Promise me eternity (Ian Fox)
Synopsis. Successful Neurosurgeon is depressed and has a home life that can only be described as extreme emotionally abusive. He is consistently ripped into, which causes him to be distant, which exacerbates his situation. Neurosurgeon saves the life of a known gangster after a car wreck, then falls head over heels for the gangsters wife. Obviously, not the brightest move, but people do stupid things for love.
Anything more would be spoilers.
Suffice to say that there are about ten total characters, and each has their part, though maybe not in the same story arc. This novel is more of a character exploitation in the realm of greed where love is involved. It is enjoyable, but if you are looking for action packed gripping plot line, you should look elsewhere. This is a book for Character lovers and those who enjoy a meandering stroll through the inner thoughts of people as lost as most of us fail to admit we are. The plot twist is less surprising and more “I knew that was going to happen” but the reaction of those involved is less expected. The main character blooms at that point becoming something I would not have guessed at. Again, all about the characters
Promise Me Eternity was a good read, but painful in one important (to me) regard. Taking place in Oregon, where I live, I had a rough time getting past the fact that all the characters spoke and thought like Europeans. It was off putting. Perhaps this is something that would not impact people from another part of the world, but for someone who lives here, it was very inauthentic feeling. I felt like the author had visited, but never stayed more than a couple days.
Descriptions of the area were also very lackluster, seeming to be from pictures found on the internet rather than an actual live experience.
I think the author would be better served in revamping and moving the location to a European location. else wise simply stating “so and so moved here from such and such after medical school”. This would not serve all characters the same though as one admitted to being born and raised local. The Euro feel to the language, thoughts, and conversation would be too difficult to fix, where relocation would be cut and paste, could even be a made up place, as the place is not important to the story.. From my view, this book could be set anywhere, the region mattered less than the characters. This in-genuine feeling took the novel and put it in an uncomfortable position. It went from plausible to “not sure if I care” multiple times per chapter.. The Grants Pass/Medford/Ashland area has a very vibrant individuality that was just “missing”.
Best suggestion, read the author’s synopsis and make your own decision. It won’t be for everyone, but it was not a bomb either.
Overall good work on this, worth reading, but if you are an Oregonian, you may find similar concerns.
Overall good work on this, worth reading, but if you are an Oregonian, you may find similar concerns.
I just couldn’t get past the language issues!!
- Approx Pages: 370
- Self Published – 2011
Maybe the author is part of the Bavarian Illuminati - Oregon Wing and assumes that all Oregonians have the same mannerism as his co-conspirators. And of course as part of a secret conspiracy, you would not be aware of this under the radar European culturalism right under your nose!
ReplyDeleteYou can find all sorts of people here in North Carolina. But a whole group of them who act (truely) European would be very odd. I am guessing that that is also the case for Oregon.
it is true, we have a pretty good melting pot here..
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason why it stuck out.. All of them sounded like Europeans, so there was no melting pot :)
Could be Bavarian Illuminati, but as the author is from Slovenia, I think that the Weishaupt branch may be less likely.. unless of course, the migrated southeast for better hiding, and then crossed the pond to Oregon :)
I have read this book and I'm afraid I do not feel this book is a very good read. This book starts off with the character Simon, Dr. Patterson, who is alone on a highway and is telling himself he must kill Carlo for Christine. Overall after reading it you get a feeling that there was not much of a plot line and there was a lot of excess included in the book that wasn't needed
ReplyDeletei can definitely see that.
ReplyDeleteI mainly finished this to see if the characters would take more form. as stated, the plot line was not all that surprising, so it was definitely more like a bunch of character sketches strung together.
I thought it was a good read, but have a lot of forgiveness in my well...
As a Slovenian author, i wonder if this would have come out better in his native language, and then translated by someone else..
Cathy you are right in a way, I started the book and couldn't complete it.. I felt someway somewhere somewhat is terribly missing.. Any ways, you seem to read a lot of books so you can be critical of a book, I cannot If iI try also, I usually end up linking a book.. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI know how that is Darin -
ReplyDeleteIf i make it all the way through a book, typically i have a favorable view of the experience. I will still point out the issue i had with it, but i cant help how my heart feels after the fact.
I definitely agree with Cathy.. the plot was "Meh" to the "erg" degree...
Where i disagree is that i still enjoyed the book for the most part.
thanks for stopping in :)