Review: Unsuitable "Suits"

Suits: A Woman on Wall Street by Nina Godiwalla
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, I really did. A Parsi-American female I-Banker struggling with her priorities and obligations? Sold! Except...I wasn't. Not once I started reading.

I feel awful disclosing this, but it took me four attempts to get through this relatively brief, easy-to-consume book. And it's not because life got in the way or I temporarily forgot how to read. No, it's because it's...not...very...good. :( And I feel cruel for saying that, because I write too, and I know how disciplined Nina had to be to finish this book. I just wish it had been better. I also wish completing it didn't require sitting myself down and forcing myself to get through it before I'd allow myself to read anything else.

I didn't care about the characters. I could barely keep them straight, which is a dangerous sign-- if they're not memorable, why would I make time to read about them?

One of the only things that stood out to me about "Suits" is the screaming. Bizarre, I know, but there are several situations where Nina screams something, usually as a child or during a flashback. Yes, kids are loud. But "screaming" is a jarring, seemingly inapposite word. Kids tend to shout. Holler. Yell. In my admittedly minimal experience, kids who scream are either developmentally challenged or pre-verbal spoiled babies.

See? There. There is the most passion I could muster during this review, and it's to tell you about something glaring, which nagged me so thoroughly, I couldn't move past it and get lost in this story.

This book had potential, but the finished product did not convey it. The ending is abrupt, which isn't surprising, given how choppy some of the writing was. At that point, I rolled my eyes, muttered "predictable" and just shook my head, that it took me so long to read something that should have been fun, easy, infectious. It's a really bad sign when my reaction after finishing something is, "Huh. Maybe I CAN get a book deal, if this got published!" Eek, right? :(

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