Review: Not sure what the author was trying to do here
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2013
The story is so bizarrely constructed that I think it might be based on the real-life experiences of the author.  We're dropped pretty much into the middle of the story as saintly and too-good-to-be-true Noor drives to her friend Truvy's house.  Truvy has called her in a panic, afraid of her live-in boyfriend, Jake.The action takes place at an indeterminate time (at one point, we're told something was difficult "in those days," but we -- as readers -- have no earthly idea what "those days" are).  The behaviors of the characters are ripped straight from the afterschool special zone -- nobody feels real or authentic. The story has a point to make about how the system lets women and children down.  Unfortunately, it sacrifices the elements of decent fiction to make that point.The words chosen by the author are often unnecessarily florid or used slightly incorrectly, creating an unintentionally comic effect.  There are also spelling issues (at one point a character demands to know if another character is "Kojack," while the Telly Savalas character is "Kojak."  The ending of the story, which comes after much back-and-forth meandering, is frustratingly abrupt.