The Trouble with Goodreads and a Review of the Passing Tribute

I recently completed an ARC of this on #Pigeonhole 
It was rather a departure for them and not as well received as many of the books on there which I thought was rather disappointing. A few of the readers complained it was “too wordy” and not for them, so gave it up quickly, which is fair enough. However, what I thought was highly unfair was the subsequent one star reviews on Goodreads, particularly by people who didn't even finish it.

The book currently has an average review of two stars. One of the reviewers has complained that the author should basically be resigned to any level of criticism after he reported her review for spoilers. This must be the ultimate punch in the gut after she's had the opportunity to read his book for free. I can't say that I would feel comfortable doing that even if I disliked the book. I'll write an honest review wherever I can but I have to acknowledge the effort someone has put into it. Maybe if it was poorly edited or factually incorrect or problematic maybe you would be justified, but not on the basis that it was too hard for you to read!

Sorry guys, that's the way it is.

Anyway, on to the review. Yes, this is not a casual read. The author has experimented with the postmodern idea of avoiding 'the tyranny of plot’, comparing this to the work of Virginia Woolf. There are overarching themes and things that happened, but they are not linked together, this is to give a more naturalistic feel to the story. A series of impressions to give a feeling of what is happening. It particularly suits the settings of post war England and Vienna with the themes of desolation and rebuilding. It's an incredibly lyrical, poetic story which does use some words considered archaic or obscure, but I think it's justified. This is a story about two brothers, one living in England, the other in Vienna.

I thought the parts of the story set in Vienna worked better, particularly due to the character of Millie, who works as some light relief in what could have become rather a heavy story. In contrast, I found Richard's parts a bit more difficult due to his relationship with Helene who is enigmatic to the point that I didn't feel like I could get to grips with either her character or their relationship. I feel like I may have read it a bit too quickly and that maybe Pigeonhole didn't really work as a platform for it. This is the kind of book to savour the language, to re-read and to go back to previous parts to link it all together in your mind. It's not really a page turner, but can anybody really say that postmodern novels are? However, the fear of people giving poor reviews should never put an author off experimenting, else we would all still be reading the proto novels of people like Richardson and Defoe or confining ourselves to the same type of books time and time again.I hope that the poor reviews don't put people off reading it.