Running off at the Keyboard

 My son sends me some of the political videos produced by the Lincoln Project, a group of REPUBLICANS opposed to Donald Trump. They are all brilliantly done, but below is a link to one of their very best—a devastating parody of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita. The gist:  Trump's self-centered recklessness that exposed so many non-medical personnel to Covid-19.

For "Don't Cry for Me, White House Staffers," click here.

RUNNING OFF AT THE KEYBOARD

 I am keeping my long-standing practice of not naming names when criticizing an author's work, but this one may be hard to disguise.

I am also aware of the absurdity of a "niche" author criticizing one of the most best-selling authors in the world, but having just suffered through his/her latest book, I couldn't let it go without comment.

 

Yes, details are what make a good author's work rise above the rest. The color, the descriptions, the "little things" that embellish the plot and characters and turn them into real people, people the reader cares about. But when those details run to 900+ pages and include minute details to the point of the nonsensical, repetitions galore, the plot nearly lost beneath a deluge of minutiae, I suffer. I can only assume the author's creative imagination soared to the ridiculous, including every possibility that flitted its way through his/her mind, and neither common sense nor editor said, Nay. 

At 400-500 pages (maybe even 600), this would have been another brilliant book by an undoubtedly brilliant author. As it is, trying to plow through all those details to find the "meat" of the story was agonizing. In spite of the fact that I love the main characters and solving the mystery was truly challenging, I had to force myself to finish the book, reading several "lighter" works to give me a change of pace during a waterfall of words that seemed to take forever to decode.

I suppose this particular author is so famous that his/her editor just rolls over and plays dead, but . . . ! I can only hope that if enough people complain, some attempt will be made to corral the next book in the series into a more readable form.

Or perhaps I'm merely one of lnly a few who is offended. Maybe I'm wrong. I welcome comments, both yay and nay. 

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To lighten the world we've all been living in for the past six months, Edith Maxwell, a Facebook friend and author, has been posting photos of her kitten, Ganesh.This has to be the world's most photogenic kitten. Here are a few samples to make you smile:

Ganesh

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To find The Vicar's Daughter on Amazon, click here.

To find The Vicar's Daughter on Smashwords, click here.
    (Smashwords always offers a 20% free read.)

For "inside information" on The Vicar's Daughter, please check out my Facebook Author Page. Click here.

For a link to Florida Wild on Amazon, click here.

For a link to Florida Wild on Smashwords, click here.

   (20% free read available at Smashwords.com)

Grace note:  The Vicar's Daughter and Florida Wild are both available on Smashwords affiliates, such as B&N, Apple, & Kobo. 

  
For Blair's website, click here.
 

Thanks for stopping by,
Grace (Blair Bancroft)