Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is the debut novel of Kwame Mbalia. …
On hold for a couple of weeks, hopefully a good sign...
User Profile
Hi, I'm John, and I work on things. You can find much more about me at john.colagioia.net/
This link opens in a pop-up window
John Colagioia's books
Currently Reading
Read
User Activity
RSS feed Back
John Colagioia finished reading When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk
John Colagioia reviewed When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk
Probably Unfair Review
2 stars
It maybe has a story? I don't know.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, everything feels like those contrived scenes in TV sitcoms where a writers room full of middle-aged men try to write a teenage girl's diary, but also find the task demeaning, so that you get lines like "I encountered a person of spectacular caliber, this eventide, everything has the same frenetic emotional valence, and I needed to suppress the urge to squee."
It also does that horrible thing where it doesn't trust the reader to keep track of a straightforward conversation, with every line awkwardly appended with some variation of "[person] said," with an optional adverb, which becomes frustrating in long conversations with short lines.
I mostly zoned out on this, a shame, because quite a few minor characters seemed interesting.
John Colagioia reviewed Blackout. by Dhonielle Clayton
Maybe One Story Too Many?
3 stars
Content warning Plot details
The book, with separate stories, seemed to go really well, until the story lands on the teenagers from Mississippi. At that point, everything collapses for a pile of stereotypes and high school gossip that felt endless. That also derails some of the remainder of the book, since the stories never quite connect.
John Colagioia finished reading Blackout. by Dhonielle Clayton
Content warning Plot details
The book, with its various separate stories, seemed to go really well, until the story lands on the teenagers from Mississippi. At that point, everything collapses for a pile of stereotypes and high school gossip that felt endless. That also derails some of the remainder of the book, since the stories never quite connect.