a long pending book review of PRISONER OF BIRTH. introduced to me by a friend as the best book he's ever read, all in a gushing way. an almost 500 page book is about a person wrongly convicted of murder by an influential criminal. the book's divided into 5 parts- trial, jail life, freedom, revenge and redemption. the concept- pretty good. the execution- disappointing.
you see, the author's treatment of the novel seems detached and clinical. like people interact with a person suffering from a contagious disease. 2nd fault- lack of good editor. dude, when u write a 500 page saga with the smallest possible font size, either you got to make it outstanding and crisp or take look at the delete button on ur keyboard. the way he's presented it, its like me keeping a daily account of how i wake up, observe the ceiling, find some patterns the leaking water has made in it for 10 min, then sit up, look outside the window, watch the birds idly for another 10 min, then go pee, stand there in that position long after im done...you get the gist don't you?
next- the author's questionable sense of humor or maybe my inability to understand his wisecracks(may i?). there are several instances when a person laughs at some dialogue by the other and i go " what's so funny in it?"
in the synopsis at the back, they grandly proclaim PREPARE FOR THE MOST UNEXPECTED ENDING THAT WILL SHOCK EVEN THE MOST ARDENT OF ARCHER FANS. all i would like to say is "yada yada."
all's not bad though. the thinking, the way the plot goes is really clever. the character of the convict's lawyer's father is what is the most memorable part of the book. and his jokes are understandable(phew!). its solely coz of this character that the book picks up in last 30 pages. but to reach to that point, you need great patience.
but i would want to give archer another chance. so what should i pick up next? ken and abel? hello aceviper...
