Kane and Abel
Never seek the wind in the field—it is useless to try and find what is gone.
1/5⭐
That a book could follow two characters—Kane and Abel—from birth to death, and still not convince me to care about them is an impressive feat.
The story begins with Kane’s easy upbringing, contrasted with Abel’s horrific one, and for a moment it felt like it was setting up a powerful story about the weight of childhood trauma, the fight to overcome impossible odds, or any other on a long list of more interesting themes.
Instead, the book devolves into boring legal squabbles, hotel management strategies, and two “stubborn old fools,” as the book describes them, who are blind to everything but their hatred for each other. A hatred which is rooted in the death of a character we, as readers, barely interact with and certainly don’t connect with enough to carry the entire emotional weight of the book.
The older Kane and Abel got, the more they became dull and one-note. Their grudge (which became more unrealistic by the page) pushed out all other potentially interesting character development.
Why give us their childhood histories in such rich detail if only to focus so heavily on something unrelated?
The biggest problem I had with this book was its predictability. I will be the first to admit I am terrible at predicting endings, in fact, I don’t even try to guess what’s going to happen. I want to be swept up in the story—including all the twists and turns. But this book was to blatantly obvious I knew every twist long before it was revealed, sucking any semblance of tension out of the story.
Additionally, ridiculous coincidences came from all sides, swooping in at the opportune moment to move the plot forward. There were moments I swear I could actually see the hand of the author pulling the strings.
Characters should feel like real people living real lives making real decisions, not chess pieces moving in predictable, structured ways.
It was a cookie cutter story with all the expected “surprises” and plot points. Nothing more.
(For more positivity, read my previous review of “The Shipping News.” It’s great!)
Some underline-worthy quotes:
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