Review of Charlie Harris
Posted: 09 May 2023, 11:28
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Charlie Harris" by Brendan Dempsey.]
Charlie Harris was the eldest of Jimmy Harry's children. His family wasn't quite well-to-do, living in tenements and sometimes lacking basic amenities like food, coal, and even clothes. Life was tough, owing to the squalid conditions his family—and other poor families, too—lived in. Due to poor healthcare, he and other people lost their children and kin to diseases like TB. The landlords, politicians, and wealthy people, on the other hand, were determined to make their affliction heavier. The police brutalized and killed workers who were protesting in strikes, and instead of being held accountable, the blame was shifted to the protestors. So many people hated the systems of the day, amidst forced recruitment into the army (or pushed by situations), as it was around the time of the World War. Amidst all that, Charlie had friends he could rely on—Vera, Harry, Jimmy, Bridget, and others. Read more about Charlie in Charlie Harris by Brendan Dempsey.
I'll save potential readers the trouble by getting straight to the point—this book was a disaster. I can't recommend it even a bit unless you want your brain to explode trying to understand the text. I have no hard feelings, but this book wasn't what I expected it would be from the review description. I think the overall plot was really promising, but all that excitement came crashing down the moment I began reading. The majority of the wrongdoing of this book is because it has been written in this awkward, accentuated style. The author's explanation is that there was a need to write it in the original dialect to maintain the character's personality, but that instead turned the whole book into a mess.
Any reader would agree that this is not how the original dialect should be captured in a book. It only made the book confusing and difficult to read. The author didn't even bother to at least edit the book, even after using such a confusing writing style. Apart from the fact that the plot was initially promising, this book has no redeeming qualities. I rate it 1 out of 5 stars. I recommend the author to rewrite it normally and capture whatever dialect was intended only in dialogues. This will go a long way to make the book better. Otherwise, this was a disappointing reading experience, and I won't recommend the book in its current state.
******
Charlie Harris
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Charlie Harris was the eldest of Jimmy Harry's children. His family wasn't quite well-to-do, living in tenements and sometimes lacking basic amenities like food, coal, and even clothes. Life was tough, owing to the squalid conditions his family—and other poor families, too—lived in. Due to poor healthcare, he and other people lost their children and kin to diseases like TB. The landlords, politicians, and wealthy people, on the other hand, were determined to make their affliction heavier. The police brutalized and killed workers who were protesting in strikes, and instead of being held accountable, the blame was shifted to the protestors. So many people hated the systems of the day, amidst forced recruitment into the army (or pushed by situations), as it was around the time of the World War. Amidst all that, Charlie had friends he could rely on—Vera, Harry, Jimmy, Bridget, and others. Read more about Charlie in Charlie Harris by Brendan Dempsey.
I'll save potential readers the trouble by getting straight to the point—this book was a disaster. I can't recommend it even a bit unless you want your brain to explode trying to understand the text. I have no hard feelings, but this book wasn't what I expected it would be from the review description. I think the overall plot was really promising, but all that excitement came crashing down the moment I began reading. The majority of the wrongdoing of this book is because it has been written in this awkward, accentuated style. The author's explanation is that there was a need to write it in the original dialect to maintain the character's personality, but that instead turned the whole book into a mess.
Any reader would agree that this is not how the original dialect should be captured in a book. It only made the book confusing and difficult to read. The author didn't even bother to at least edit the book, even after using such a confusing writing style. Apart from the fact that the plot was initially promising, this book has no redeeming qualities. I rate it 1 out of 5 stars. I recommend the author to rewrite it normally and capture whatever dialect was intended only in dialogues. This will go a long way to make the book better. Otherwise, this was a disappointing reading experience, and I won't recommend the book in its current state.
******
Charlie Harris
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon