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The Scent Of Pine (2014)

by Lara Vapnyar(Favorite Author)

2.87 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

147671262X (ISBN13: 9781476712628)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fiction

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: This book was quite disappointing. The present-day story was completely uninteresting. I know it was just a framing device to tell the story of Lena's summer as a camp counselor but every time we went back to the present day, I groaned. Ben and Lena really put the "dull" in "adultery"! And just what is it editors do these days?! The book was written in the third person but would occasionally slip into first person and there were several continuity errors. However, there was a surprising twist at the end which earned the second star.
review 2: I know I should give the author a bit of a break b/c English is not her first language. The book is pretty darn impressive from that perspective. However, I was irritated by a couple of first person narrative slips ... moreduring the third person narration. At times when Lena is telling Ben her camp story, it is in first person but the rest of the book is not. I also found ALL of the characters unlikeable, even Lena. Why is she so unhappy with Vadim, for example? Once I know who he really is, I was even more irritated. Plus she and Ben have had affairs before (of course), which makes them seem weak. If they're so unhappy, why be so deceitful vs. honest? And the book ends abruptly. Will Lena and Vadim carry on as before? Will she keep in touch with Inka (also a character I could not like--at camp or in the present)? Does Ben stay with Leslie, although he does not love her?! I didn't like the hedgehog pussy/sex stuff, either. Too crude for me. Maybe I should have given this 2 stars?! less

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