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Ashley's Reviews > The Sentence
The Sentence
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Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advance copy.
I really enjoyed the first 1/4 of this book but lost interest after that. The story centers around our main character Tookie, a Native American, ex-felon woman who is now working in a bookshop that is being haunted by a recently deceased customer. About halfway through the book, the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests happen and the ghost story gets pushed to the sidelines. I really enjoyed the first half about the ghost in the bookstore and wish it had been better incorporated into the current events plot. It felt like the author was in the middle of writing a ghost story when COVID hit and then decided to switch her focus away from the original story. I would have liked the main focus to be either one or the other, because the book feels jumbled and disjointed as it currently is.
I really enjoyed the first 1/4 of this book but lost interest after that. The story centers around our main character Tookie, a Native American, ex-felon woman who is now working in a bookshop that is being haunted by a recently deceased customer. About halfway through the book, the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests happen and the ghost story gets pushed to the sidelines. I really enjoyed the first half about the ghost in the bookstore and wish it had been better incorporated into the current events plot. It felt like the author was in the middle of writing a ghost story when COVID hit and then decided to switch her focus away from the original story. I would have liked the main focus to be either one or the other, because the book feels jumbled and disjointed as it currently is.
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Reading Progress
August 26, 2021
–
Started Reading
August 26, 2021
– Shelved
August 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
contemporary
August 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
arcs
August 27, 2021
–
12.0%
September 1, 2021
–
66.0%
September 1, 2021
–
Finished Reading
September 28, 2021
– Shelved as:
books-about-books
September 28, 2021
– Shelved as:
fantasy
September 29, 2021
– Shelved as:
kindle
August 16, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
(Paperback Edition)
August 16, 2022
– Shelved
(Paperback Edition)
Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)
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Gregory
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rated it 3 stars
Nov 21, 2021 10:51AM
Exactly how I felt
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thank you. At half way through, I came back to goodreads to see if other readers experienced the uneven pace of this book. I’m a Erdrich fan, and loved the book references and the ghost story part…but I’m going to give up on The Sentence. I’ve become bored with the lack of focus and cow trail meandering - oh look! A squirrel!
Oh, I agree. It’s getting difficult for me to stick with this one.
Exactly! And can someone please explain why the cocaine was strapped to the dead body? Did Mara put it there for some reason? It didn't quite make sense.
Felt the same way about this book. Disappointed.
Madhu wrote: "Exactly! And can someone please explain why the cocaine was strapped to the dead body? Did Mara put it there for some reason? It didn't quite make sense."I was also very confused by that! I've forgotten a lot about this book already, but I don't remember her prison background having much effect at all on the rest of the story.
Me too! It felt very disjointed and when the storyline veered away from the ghost I lost interest. As if she started out with a ghost story and then decided to write about Covid and George Floyd. DNF
Thank you! This is exactly how I felt.
Yes this!!!!
Totally agree. Thanks for voicing your reassuring opinion; as I read the many glowing reviews, I was beginning to think I'd missed something.
And why oh why doesn’t anyone mention the major ongoing logical flaw? Hetta’s baby stays a tiny baby for many months, maybe even a year! Who (didn’t) edit this?! C’mon!
It kind of sounds like you missed the point of the book... The narrative was written in real time with the pandemic and BLM protests and is meant to be read as a slice of life rather than a thriller. If that's not your thing that's cool, but to call the book jumbles and disjointed I don't think is fair. It was intentional.
