Did you have trouble following the timeline?

Use this forum to discuss the October Book of the Month "McDowell" by William H. Coles.
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Ekta Kumari
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Re: Did you have trouble following the timeline?

Post by Ekta Kumari »

It was a little confusing when it was jumping from character to character randomly and also the time frame is never made clear to the reader. But for me, it did not took away the joy of reading this book; I was able to comprehend it by keeping track of the timeline.
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Shalu1707
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Post by Shalu1707 »

Yes, there were gaps in timeline and no clear picture of it was drawn by the author to help readers, I dont even know for how long he was on run.
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Post by becsimpson »

It definitely got a little confusing at times and broke up the flow of the book, but I managed to get used to it. There’s probably a better way it could have been handled though.
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Post by Moray_001 »

Yeah the timeline was confusing. Especially when the author suddenly skipped to 1 year plus into his jail sentence when Hiram escaped from prison. I also wasn’t sure how much time he really spent in each of the places he went to.
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Post by C-Extra22 »

I observed the time lapses but it did not deter me from enjoying the story.
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Post by Jessacardinal »

I am currently only halfway through the book, but I have struggled a bit with the jumpiness of the story. I find the acceleration of the timeline tends to catch up to itself in later chapters only to jump ahead once again a few pages later.
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Post by Choine »

I found the timeline confusing. I would have preferred if the author provided dates before each chapter to show when a significant amount of time had passed or not.
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Post by Namaste23 »

I followed the timeline okay. There was one part where I got confused but for the most part it was fine.
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Mrunal Tikekar
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Post by Mrunal Tikekar »

Definitely yes. It becomes difficult to appreciate the book when you cannot keep up with the timelines. However interesting the story could be, the timelines should be perfect.
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Post by HanElizabeth397 »

Completely agree!! Sometimes it was really difficult to follow and things seemed to happen very quickly and come out of no where sometimes
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Post by Readinggrl18 »

I had some trouble following the timeline but it didn't affect my perception of the story. Things moved at a good pace and even though it changed perspectives of the different characters, it wan't super hard to follow.
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Post by Liveforchrist51 »

This is the one issue I do have with the book. All the major events are slammed into four pages and in those four pages it shows it had been 2 years since the mass murder and then Hiram was jailed. It got a little confusing also when it swapped from Sophie to Hiram and as it turned out some time had passed and you didn’t know it right off.
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Sandy Armstrong
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Post by Sandy Armstrong »

This book with its disjointed facts was curious. It reminded me of a TV series which has all its stars say they want to quit so they end all the plots quickly and we are left feeling a bit ripped off...and wanting more..however I also think the point of the book was his retribution and that did come across.
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Post by photosynthesis19 »

I definitely had trouble following the events of the story early in the book, which had a big impact on my reading experience. I found it difficult to really get into the story in the first half of the book because everything felt so disconnected and even confusing at times. This changed about halfway into the first part of the book. Once the pace of the narrative started to slow down and characters and events finally felt more connected, I enjoyed the story quite a lot. I didn't have any trouble following the timeline in the second part of the book. I actually found that for the chapters in which Hiram McDowell was on the run, the lack of a specific timeline added to the general atmosphere of wilderness and trying to find himself.
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Post by Jakub Bystrowski »

I didn't lose track of the timeline. I understand the complaints and concerns.
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