Review: Excellent example of the genre. Recommended
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2013
Book Review: The Long and the Short Of It by Jan RuthReviewed by J Bryden LloydWriting Style - 4.5/5.0 (Excellent)The consistent, smooth writing style is superb. Everything feels and sounds real, the dialogue fits perfectly within the narrative and embellishes the characters.The clear knowledge of the areas in the stories, and the hint of real people in almost every character makes each story shine a little, and but for the rather open endings of the shorts, this is exceptional.Character Development - 3.5/5.0 (Good)It is very difficult to get high quality character development in short stories, and near impossible in excerpts; but this author goes a pretty long way to establishing development in the majority of the characters she has included in these stories. The few exceptions do feel a little incidental, though they have a place in their respective stories and in a way, this made me feel as if two of the shorts were awaiting the transition into something larger. All in all, these were a good crop of characters, carefully considered to bring key attributes to their stories, For me though, one or two of them needed a little oomph!Descriptive - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good)Some of this descriptive was stunning. The scenery, the atmosphere; everything just as it should be. I did feel that we dropped a little when detailing characters, and there seemed little thought of mannerisms in the dialogue sometimes, making the characters melt into one another a little.To be fair, all of the criticisms are for items that are rare in the text, but noticeable if you are looking specifically for them. Otherwise, all was awesome in the state of North Wales.Language & Grammar - 4.5/5.0 (Excellent)There is a nice, flowing style here, assisted greatly by good word selection and excellent use of language. I had a few chuckles when trying to work out how some would read the Welsh words included in the texts, but I certainly don't view that as an area to criticise.The editing was excellent, and though I did feel that there were odd areas where the strength of the word structure lulled a little, it didn't detract from the interest of the read.Plot - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good) - NO SPOILERSThis is a little more complicated, and may sound more critical than intended, but I felt that - by the end of the third short story, the underlying plots were a little stale; not the same, but drawing on the same emotional strings. Although the stories had their unique twists and promises of differing paths into the future, the loose ends which could have served to strengthen the characters were - sort of - left, half tied.For the three opening excerpts, the character traits were a little tighter; and although there was (inevitably) a little less character development, and a little more character history to get through, the mood of the pieces felt calmer, more controlled.Whether this is indicative of an author who has made the subliminal leap away from short stories, is difficult to tell, but the `Longs' were certainly more impressive works plot-wise.General - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good)It is only right that I state how much outside my usual reading preferences, this book was. Even so, I do pride myself on appreciating good writing and being honest enough to admit if I liked something `different' from my norm.Jan Ruth certainly managed to press all the `impressive' buttons, but I would have to be brutally honest and say that, whether that means I would personally go and read her other works, is very uncertain.For fans of gentle romance and this sort of emotional roller-coaster read, I would have to say "Get in there and get reading".A worthy Four-and-a-bit!If this is your thing, I definitely recommend it.