Seven Deadlies by Gigi Levangie is a novel compiling seven stories on the seven deadly sins. Perry, the brainy, down-to-earth, daughter of a nurse, tells us the misadventures of the students she tutors in her ritzy, Beverly Vista high school.
I had such high hopes, and yet I'm so disappointed. This had all the makings of a dark, Dahl-esque cautionary tale, but the writing was so convoluted. And the ending? Huh?
I wanted to like this so much, and there were a few of the tales that were better than others (I really liked "Gluttony" & "Greed"). I also liked the style of the novel- dividing the chapters as letters written to a board. However, the narration left a lot to be desired; our narrator, Perry, goes off on tangents that leave us confused.
I am a fan of hyperbole & allegory, and when used well it can make a great point. However, this was so ridiculous at times, I felt the point was lost. It's really sad, because I enjoyed Levangie's novel The Starter Wife. It looks like Seven Deadlies is going to be made into a TV series- as unimpressed as I was with the book, I do think it will translate well to television. Maybe it will cause us to care about the characters more.
I'm still torn on what I thought...I did find it entertaining...but again, the narration (to me) just took away from everything else.
If you're going to go for a book on being a good human being- stick with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It wasn't bad...but there are better.
Seven Deadlies is published by Penguin USA. Digital ARC provided by NetGalley.
Release Date: 10.17.2013
SARAH! I got an e-galley of this and just could not finish it. It was just too bizarre! It had a great premise, but quickly dissolved into bizarro-land. I think I may have skimmed to the end to see what happened, but I may have blocked that out of my memory.
ReplyDeleteThis is Pam, btw. :D
:-D I almost gave up on it twice, but figured it was short enough I'd get through it. I spent about 75% of the time going "huh?" And the other 25% thinking "Dahl did it better."
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