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A review by thatbookishgem
Oliver Loving by Stefan Merrill Block
2.0
I absolutely loved the concept of this book; it was so original. Oliver Loving is a normal 17 year old boy whose life is completely turned upside down. In a school shooting at his High School dance, Oliver was shot in the head and left paralysed. Unable to move, speak or communicate in anyway the Doctors and nurses looking after him, people in the town and even his own family thought him brain dead.
Sadly, that’s where this stops. Whilst the concept was innovative, the writing was lacking. There were some wonderful descriptive passages, but just too much description. Pages and pages dedicated to describing the Loving’s home and land; yes, it was beautiful prose, but when this is all you’re getting with no development of plot or character, I found it starting to grate on me a bit.
The characters themselves were also a little one dimensional either, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them or even liking them. The changing narratives of each chapter was messy with no real definition of voice, and no particular character really had anything to give.
Full review available on my blog: https://thatbookishgem.com/2019/09/27/review-oliver-loving-by-stefan-merrill-block/
Sadly, that’s where this stops. Whilst the concept was innovative, the writing was lacking. There were some wonderful descriptive passages, but just too much description. Pages and pages dedicated to describing the Loving’s home and land; yes, it was beautiful prose, but when this is all you’re getting with no development of plot or character, I found it starting to grate on me a bit.
The characters themselves were also a little one dimensional either, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them or even liking them. The changing narratives of each chapter was messy with no real definition of voice, and no particular character really had anything to give.
Full review available on my blog: https://thatbookishgem.com/2019/09/27/review-oliver-loving-by-stefan-merrill-block/