being horrified at encountering people who voluntarily blinded themselves as protection as if that is the worst she's experienced in all this time) or are just ridiculous clichés (madman-villain who conveniently writes an evil diary, or the snarling wolf clawing the protagonist's shoulder).
Wouldn't recommend unless one doesn't mind the inconsistencies and clichés, but even then there are likely more exciting stories to read than this one.
