Review: Simply Put: This Stunk
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 01 12, 2012
I bought this because the description says that it was historical fiction (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one) about a lake community in Northwestern New Jersey. Having once been a resident of a Northwestern New Jersey lake community, my interest was peaked. I'm not sure how this assumption came to be (other than someone writing it in the book description) because no where in the book does it mention the exact name of the lake community or being in Northwestern New Jersey. There are several mentions of a place called Clarkdale. I've lived in New Jersey all my life (20+ years of that living in the general area this book is supposed to be written about) and I have no memory of a town called Clarkdale. Giving benefit of the doubt and being curious since I know there are many towns that once existed in New Jersey that either fizzled out or changed their names, I tried to research it further and still could find no such place ever existed. That issue aside, the story was tedious and boring. The characters in this book are pretty one dimensional: pretentious snobs. I kept waiting for something; some kind of crescendo but nothing came. The "story" is a boring flat line. Even the ending stunk; this book feels very unfinished. It's not often that I totally HATE something I read, but I guess that's why this book was only $1.99 - you get what you pay for sometimes.