I was determined to
review this book having read the first chapter via the 'Look Inside'
feature. The glamorous setting and subject matter, New York fashion
models, sucked me in and the descriptions of the characters and their
careers made me feel like I was getting a glimpse behind the curtain.
A Diary Scribbled in
Tears tells the story of English Cole, an aspiring model for whom
everything in her life seems to be going right. It's testament to
the writing that she's a likeable character despite her envy-inducing
lifestyle. One can easily see that she's worked hard and made
sacrifices to get where she is, plus the glitz and glamour of
modelling quickly reveals itself as paper thin.
Dark secrets about
English's past threaten to ruin everything, her relationship, career and public image. Her past soon becomes the least of her
worries, her future is under threat when she finds
out someone might be plotting to kill her.
The action throughout
is snappy, as is the dialogue, scenes feel fast moving, in keeping
with the New York City setting. The sub-plot of English's
relationship with her estranged father, who abandoned her as a child,
is rewarding and relevant. His existence and troubled back story
mean he is necessarily in the reader's mind when allegations of
corruption and money laundering are levelled at English.
It takes a little long
to get to English's downfall, causing the real cut and thrust of the
story to feel slightly squashed into the second half of the book, but
the narrative is enjoyable enough for this not to be a major problem.
The ending is satisfying enough, although an exposition scene
towards the end turns a little preachy. All the characters standing
around putting the world to rights is a little unusual, even if the
resulting revelations are plausible given the events of the story. I
would have preferred these revelations to have occurred more
organically.
A Diary Scribbled in
Tears is overall a thoroughly enjoyable story, with a universally
positive message about family and friends.
0 comments:
Post a comment