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A review by helenfrench
End of Story by Louise Beech, Louise Swanson
2.0
The premise of End of Story reads like it will make for an interesting dystopia. Fiction is banned and the main character (Fern) used to be an author. No longer allowed to write, she is now an unhappy cleaner in a world where children aren't even allowed bedtime stories. Who can she trust...?
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Fern isn't a hugely reliable narrator. Her chapters are disjointed and the world around her doesn't quite make sense.
As a long-time science fiction reader (and other genres too!) who loves a dystopia and a book that asks 'what if', I think I was looking for something rather different than the author was offering. So maybe my rating for this one is really a 'me problem'.
The dystopia wasn't right from the very beginning - and while this is clearly intentional (and you will eventually understand why), I found it frustrating. I wanted a world where it somehow felt logical that 'they' had decided to ban fiction and to look at the ramifications of that.
Instead we have Fern, focused on sour milk, a man selling tea bags, and a trainer that disappears and reappears randomly. It's not until the final third of the book that the plot moves onto what's really happening. The problem is that I'd guessed what was really going on pretty early on. I'm not sure we needed to spend so long on the set up.
It's also a book that's quite sad. It's well done but I did feel as if someone was really trying to mess with my emotions!
I can't say much more without spoilers. I think this book will find fans in non-genre readers who love the unreliable narrator and twistyness. It simply wasn't the book for me.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Fern isn't a hugely reliable narrator. Her chapters are disjointed and the world around her doesn't quite make sense.
As a long-time science fiction reader (and other genres too!) who loves a dystopia and a book that asks 'what if', I think I was looking for something rather different than the author was offering. So maybe my rating for this one is really a 'me problem'.
The dystopia wasn't right from the very beginning - and while this is clearly intentional (and you will eventually understand why), I found it frustrating. I wanted a world where it somehow felt logical that 'they' had decided to ban fiction and to look at the ramifications of that.
Instead we have Fern, focused on sour milk, a man selling tea bags, and a trainer that disappears and reappears randomly. It's not until the final third of the book that the plot moves onto what's really happening. The problem is that I'd guessed what was really going on pretty early on. I'm not sure we needed to spend so long on the set up.
It's also a book that's quite sad. It's well done but I did feel as if someone was really trying to mess with my emotions!
I can't say much more without spoilers. I think this book will find fans in non-genre readers who love the unreliable narrator and twistyness. It simply wasn't the book for me.