Review of The House of Spark
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Isabella Casilio
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- Latest Review: The House of Spark by Luminita Laflash
Review of The House of Spark
[Following is a volunteer review of "The House of Spark" by Luminita Laflash.]
The House of Spark by Luminita Laflash takes place in Romania during the ruling of the Communist regime in 1957 and centers around the disappearance of Jenica, a college student, who is also dating one of the main characters Virginia. His mysterious disappearance is noticed by Virginia, Jenica’s friend Mircea and Mircea’s girlfriend Doina. As their investigation develops through the book, they learn that Jenica was keeping secrets from them and that those secrets could be the reason behind his disappearance. As the group discovers more and more clues they become dangerously involved in political affairs.
The House of Spark is a quick read with a good center, where is Jenica? The mystery woven throughout this story is presented through clues that the characters find and must piece together themselves. I enjoyed the sense of danger that Virginia and her friends had towards the secret police since it rose the stakes of what could happen if they were caught searching for their missing friend. The chapters are short making them easy to absorb which also made me want to continue reading more during one sitting.
There are downsides to this book, that can be found throughout each chapter, which in some cases makes it hard to read. Proper punctuation is often disregarded in terms of dialogue, in which quotation marks can be found around sentences that are not spoken by characters (such as on page 9 towards the bottom of the page when Diona explains Jenica’s aunt’s recipe). I got past the grammar if I didn’t pay too much mind to it however, the formatting of chapters sometimes did not make sense. Chapters ended abruptly such as chapters 4, 7 and 8 as they seemed to end in the middle of a scene instead of the end of them. Backstories are woven throughout the book, and while they do provide semi-useful information about the characters they are just randomly placed. Some characters do not even get fleshed out until you have read 100 pages. Descriptions for characters are described bluntly and instead of showing what characters look like or how they act it is clumsily told flat out.
My overall rating for this book is 2 out of 4 stars. This book has an overall decent plot and is placed in a time of history where I’m sure many interesting stories arise from. However, this book falls short on many occasions. With poor formatting and editing, it takes away from the overall story that could have been a greater mystery if there were better descriptions and the characters that you should care for had more time to show their feelings and relationships with one another. I would’ve liked to see how these characters came to know each other or why the secret police at the time in Romania (of which I have no prior knowledge) is such a dangerous enemy. Overall I didn’t have any intense feelings towards any of the characters nor did I really put much thought into how I would feel if something bad happened to any of them.
This book would be a good read for those who have knowledge about communism or the history of Romania and can fill in the gaps in terms of historical events during that time. Having this knowledge may make it more enjoyable for the reader. I would say this would be good for ages 14+ ranging to adult readers who are looking for a quick read of a minor mystery.
******
The House of Spark
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The House of Spark by Luminita Laflash takes place in Romania during the ruling of the Communist regime in 1957 and centers around the disappearance of Jenica, a college student, who is also dating one of the main characters Virginia. His mysterious disappearance is noticed by Virginia, Jenica’s friend Mircea and Mircea’s girlfriend Doina. As their investigation develops through the book, they learn that Jenica was keeping secrets from them and that those secrets could be the reason behind his disappearance. As the group discovers more and more clues they become dangerously involved in political affairs.
The House of Spark is a quick read with a good center, where is Jenica? The mystery woven throughout this story is presented through clues that the characters find and must piece together themselves. I enjoyed the sense of danger that Virginia and her friends had towards the secret police since it rose the stakes of what could happen if they were caught searching for their missing friend. The chapters are short making them easy to absorb which also made me want to continue reading more during one sitting.
There are downsides to this book, that can be found throughout each chapter, which in some cases makes it hard to read. Proper punctuation is often disregarded in terms of dialogue, in which quotation marks can be found around sentences that are not spoken by characters (such as on page 9 towards the bottom of the page when Diona explains Jenica’s aunt’s recipe). I got past the grammar if I didn’t pay too much mind to it however, the formatting of chapters sometimes did not make sense. Chapters ended abruptly such as chapters 4, 7 and 8 as they seemed to end in the middle of a scene instead of the end of them. Backstories are woven throughout the book, and while they do provide semi-useful information about the characters they are just randomly placed. Some characters do not even get fleshed out until you have read 100 pages. Descriptions for characters are described bluntly and instead of showing what characters look like or how they act it is clumsily told flat out.
My overall rating for this book is 2 out of 4 stars. This book has an overall decent plot and is placed in a time of history where I’m sure many interesting stories arise from. However, this book falls short on many occasions. With poor formatting and editing, it takes away from the overall story that could have been a greater mystery if there were better descriptions and the characters that you should care for had more time to show their feelings and relationships with one another. I would’ve liked to see how these characters came to know each other or why the secret police at the time in Romania (of which I have no prior knowledge) is such a dangerous enemy. Overall I didn’t have any intense feelings towards any of the characters nor did I really put much thought into how I would feel if something bad happened to any of them.
This book would be a good read for those who have knowledge about communism or the history of Romania and can fill in the gaps in terms of historical events during that time. Having this knowledge may make it more enjoyable for the reader. I would say this would be good for ages 14+ ranging to adult readers who are looking for a quick read of a minor mystery.
******
The House of Spark
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The House of Spark by Luminita Laflash
