I requested Bittersweet from the library because breathless reviews told me that it would be impossible to put down, that it was one of THE reads of the summer. It’s about a girl who goes home with her college roommate to a compound in New Hampshire where the roommate’s large, rich family spends its summers. Shadows and secrets abound.
I started Bittersweet last week, and am about 120 pages in. Now the book is overdue; I can’t extend it because it has holds at the library; and I am going to give up and not finish it. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t finish a book. Here’s why I am giving up:
- 1. It just isn’t grabbing me. I’ve had long stretches to read (ie cross-country flights) and I couldn’t get into it.
- I think I got my fill of rich WASPs on summer compounds with We Were Liars.
- The characters are inscrutable and inconsistent, in addition to being unlikeable.
- I went on Goodreads and learned the Big Secrets from people’s spoiler reviews.
- I cannot stand having overdue books. Like the Tell Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards, overdue library books eat at me, emitting a disapproving glow from wherever they are in the house until I return them. This one is a week (!) late.
So I’ve blown a whole summer week on Bittersweet and can’t even add it to my yearly book count. Oh well. Life’s too short; I’m moving on.