Review by knflyer1 -- Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar
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knflyer1
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- Latest Review: Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar
Review by knflyer1 -- Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar
[Following is a volunteer review of "Mock My Words" by Chandra Shekhar.]
Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar is a sort of will-they-won’t-they romance, only if the question were whether the main characters would get a divorce rather than get together. The main protagonist, David Tan, is an interesting Chinese writer and professor. Strangely enough, for all his eloquence with the written word, he has a lackluster command of spoken English, hence where the title comes from.
I give this novel 3 out of 4 stars. The author clearly put effort into writing the novel and producing a clear, quality product. It did not compel me or cause me to feel any great emotion about it due to the lack of character development. A four-star book would include characters that I deeply cared about and desired to read more about. A two-star rating would go to a book that had errors and no clear direction or plot. The editing is impeccable, without any mistakes or errors noted throughout. There were no instances of profanity or erotic content. The characters and some plot elements were uninteresting to me as the reader and I feel the author could have taken some things out to tighten up the message of the story. This book might appeal to adults in their thirties or forties, since most of the characters fall in that age range. It doesn’t give much credence to college students and portrays them as idiots and people who think too highly of themselves because of the folly of youth.
David has an intriguing back story and developed character whose quiet and meek demeanor provides a foil for that of his wife, Laura, who is a tough Public Relations warrior for a company. Her arc with SliceMedia, the company she represents through her PR firm, became a weak part in the story. I had no interest in reading about any of that. The story delved into her crusade to uphold the name of this company through thick and thin. I understand how her dedication to work interfered with her marriage but the reading public doesn’t necessarily need to hear about this fictional PR battle.
Even from the beginning of the novel, David and Laura consider getting a divorce and reflect on how their marriage does not provide what they want. They face denial throughout, trying to imagine that things are still just fine. Clearly, they need some counseling and help but since they are too busy and independent, they don’t seek it out and feel that getting a divorce would be easier. As a reader, I felt frustrated at times by David’s beta male mentality and how he never sticks up for himself or his needs, whether at work or with his wife. He has genius ideas and thoughts but does not value himself enough to allow them to be heard.
I felt bringing in the Melissa character and focusing for such a long time on her and the business model she tried to create contributed nothing to the story. Again, similar with Laura’s PR work, the reader is subjected to drawn out discussions of work that holds no real interest to the audience and no purpose to the plot. My assumption was that she served as a person to tempt David out of his marriage but a character like that does not need that much time on paper unless the material served to give us insight into her personality, which it doesn’t.
I felt reading about David at times was difficult, considering that he appeared as a brilliant man trapped within the confines of his inability to speak English. He has no teaching background and yet decides to become a professor of classical literature. His university provides no help or training, instead forcing him to sink or swim. With his emotional and fragile personality, he feels upset when his students do not enjoy his classes at first. I felt sorry for him, as did all of the characters. It’s exhausting, however, reading about a weak character that everyone pities. I longed for the boring professors of my college years and how they never cared whether the students liked them and didn’t care whether the university thought they did a good job. They simply shared their knowledge, which came from a place of expertise and that became enough for all of us to learn.
The ending felt so abrupt and under-developed. The epilogue read as very campy, almost like a Disney ending that did not make sense compared to the rest of the book, which the author took time to develop, at times tediously. Why spend so much time going into the entirety of the SliceMedia project? Why discuss Melissa’s work and the mechanics of creating a product ad nauseum? Instead of helping us to connect with the characters by further developing them, the author spent so many pages on these elements instead.
******
Mock My Words
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar is a sort of will-they-won’t-they romance, only if the question were whether the main characters would get a divorce rather than get together. The main protagonist, David Tan, is an interesting Chinese writer and professor. Strangely enough, for all his eloquence with the written word, he has a lackluster command of spoken English, hence where the title comes from.
I give this novel 3 out of 4 stars. The author clearly put effort into writing the novel and producing a clear, quality product. It did not compel me or cause me to feel any great emotion about it due to the lack of character development. A four-star book would include characters that I deeply cared about and desired to read more about. A two-star rating would go to a book that had errors and no clear direction or plot. The editing is impeccable, without any mistakes or errors noted throughout. There were no instances of profanity or erotic content. The characters and some plot elements were uninteresting to me as the reader and I feel the author could have taken some things out to tighten up the message of the story. This book might appeal to adults in their thirties or forties, since most of the characters fall in that age range. It doesn’t give much credence to college students and portrays them as idiots and people who think too highly of themselves because of the folly of youth.
David has an intriguing back story and developed character whose quiet and meek demeanor provides a foil for that of his wife, Laura, who is a tough Public Relations warrior for a company. Her arc with SliceMedia, the company she represents through her PR firm, became a weak part in the story. I had no interest in reading about any of that. The story delved into her crusade to uphold the name of this company through thick and thin. I understand how her dedication to work interfered with her marriage but the reading public doesn’t necessarily need to hear about this fictional PR battle.
Even from the beginning of the novel, David and Laura consider getting a divorce and reflect on how their marriage does not provide what they want. They face denial throughout, trying to imagine that things are still just fine. Clearly, they need some counseling and help but since they are too busy and independent, they don’t seek it out and feel that getting a divorce would be easier. As a reader, I felt frustrated at times by David’s beta male mentality and how he never sticks up for himself or his needs, whether at work or with his wife. He has genius ideas and thoughts but does not value himself enough to allow them to be heard.
I felt bringing in the Melissa character and focusing for such a long time on her and the business model she tried to create contributed nothing to the story. Again, similar with Laura’s PR work, the reader is subjected to drawn out discussions of work that holds no real interest to the audience and no purpose to the plot. My assumption was that she served as a person to tempt David out of his marriage but a character like that does not need that much time on paper unless the material served to give us insight into her personality, which it doesn’t.
I felt reading about David at times was difficult, considering that he appeared as a brilliant man trapped within the confines of his inability to speak English. He has no teaching background and yet decides to become a professor of classical literature. His university provides no help or training, instead forcing him to sink or swim. With his emotional and fragile personality, he feels upset when his students do not enjoy his classes at first. I felt sorry for him, as did all of the characters. It’s exhausting, however, reading about a weak character that everyone pities. I longed for the boring professors of my college years and how they never cared whether the students liked them and didn’t care whether the university thought they did a good job. They simply shared their knowledge, which came from a place of expertise and that became enough for all of us to learn.
The ending felt so abrupt and under-developed. The epilogue read as very campy, almost like a Disney ending that did not make sense compared to the rest of the book, which the author took time to develop, at times tediously. Why spend so much time going into the entirety of the SliceMedia project? Why discuss Melissa’s work and the mechanics of creating a product ad nauseum? Instead of helping us to connect with the characters by further developing them, the author spent so many pages on these elements instead.
******
Mock My Words
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar
