The Summer Beach Read Challenge
The NYT‘s Janet Maslin has declared The Shining Girls, (Hachette/Mulholland) by Lauren Beukes “a strong contender for the role of this summer’s universal beach read” (i.e., the next Gone Girl). Cuyahoga P.L. buyer Wendy Bartlett is a bit skeptical. Cautioning that she’s not yet read it, she says, “as cool as the plot sounds, it involves a killer who time travels and for most of our customers, time travel is an acquired taste.”
She’s issued a challenge to the Cuyahoga staff to read the galley and let her know whether she’s right or she needs to buy additional copies (she’s ordered a modest 19 copies for Cuyahoga’s 28 branches; most libraries around the country have also placed modest orders).
We’re inviting you to join in. E-galleys are on Edelweiss and NetGalley. Request the book (but hurry, e-galleys will only be available through Monday), read it and tell Wendy what you think in the comments section below.
If you’re not convinced that this is the Book of the Summer, which one are you betting on?’
May 29th, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Thanks, Nora!! I can’t wait to hear what people think! My super readers at Cuyahoga are on the job!
May 29th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
The book trailer was definitely creepy, but I must have missed the time travel part. Can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks!
June 1st, 2013 at 9:10 pm
Read it and I can see the appeal, but also why there’s hesitation. From my review (on Goodreads): “I can see the appeal: there’s a serial killer (always good for summer beach reading), a victim who didn’t actually die (another plus), and there’s a paranormal element (here, time travel). I can also see the problem: the time travel and “shining” require that readers suspend disbelief even more than usual, as they’re never quite explained.
June 4th, 2013 at 10:10 am
Short chapters and a fast pace makes this a definite beach read. The subject matter may turn off some readers who are not into serial killers, violence against women or just the casualness of the violence. Normally time travel is not an issue for me in books, but the way the author switches back and forth in time EVERY chapter does get a bit annoying. Having the date listed at the beginning of each chapter seemed to mock me more than help me figure out where the story was in the timeline. Also, when the author would try to throw in some cultural history for the different time periods I thought it had a tendency to drag the story down without really adding anything. The saving grace of the book though is Kirby. Broken, flawed and a survivor in every sense of the word, she burns with an intensity that for me defines “shining girl”.