The Secrets of Lizzie Borden by Brandy PurdyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I have read every review of this book I could find, and I have no idea how anyone ever finished it. I didn't make it very far before I realized this was nothing more than a jumbled mess of nonsense. Maybe all of the beginning ramblings lead up to something great, but even skipping whole chapters in an effort to find some piece of depth I was disappointed.
The trial of Lizzie Borden is infamous, so it really wouldn't take much effort to find out the details, which I noticed the author did include. That wasn't the problem I had, but rather with Lizzie herself. Given the era in which she lived and the life experiences she had, I expected to read about this very complex, deep, intriguing woman. What I got instead was the ramblings of a grown woman who seemed to think more like my 15 year old niece than a woman of well over 30. Lizzie came off as childish and incapable of staying on topic.
I never made it to the "good parts". What I read there where no dialogue, no opposing points of view, and the barest of character growth. In the few chapters I did read I wanted to shout at Lizzie to grow up! I always try to put myself in the stories I read, but as I was unable to tolerate Lizzie on paper, I doubt I could tolerate her in my real life.
I do have something nice to say about this book, because it wasn't all bad. I like the writing style the author chose, and I'm looking forward to reading something else (Something completely different from this subject material) by her. The problem with this story wasn't the author, but with the main character. The problem was with Lizzie herself.
I received a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
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