The Accident SeasonMoira Fowley-Doyle
Genre(s): Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult
Published: August 18th 2015
Pages: 282
Rating: 1.5 stars
“The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.
But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?”
The Accident Season is a... weird book, that's for sure. I would call it unique, but it reminded me too much of We Were Liars and The Ocean of the End of the Lane. Whimsical and nonsensical best describe this mysterious novel. I'm not entirely convinced the author knew what she was doing when she wrote this because it's just so odd.
Sure, it's magical realism, it can get away with being rather kooky and quirky. What it cannot get away with, however, is leaving the reader in the dark. And not just that 'I wonder who the killer is' kind of left in the dark. I'm talking about full on 'what on earth is going on this doesn't make sense am I missing something' kind of feeling.
Yeah. I'm not a fan of that.
The prose was trying too hard to be poetic and metaphorical in the way that is become oh so popular in prose and it fell flat on its face. It didn't draw me in, it pushed me away. The story became boring and a chore to read, and considering this book is under three hundred pages that's an achievement.
There isn't exactly a solid plot (or even really a point) to The Accident Season. It tries to create an air of mystery but ultimately fails by wandering all over the place focusing too long on too many mundane things that are never fully explained. And even when things are resolved, they aren't really solved. Explanations are fleeting and the bare minimum of information is shoved at you and you're somehow meant to fit everything together and understand.
If you're a fan of whimsy and stories that border on pointless and boring, give this a go. If not, don't bother.
Oh no :( When I first read the synopsis I was like: this sounds so cool! I guess I don't mind whimsy books so I might give this a go, that synopsis still looks like something I would so be interested in! Sorry you didn't like it :(
ReplyDeleteIt was just... so odd and nothing like I expected from the synopsis. If you don't mind not getting any answers or real explanations then give it a go! Just hope you have more luck with it than I did :(
DeleteMy thoughts exactly! I'm not really a magical realism fan either, so this wasn't a favorite of mine either. :( Sorry you felt that way as well, but thanks for sharing! <3
ReplyDeleteIt's very odd, isn't it? Which is a shame really as it sounded quite interesting :(
DeleteWelp, the premise sounds really interesting, so that's something. But it looks like the execution left you bored and irritated! Oh dear. On to the next one! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's basically it, Cee :/ Ah well, you win some and you lose some!
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