Friday, September 6, 2024

Mini Reviews: Genre Bending Novels


 

I really love when a novel can push the envelope regarding its genre. Is it a romance? A mystery? A thriller? One of my favorite novels, Outlander, definitely excels at this, so I am always on the hunt for a novel that can be all the things! That's the case with these two noteworthy novels of the summer.


All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Pages: 608
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Pub. Date: June 25, 2024
Publisher: Crown
Source: Personal Copy
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
 
 
Goodreads says, "1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope."

 

 
 

 

It's 1975 in rural Missouri town filled with a cast of characters. Patch, a thirteen year old boy (who is aptly named Patch because he is missing an eye and wears a patch like a pirate) is best friends with Saint, a determined and adventurous girl being raised by her grandmother. They live very different lives; Saint has always looked out for Patch as he is being raised by an alcoholic mother who isn't there for him. One day Patch witnesses a masked man attack his crush, Misty, in the woods and he is  determined to save her. Misty escapes, thanks to Patch, but the man kidnaps Patch. He ends up in a very dark cellar with another girl, who  after spending many days with, has changed his life and essentially  keeps him alive. Meanwhile, Saint is determined to find out what happened to Patch. Once Patch does escape, he vows to find the girl from the cellar, even if it takes years. Things get even more complicated  when the town finds more buried bodies and Saint has some ideas of who could be abducting and killing these girls. Chris Whitaker's All the Colors of the Dark spans decades as it follows Saint and Patch on their individual, but related quests. The story is part mystery and part coming of age story; despite its massive length it is a very well written novel that will definitely stay  with readers.

I was sucked in immediately when I started 
All the Colors of the Dark. I really enjoyed Whitaker's short chapters and the way he spun this tale. The first hundred pages read like a coming of age story, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and despite some parts being difficult to read (this is a crime novel!), I was invested in Patch's story as well as Saint's. Saint was determined to find Patch and as the story continues, he remains a focal point in her life. I can't give away too many details for fear of spoilers, but All the Colors of the Dark is hard to pin down. It's so much more than a crime novel; it's deeply layered and filled with such memorable characters. My only gripe was the length; it was extremely long, but other than that it was a fantastic novel and one of my favorites of the summer.




The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Pages: 352
Genre: Sci-fi
Pub. Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Personal Copy
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 


Goodreads says, "In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.
Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future."


An unnamed young woman works for the government in a special section, Ministry of Time, which helps time travelers get acclimated to 21st century life. The narrator's job is to be a "bridge" for Lt. Graham Gore, a polar explorer, best known for the 1845 Franklin Expedition. Before Gore's untimely death, he is pulled from that time to the present day. It's the narrator's job to get him settled into his new life in London as he will initially live at her house. As the days go on, many funny as well as interesting things occur as Gore gets used to modern life as well as the fact that the British Empire is, in fact, not an empire anymore. Slowly the narrator shares a connection with Gore. Readers also get snippets from Gore's point of view while on the fateful expedition in 1845. Kaliane Bradley's debut novel, The Ministry of Time is a mash up of time travel, sci-fi, romance, and is even a spy novel, but ultimately it fell flat for me.

I think the premise of The Ministry of Time is very clever. It has all the elements of some of my favorite novels. I enjoyed the narrator as well as Gore, and really liked the parts about him adapting to his new life. I appreciated the fact that The Ministry of Time is thought provoking and makes many observations; however, the story lacked world-building as well as character building. Essentially, I wanted to dig deeper into the narrator's life and we don't even get to know her name! I felt like the  writing was very surface level and I wanted so much more. So, while many people enjoyed this debut novel (President Obama for one!), I felt like it was a letdown despite all its potential.
 

Have you read either of these novels? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

2 comments:

  1. Ugh, that's disappointing about The Ministry of Time! I love time travel novels. I have a copy on my shelf, but I will try to temper my expectations a bit when I get to it.

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    1. I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Definitely let me know. Thanks for visiting, Angela!

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