Disappointment in The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland || SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland by Nicolai Houm

1/5 STARS

Genre: General Fiction
Author: Nicolai Houm
Published: April 2018
Publisher: Faber Factory
Pages: 192 {paperback}

Review on Goodreads

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

Initial Thoughts Upon Finishing

Well . . . this was really just not for me. The whole story felt entirely lacking in direction with confusing chapter after confusing chapter. Perhaps I missed the whole point, but I didn’t find it a riveting nor interesting enough read to appreciate that maybe the way it was written was to reflect the internal thoughts and workings of Jane? I pushed through hoping for an interesting end but was last indignantly bamboozled by the lack of a satisfying conclusion. Hmf.

Why I Didn’t Like It

The book was a meandering story of a very disturbed character and jumped – every single chapter – from one moment in time to another, back and forth with no apparent relationship to the previous scene.

Jane was a highly unlikeable character. It takes the whole book to get the story as to why she is how she is but the book read so detached and monotonous, with little to no emotion throughout the whole thing. She does weird things, she’s uncomfortable, she’s unhinged and I didn’t enjoy her one bit.

The blurb pulls you in with the hopes and promises of some sort of thriller or mystery – a woman alone in the Norwegian mountains! No food! No reception! How did she get there?! Well . . . there were approximately 4 chapters (of about 4 pages each) that are actually dealing with that part.

It’s not an exciting reveal as to why she’s there, the suggestion that someone has done something bad to her throughout and left her there falls heavily flat, and the resolution at the end was breathtakingly boring. I feel bad that I’m so uninspired by this book but lord, I am. I did not get this book, not one bit.

Summary

What more is there to say? This book made me angry that I was so let down by it. It’s a confusing mess without a clear plot line and lead by a highly dislikeable character. But alas, it has many good reviews so perhaps I shall just say that the shoe, in this case, simply did not fit. You might have better luck.