Week 5: Kirkus Style Review + Prompt Response

 The It Girl 

BY RUTH WARE ‧ RELEASE DATE: JULY 12, 2022 

Tired and without action, may this book be the final nail in the coffin of the “girl” titles altogether. 

 

April Cloutts-Cliveden had it all: beauty, money, charisma. At Oxford, she practically danced circles around her awkward and unsure roommate Hannah and yet Hannah still admired her deeply- everyone did. When April was killed, it was Hannah’s testimony that convicted April’s killer, but 10 years later, old memories and doubts come flooding back when the supposed killer, John Neville, dies in jail and reporters begin asking questions. Alternating between flashbacks and a modern timeline, pregnant and vulnerable Hannah begins to learn that everyone has a secret to hide, including her now husband who dated April before her death. Hannah’s grief is overwhelming and often so paralyzing that it prevents her from realizing her full potential. While this depiction of grief is realistic, it creates a character often without motivation and intrigue. Although this book provides charming and occasionally dazzling descriptions of picturesque Scotland and England, the fantasy of death at such a prestigious university has been done time and time again and the main character’s aforementioned attitude is like a dark cloud over both settings. Without urgent action, the book lacks the je ne sais quoi of other books by Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn that readers have come to expect when there is a beautiful dead girl involved. In fact, the underlying internalized misogyny within these books is preventing the genre from evolving. Nearing overdone, this would be a fine end to the genre of mystery and suspense books with “girl” in the title.  

Familiar and easy to read, this book occasionally drones on and readers may find the resolution formulaic and disappointing. 

    Book reviews are so wildly different depending on where they come from. I feel that when I check GoodReads before reading a book that I am in search of positive reviews but am quickly met with reviews written by people who just want to shout their disappointment do loud that everyone can hear. I don't trust reviews that don't publish any negative content because I do want to be critical of even the best books. As I grow more familiar with review sources, I am going to add Kirkus to my "must check" review list, because I like the short/snapshot reviews at the very top of every entry.

    As for the question posed, "how do reviews affect collection development and is it fair that one type of book is reviewed to death while while others get no coverage?" Of course it isn't fair and yes it does affect collection development. If an eBook only title is only ever reviewed if it is written by a well known author, how will we ever learn about the "little guy authors?" Then again, if most of the patrons at your library do not have a way to access an eBook, why should be promote a title that they can't easily access? The Amazon review for the romantic suspense novel felt a little unhinged in that it was clearly someone who was not writing for professional reasons, whereas the blog review was more put together and professional. I trust the blog review slightly more, but the Amazon review gave me a good chuckle because it almost seemed as if it was another book since they described the plot a bit differently. I might buy that eBook for my library since romance-and especially Christmas romance- circulates pretty well. The reviews for Angela's Ashes seemed to mention many of the same plot points and gave me a good ideaa of the voice and writing style of the book. Each review had it's own voice too which gave a few different ideas of what the book might be like, but overall the reviews were consistent.

    Overall, I believe that reviews can be helpful for collection development, but there are many more aspects to consider outside of what is mentioned in a review. Reviews can also be helpful when finding personal reading material, but at the end of the day, sometimes its good to just take a chance on a book and see if you like it or not! After all, if you don't like a book, just return it to your library!