Review: El enigma de la habitación 622

El enigma de la habitación 622 by Joël Dicker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you're looking forward to reading a book by a Swiss author about Geneva (and Verbier), then this is great. However, I'm not sure you can expect much more. 

The story kept jumping around in time, which started confusing me. I did like how the author placed himself writing the book as part of the book (although this sort of confused me as well), and how apparently the tribute to his recently deceased publisher and mentor was for a real person (I figured it had to be, since otherwise it was just the main character droning on and on about how he admired some random publisher who had nothing to do with the story, and in fact broke up the pace considerably). 

However, some of these characters were incredibly one-sided. For example, one of the main stars is "Strikingly handsome", a banking genius who managed, without a background in banking, to rise to the top of the banking world quickly, speaks 10 languages, is super nice, is coveted by the main female character, etc. etc. Later, things do get a bit more complicated, but thanks to the deus-ex-machina way in which things turn out, I can't really say I appreciated it very much. 

I get the feeling the author doesn't have a good idea as to how banking works. Just a thought. 

But, I did stick through it all and wanted to know how it ended (I can't say I was satisfied, but it did keep me entertained). I also liked how we find out many aspects of the book had to do with the author's personal life. 

I'm giving it a generous 3 stars. 

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Review: The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So the first review that pops up for me for this book is by someone who admits to having only read 40 pages. I don't really understand how only reading 40 pages makes someone feel they can give an extensive review, but there you go.

In fact, after having read that review, I really wish I had enjoyed this book more so I could give it a higher rating, thereby maybe undoing some of the damage.

Unfortunately there were quite a few issues that didn't sit well. Yes, as mentioned several times, the writing was very YA-ish. But then again, it's a mystery novel, and you can't really expect Camus in mystery novels (the abovementioned review does compare this to Camus. As you can tell, the review didn't sit well with me either). I also REALLY didn't like the whole pedophile angle, including the way Nola acted. The references to Lolita could have been a tad more subtle, rather than an anvil to the face.

The author also seemed to wish to accomplish way too much. I've heard authors do this with early novels. They want to impart all of their life lessons and interesting techniques in one "supernovel". I got a lot of that here.

Then again, it is a Mystery novel/Thriller, and each chapter kept me interested, and, especially at the end, I found it pretty hard to put down. That's what a mystery novel is supposed to do, so in this case it worked.

Also, kudos to the translator. I actually hadn't realized it was a translation at first, which means he probably did a great job.

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