2 out of 4 stars
**/****
McDowell is a half redemption tale, half fictional memoir of a surgeon at the height of his power, and his subsequent fall from it. It follows the titular character, Hiram McDowell, members of his family, and the people whose lives he changes, frequently not for the better.
This was a hard start for me. The characters were unlikable, violently so, and I found my notes littered with comments about their personalities and arrogance, even twenty chapters in. The author did his job, these characters were VIVID, and I found myself insulted and frequently disgusted by them, their thoughts, and actions.
Hiram McDowell is an arrogant, manipulating, womanizing stain on the world he inhabits, and as I read, I was struck that I had never hated a character more. He revolted me, made me want to shove the book away from myself and take a shower. I cannot fully express how violent a gut reaction I had to him, his actions, and his personality, but he is written perfectly, horribly, and all the better for it. …show more content…
Not bad, but strangely assembled as a narrative, with time jumps and locations jumps, large sections of seemingly irrelevant side encounters that would lend themselves to the world building but instead just feel out of place. Seemingly important details and events are glossed in a matter of sentences, with entire pages are dedicated to minor moments that play no part in the greater plot. In these admittedly rich, vibrant moments, you are drawn into spaces so fully it seems palpable, but without reason. Largely, these do not advance the plot, and, while some of my favorite scenes in the book at the time, reflect oddly, existing almost outside the continuity of the story as a whole. While left with major plot points you hurtle past in a sentence or two, it leaves you jarred, and can knock you out of greater
**/****
McDowell is a half redemption tale, half fictional memoir of a surgeon at the height of his power, and his subsequent fall from it. It follows the titular character, Hiram McDowell, members of his family, and the people whose lives he changes, frequently not for the better.
This was a hard start for me. The characters were unlikable, violently so, and I found my notes littered with comments about their personalities and arrogance, even twenty chapters in. The author did his job, these characters were VIVID, and I found myself insulted and frequently disgusted by them, their thoughts, and actions.
Hiram McDowell is an arrogant, manipulating, womanizing stain on the world he inhabits, and as I read, I was struck that I had never hated a character more. He revolted me, made me want to shove the book away from myself and take a shower. I cannot fully express how violent a gut reaction I had to him, his actions, and his personality, but he is written perfectly, horribly, and all the better for it. …show more content…
Not bad, but strangely assembled as a narrative, with time jumps and locations jumps, large sections of seemingly irrelevant side encounters that would lend themselves to the world building but instead just feel out of place. Seemingly important details and events are glossed in a matter of sentences, with entire pages are dedicated to minor moments that play no part in the greater plot. In these admittedly rich, vibrant moments, you are drawn into spaces so fully it seems palpable, but without reason. Largely, these do not advance the plot, and, while some of my favorite scenes in the book at the time, reflect oddly, existing almost outside the continuity of the story as a whole. While left with major plot points you hurtle past in a sentence or two, it leaves you jarred, and can knock you out of greater