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A review by emmaraeempowered
Scarecrow Has a Gun by Michael Paul Kozlowsky
Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.
I really wanted to like this book, and I really tried to make my way through it but I cannot stand it and have to dnf it. I was hooked in my the title and description of this book but the pace and some other details...sadly really let me down. Before we get into this I do want to say thank you to the publisher for sending me this arc.
This book follows Sean who is a widower. His wife tragically died in his arms, however he cannot quiet remember how. The only memory he has is that he watched her die in his arms. Now Sean works at this company where the CEO frequently holds these tests or games for a group of other widowers and whoever wins the games is said to be granted wealth and fame.
Sean finally wins a round and he is given a box and instructed to go home and use it to retrieve his memories. This box hooks up to his temples and then projects his memories in front of him. He sees memories of his wife, his childhood, and even some mundane moments.
Let's get into when I first had a problem with this book. So when Sean gets home we get introduced to his new wife and his daughter as well as his teenage son from his previous marriage. His son is going through an emo phase and doesn't like communicating with his step-mom. Sean goes up to his son's room to talk to him and when he finally enters he notices that his son has a poster of Hitler in his room and then thinks "I don't know how to handle that" and proceeds to ignore it and attempt to tell his son he needs to be better at communicating. This pissed me off honestly for so many reasons. 1. why even write this in?? 2. why not write the character to handle it instead of bring it up then move on. I still cannot believe that this was written in! As I type this I'm remembering that the poster also had a Nike symbol on it. Just so many issues with this. Honestly this is when I should have immediately dnf'd but unfortunately I continued reading.
Because I received this arc I felt like I should continue on reading so I did.
The story progresses with him reliving memories and feeling like this machine could help him see who killed his wife and what actually happened on that night. The pace of this sequence was interesting at first then quickly lost my interest as it felt repetitive and I felt like we weren't getting any actual clues surrounding his wife's murder. Then we get to a part where his son is unloading a lot of what he is going through with coping with the fact that his mother was murdered when he was young and that he'll never know her and Sean's memory box ruined what he built up in his head of who his mom was. Sean brushes this off - "Teenagers. Teens and their angst. I wondered if it was the drugs or drinking. But maybe it was just who he was, so much like his mother."
Another issue I had with this is 40%-ish in Sean is taking the box back to the CEO to ask some questions. He decides to take a subway and it's written that he sees a "rather intimidating teenager" with a t-shirt that says "Jesus is Black". He then clutches his bag and hurries away.
*sigh*
The last thing that I had a problem with is there is a memory that plays where Sean and his toddler daughter are at a family event and his uncle says that his daughter is shy. This pisses Sean off and he tries explaining that she isnt. He then tells this elaborate lie of her preforming in front of the church and tries getting the toddler to agree with the lie even as she protests that none of it happened. But he keeps going on and on and finally the, again, toddler nods and agrees that yes this did happen therefore she didnt lie. Everyone rejoices I guess and he bends down and tells her "you remember this and remember how everyone loves when you share how great you are with them" so okay cool yeah let's tell a toddler everyone will love her if she lies.
This character is not enjoyable and at this point I was so annoyed with everything. I ended on 43%. Once Sean got back to the CEO and asked what the box was he responded with something like 'if you don't get it you don't deserve to know'.
So with relief I dnf this book and move on to the next read.
This book follows Sean who is a widower. His wife tragically died in his arms, however he cannot quiet remember how. The only memory he has is that he watched her die in his arms. Now Sean works at this company where the CEO frequently holds these tests or games for a group of other widowers and whoever wins the games is said to be granted wealth and fame.
Sean finally wins a round and he is given a box and instructed to go home and use it to retrieve his memories. This box hooks up to his temples and then projects his memories in front of him. He sees memories of his wife, his childhood, and even some mundane moments.
Let's get into when I first had a problem with this book. So when Sean gets home we get introduced to his new wife and his daughter as well as his teenage son from his previous marriage. His son is going through an emo phase and doesn't like communicating with his step-mom. Sean goes up to his son's room to talk to him and when he finally enters he notices that his son has a poster of Hitler in his room and then thinks "I don't know how to handle that" and proceeds to ignore it and attempt to tell his son he needs to be better at communicating. This pissed me off honestly for so many reasons. 1. why even write this in?? 2. why not write the character to handle it instead of bring it up then move on. I still cannot believe that this was written in! As I type this I'm remembering that the poster also had a Nike symbol on it. Just so many issues with this. Honestly this is when I should have immediately dnf'd but unfortunately I continued reading.
Because I received this arc I felt like I should continue on reading so I did.
The story progresses with him reliving memories and feeling like this machine could help him see who killed his wife and what actually happened on that night. The pace of this sequence was interesting at first then quickly lost my interest as it felt repetitive and I felt like we weren't getting any actual clues surrounding his wife's murder. Then we get to a part where his son is unloading a lot of what he is going through with coping with the fact that his mother was murdered when he was young and that he'll never know her and Sean's memory box ruined what he built up in his head of who his mom was. Sean brushes this off - "Teenagers. Teens and their angst. I wondered if it was the drugs or drinking. But maybe it was just who he was, so much like his mother."
Another issue I had with this is 40%-ish in Sean is taking the box back to the CEO to ask some questions. He decides to take a subway and it's written that he sees a "rather intimidating teenager" with a t-shirt that says "Jesus is Black". He then clutches his bag and hurries away.
*sigh*
The last thing that I had a problem with is there is a memory that plays where Sean and his toddler daughter are at a family event and his uncle says that his daughter is shy. This pisses Sean off and he tries explaining that she isnt. He then tells this elaborate lie of her preforming in front of the church and tries getting the toddler to agree with the lie even as she protests that none of it happened. But he keeps going on and on and finally the, again, toddler nods and agrees that yes this did happen therefore she didnt lie. Everyone rejoices I guess and he bends down and tells her "you remember this and remember how everyone loves when you share how great you are with them" so okay cool yeah let's tell a toddler everyone will love her if she lies.
This character is not enjoyable and at this point I was so annoyed with everything. I ended on 43%. Once Sean got back to the CEO and asked what the box was he responded with something like 'if you don't get it you don't deserve to know'.
So with relief I dnf this book and move on to the next read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault