Every once in a great while, I run across a book that seems like it should be great and for some reason I just can't get into it. This always raises the question - do I press on and force myself to finish in hopes that it will get better, or do I just give up?
Right now I have one of these books going. It's called The Raising, by Laura Kasischke. The premise sounded great - a university mourning the loss of one of it's promising students, Nicole, who was killed in a car accident while with her boyfriend, who mysteriously escaped unharmed. There is a rumor, however, that Nicole might be back. Sounds good, right? Creepy, mysterious...good things. However, I am now 100 pages into this book and feel like it's going nowhere. The story keeps jumping from person to person - not normally something that bothers me - and from time frame to time frame (present day, before the accident happened, right after the accident happened, etc.) - again, not something that normally bothers me. However, these different threads do not yet seem to be weaving into the fabric of an actual story, and they're just not that engaging in and of themselves. This is different from say, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, which had a lot of jumping around as well. In that case though, the individual threads were very interesting, and you were anxious to see how they would all come together.
I think, with The Rising, I'll take a break and come back to it. Sometimes a little distance lessens the irritation, as does a good topical ointment. In this case, the ointment will be something I know I like to read, like a Jennifer Weiner novel.
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