Review by Pluma -- Tales of the 70's by D.Done

[Pluma]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Tales of the 70's" by D.Done.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Tales of the 70’s by D. Done is a collection of seven short stories and one novella. They are all set during the 1970s, though this is one of the few things they have in common; they feature a variety of characters and settings, providing various glimpses into life in that time, as well as into the timeless topic of human nature.

In ‘Point to Point After,’ a husband struggles with the slow loss of his beloved wife to a brain tumour; in ‘The Three Card Shuffle,’ a man glimpses some interesting characters on the bus by chance, and his interest is caught; in ‘The Cat Burglars,’ two men hatch a scheme to steal an ocelot from a local zoo, but their plan is far from flawless. Each story varies wildly in tone and topic; some are humorous, some touching, some serious and sad, but all feature unique and interesting characters who draw the reader into the story.

There were a few things that I enjoyed about this book; none of the stories was predictable or stereotypical, and as aforementioned, the characters were not ‘cookie-cutter' characters that you find in any story, but were interesting and uniquely fleshed out. Additionally, there were some pretty descriptions in some places, skillful imagery helping to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

However, these were the only points I could find to like. My enjoyment of the collection of stories would have been much higher, but the style of writing and the grammar errors detracted from my reading experience a good deal. These errors started from page one and were constant on almost every page, sometimes more than once. The most common were punctuation errors, including incorrectly placed quotation marks, incorrect spacing, and missing or misplaced commas; these were so frequent and confusing that sometimes I had to reread a sentence several times to understand it, and sometimes I still couldn’t figure out what was going on. Also frequent were disjointed sentences, making it hard to tell what was happening and when; some sentences had poor flow, such as here: “On this particular day, a Tuesday, Zhen was his tending shop alone, he was a slender man weighing about one hundred and forty pounds.” This doesn’t read smoothly and is also grammatically incorrect. The characters’ speech was often stilted and unnatural, and conversations didn’t sound as they would in real life. In addition, the text was often too blunt and explanatory, with unnecessary detail that I found detracted from the story itself. These things combined meant it was often hard to tell what was going on in a story (or to enjoy a scene even if you did).

Another element I didn’t enjoy was the presence of some themes that were distastefully done; there were a few instances of graphic sexual scenes (which sometimes bordered on vulgarity), as well as some sexualisation of female characters. There was frequent profanity, and also mentions of drugs, drinking, and gambling, as well as violence (including mild sexual violence) and suicide, all things that could be considered triggering or off-putting to some people. These were all points that somewhat decreased my enjoyment of the book.

As a result of the various and extremely frequent errors, as well as the other content mentioned, I would have to rate this book only one out of four stars. With some editing, it could be improved, as the characters and storylines themselves had the potential to be highly enjoyable, especially to those who like short stories with unique plots. I wouldn’t recommend this book to young or sensitive readers, due to the themes and content mentioned.

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Tales of the 70's
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[markodim721]

I agree that the book has certain shortcomings and is often loaded with machismo but, in my opinion, it still has a lot of good sides. Thanks for the honest review.

[Saint Bruno]

Oh oh....It is sad to learn that you didn't enjoy this one. Nevertheless, thanks for the honest and insightful review.