Renee's Updates en-US Sat, 21 Jun 2025 20:39:03 -0700 60 Renee's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9575322252 Sat, 21 Jun 2025 20:39:03 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee is currently reading 'The God of the Woods']]> /review/show/7673926683 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Renee is currently reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
]]> Review7479579112 Sat, 21 Jun 2025 20:01:35 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee added 'Fair Play: A Novel']]> /review/show/7479579112 Fair Play by Louise Hegarty Renee gave 3 stars to Fair Play: A Novel (Audible Audio) by Louise Hegarty
bookshelves: contemporary-literary-fiction, europe
The concept of this book--a woman tries to understand the sudden, violent, and unexplained death of her brother in a story split between classic detective fiction and literary fiction--is great, but the execution unfortunately falls flat.

The genre storyline reads as a strange pastiche of Agatha Christie references, including names, plot points, character relationships, descriptions, and dialogue. This may have worked better if the main characters had just been named Poirot and Hastings and if the detective sections had been more closely integrated with the literary ones. As-is, though, the detective fiction parts are more irritating than interesting. This is in part because they use Christie's work while ignoring--in fact, undermining--what made her novels great: her characters were generally *not* cliched stereotypes, but based on people she knew or observed.

In contrast, I enjoyed the explicitly literary fiction sections, which felt truer to the author's own voice. I would read more by her in this style. ]]> ReadStatus9575206141 Sat, 21 Jun 2025 19:59:34 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'The Giant Dark']]> /review/show/7673846912 The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin Renee wants to read The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin
]]> ReadStatus9565667775 Thu, 19 Jun 2025 08:40:50 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'The World of Yesterday']]> /review/show/7667268852 The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig Renee wants to read The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
]]> ReadStatus9564700884 Thu, 19 Jun 2025 01:57:30 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death']]> /review/show/7666584924 V is for Venom by Kathryn Harkup Renee wants to read V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup
]]> ReadStatus9554011609 Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:55:28 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'The Mean Ones']]> /review/show/7659195486 The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne Renee wants to read The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
]]> GiveawayRequest724137665 Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:53:10 -0700 <![CDATA[<a href="/user/show/103864582-renee">Renee</a> entered a giveaway]]> /giveaway/show/410824-the-shattering-peace The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi
50 copies available, ends on July 07, 2025
Enter to win ]]> ReadStatus9549001017 Sun, 15 Jun 2025 03:56:00 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'The Safekeep']]> /review/show/7655697148 The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden Renee wants to read The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
]]> ReadStatus9549000397 Sun, 15 Jun 2025 03:55:38 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life']]> /review/show/7655696722 The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke Renee wants to read The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life by Rachel Clarke
]]> ReadStatus9547508101 Sat, 14 Jun 2025 16:30:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Renee wants to read 'Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company']]> /review/show/7654659494 Apple in China by Patrick McGee Renee wants to read Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
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