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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsmith123][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Anyone read this recently?  I liked the part that took place in the 1800s, but really felt like the modern-day story line fell flat.  [b]I felt like most of the interactions were forced to make a point, as opposed to having any real feeling or depth.  [/b]

Curious to hear what others thought.[/quote]

This is my overall impression of Brooks as a writer—one-dimensional characters who are just there to advance an agenda. The thing is, I often agree with her agenda. If Horse is anti-racism, I’m all in. But these points could be made so much better by working them around complex characters and plotlines. I found People of the Book almost unreadable, for example. Brooks began as a journalist and she hasn’t learned the novelist’s skill of showing not telling. [/quote]

Interesting that she started as a journalist.  I love the point you made about showing vs. telling.  I've had similar issues with other books/authors but never had anyone frame it that way.[/quote]

I’m a journalist and showing rather than telling is a large part of the job. At the same time, I’ve enjoyed most of her books and haven’t had an issue with her character development. I haven’t had a chance to read Horse yet. [/quote]

Maybe I phrased it incorrectly. What I meant was, she had a clear agenda about who was "good" and who was "bad" and the "why's" were aggressively obvious, to the point where I felt she was beating me over the head with it. A little subtlety would have gone a long way.[/quote]

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