Review by Tester013 -- Cooperative Lives by Patrick Finegan
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Tester013
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Review by Tester013 -- Cooperative Lives by Patrick Finegan
[Following is a volunteer review of "Cooperative Lives" by Patrick Finegan.]
New York City, one of the wealthiest cities in the world and certainly a contender for the title of “most expensive city to live in”. In this book, "Cooperative Lives" by Patrick Finegan, we delve into a fictional account of a group of residents staying in a building south of Central Park, on prime New York real estate. What started as a seemingly normal story about the struggles of life soon turns into a somewhat mysterious plot of betrayal and deceit, driving forward a plot that gets more confusing the deeper you delve into it.
Readers are first introduced to Wallace, a father who became divorced after the tragic death of his child, Alya. Soon enough, other families in the building are revealed, including Jack and Susan, a couple with a significant age difference that has perhaps led to accusations of a “sugar baby/daddy” relationship. Each family in the building has a caveat of their own, a caveat that will soon manifest itself in moral dilemmas and tough decisions. What happens in the end? What will each person do when faced with potentially hurting another individual? Read on to find out!
A particularly interesting aspect of the novel for me was the occasional satire that Finegan introduces. For example, Mildred, widowed author of adult romances, remarks that romantic works in this day and age have somewhat advanced concepts that an experienced author of the genre may not fully grasp. Creatures such as vampires, concepts such as sexual orientation are perhaps somewhat touchy subjects when producing a romantic novel. In the story, Mildred makes several...interesting imaginations about the popular book “Wuthering Heights”. Whilst I’m not personally invested into romantic novels, the inclusion of occasional jabs such as the one above certainly bring an air of humor to an otherwise serious book, and I especially enjoyed this book due to that.
However, that is not to proclaim that this book is without its faults. The decision to constantly jump between past and present with telling the story is something that I find to be controversial. While it can certainly create some sense of mystery, I found it to be somewhat confusing, especially sometimes when I chose to read this book on the way home, where I may be prone to distractions. Nevertheless, I will acknowledge that this is simply my opinion, and more experienced readers of this type of book may find my observations to be ridiculous.
Overall, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, subtracting a star for the confusing times that I’ve had. Whilst perhaps not entirely free of baffling aspects, this book is however free of spelling and grammatical errors. I would certainly recommend this book to patient readers who enjoy a good mystery novel, though readers looking for a bit of light casual reading may want to steer clear, as this is certianly not light, both in terms of length, and mental work required to keep track of everything as the story progresses.
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Cooperative Lives
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
New York City, one of the wealthiest cities in the world and certainly a contender for the title of “most expensive city to live in”. In this book, "Cooperative Lives" by Patrick Finegan, we delve into a fictional account of a group of residents staying in a building south of Central Park, on prime New York real estate. What started as a seemingly normal story about the struggles of life soon turns into a somewhat mysterious plot of betrayal and deceit, driving forward a plot that gets more confusing the deeper you delve into it.
Readers are first introduced to Wallace, a father who became divorced after the tragic death of his child, Alya. Soon enough, other families in the building are revealed, including Jack and Susan, a couple with a significant age difference that has perhaps led to accusations of a “sugar baby/daddy” relationship. Each family in the building has a caveat of their own, a caveat that will soon manifest itself in moral dilemmas and tough decisions. What happens in the end? What will each person do when faced with potentially hurting another individual? Read on to find out!
A particularly interesting aspect of the novel for me was the occasional satire that Finegan introduces. For example, Mildred, widowed author of adult romances, remarks that romantic works in this day and age have somewhat advanced concepts that an experienced author of the genre may not fully grasp. Creatures such as vampires, concepts such as sexual orientation are perhaps somewhat touchy subjects when producing a romantic novel. In the story, Mildred makes several...interesting imaginations about the popular book “Wuthering Heights”. Whilst I’m not personally invested into romantic novels, the inclusion of occasional jabs such as the one above certainly bring an air of humor to an otherwise serious book, and I especially enjoyed this book due to that.
However, that is not to proclaim that this book is without its faults. The decision to constantly jump between past and present with telling the story is something that I find to be controversial. While it can certainly create some sense of mystery, I found it to be somewhat confusing, especially sometimes when I chose to read this book on the way home, where I may be prone to distractions. Nevertheless, I will acknowledge that this is simply my opinion, and more experienced readers of this type of book may find my observations to be ridiculous.
Overall, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, subtracting a star for the confusing times that I’ve had. Whilst perhaps not entirely free of baffling aspects, this book is however free of spelling and grammatical errors. I would certainly recommend this book to patient readers who enjoy a good mystery novel, though readers looking for a bit of light casual reading may want to steer clear, as this is certianly not light, both in terms of length, and mental work required to keep track of everything as the story progresses.
******
Cooperative Lives
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Killing Abel by Michael Tieman
