So far, so good on the To Be Read challenge of 2009. I squeaked in under the wire for January and finished reading The Ruins by Scott Smith yesterday.
This book had gotten rave reviews and when I picked it up in the bookstore, probably two years ago, I knew that Stephen King was saying that this book was going to do for vacations in Mexico what Jaws had done for swimming off Long Island. I'm not a huge Stephen King fan, having really only loved one book that he wrote – "It." That book was psychologically scary –combining kids, creepy clowns and sewer grates. My hope for The Ruins, was for an easy read that taught me a bit about Mayan culture, while entertaining me with a bit of horror.
The Ruins wasn't scary. It wasn't smart. It wasn't even interesting.
I hoped that the story would involve archaeology, Mayan mythology or at least folklore. As it turned out the "danger" posed had nothing to do with Mexico or the Mayan culture. The characters were completely shallow and self-absorbed and by the end of the book I was so irritated that all I could think was, "I read this many pages for THIS??"
One sentence would reveal the entire plot of this book and be a spoiler for anyone wanting to read it. My question before you buy this book would be, however, "Why would you want to?"
I just hope my February To Be Read challenge book is a little more satisfying.
3 comments:
Thankfully, I only wasted 2 hrs on the movie...lol...better luck w/ the next book!
What is as bad as the book??
I only made it about 20 pages into the book. I did watch the movie, while multi tasking on other things. Glad I didn't really waste my time, it was bad.
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