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I think McDowell is the first book for which I have managed to completely lose track of its timeframe. Take Billy and Tasha - their pregnancy is discovered, and then we hear that the child is born and Billy has become estranged, yet from the other plot points I had no idea that so much time had passed between these two events. I also have no concept of how long Hiram spent with Maud and her family, although I admit I may have missed this.

Did you also lose track of the progression of time? If so, did it have have much influence of your opinion of the writing or plot? I felt surprised at times by how many months had passed, but I would not say that it spoiled my enjoyment of the book.

Oh my gosh... Yes! Even on page 1 it says Hiram's 2nd wife died in summer of 1999 and he married Carole 2 years later. The next heading is 1999 but he is already married to Carole for some time. I had to read it a few times and came to the conclusion it's an error.
I also find throughout the book that gaps in time aren't indicated. For example, Carole is waiting for him to get off a plane so she can talk to him about Tasha and Billie. We're reading about that, then in the next line they're at dinner and eating. There wasn't even a line break to let us know time will be skipped. I think this is my least favourite thing about the book to be honest.

This was an issue. Although it really doesn't distort the the plot, it did make me lose a bit interest. One minute was lonely and was saved by a new best friend. The next minute we find she had a lover who seemed to have existed without our prior notice. It's just tiring

Yes, the author failed to mention the timeframe im the book. It was difficult to find out how much time has passed between the scenarios.

I did not have any trouble following the timeline. The flow of the story was smooth enough to make it an interesting and easy-to-read novel.

While I agree completely with all these comments about the unclear timeline, I think the reason why the Author gets away with it, is that he drives the story forward at such a pace, the timings suddenly become secondary. Perhaps inserting dates or months at the start of each sub-heading could avoid much confusion. Certain obvious discrepancies like the 1999 date should be cleared up because that is an obvious error. I must say, none of this affected my enjoyment of this novel in any way.

I had an incredibly hard time following the time frame and that is one of the biggest negatives of this book in my opinion. I wish the author would have kept going with the year at the beginning of each chapter and maybe even just a month or season.

While the book sounds interesting and thrilling, the confusing time lines might make it hard to read. They might also slow the book down.

Very true. Although the inconsistency in the timeline doesn't detract from the flow of the book

I would lose track of time but found the story would then mention a detail and bring it back. I think there were a few errors from time to time but they were quickly bulldozed over. The book does require close reading if one is to keep up.

SienaStein wrote: ↑21 Oct 2018, 14:31 Oh my gosh... Yes! Even on page 1 it says Hiram's 2nd wife died in summer of 1999 and he married Carole 2 years later. The next heading is 1999 but he is already married to Carole for some time. I had to read it a few times and came to the conclusion it's an error.
I also find throughout the book that gaps in time aren't indicated. For example, Carole is waiting for him to get off a plane so she can talk to him about Tasha and Billie. We're reading about that, then in the next line they're at dinner and eating. There wasn't even a line break to let us know time will be skipped. I think this is my least favourite thing about the book to be honest.

I thought I was the only one who started off confused, lol. Rereading things a couple of times helped me have a better understanding.

Yes, it was difficult

This was one of the biggest problems that I had with this book, as the various plot lines were not linked together very well. For me, this was a huge distraction, because the various plots are somewhat crucial to being able to understand the progression of McDowell's change.

Very true. The timeline was all over the place. However, the tone and pace of the book kept my interest alive right till the end.

Yes, catching up with the timeline was a bit difficult. But whenever I read the story from different perspectives of different characters, I understood whether it was linear or a considerable time had passed.