Reviews for Clarissa Harlowe Volume 1 (Large Print Edition)

The average rating for Clarissa Harlowe Volume 1 (Large Print Edition) based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-06-10 00:00:00 Travis Berg **UPDATE** this was a very old review (2009) that makes me laugh now. However, I still feel the same way many years later. I've updated my wording a bit but not too much. Still want it to make me giggle at my younger self trying to be so witty. Enjoy and laugh at me too. I hated this book. I've all his other books and enjoyed them. They weren't amazing, couldn't put down reads but they were good. This one however was terrible. It makes you think it's going to be some kind of mash up of Scrooge and Jack the Ripper, as is his theme of retelling classic stories, this book however didn't achieve. Boring, long, goes all over the place with no clear reason as to why or connection. (I stuck with it because at the time I would never DNF a book.) The end sucks and makes no sense. It's terrible, I'm glad I got it used so it was only 5 bucks but I could have gotten a Subway foot long instead! lol (this still in 2020 makes me sing the $5 foot long song.) It's a frustrating book that goes way out there and never comes back...waste.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-19 00:00:00 Rexo Otto I wrote this review a couple of years ago over at amazon.com. I was a little snarky back then (ha!), but I still feel the same way: I couldn't put this book down. Found myself . . . "Lost" in it! There are lots of kinds of people in the world and from the reviews here it appears that they fall into two categories: those who would like the wheel to be reinvented consistently every time, and those who enjoy variety and evolution. If you wanted this book to be Wicked all over again, you're in luck, books are reusable. If you go back to the first page you can read it . . . again! I've read Wicked three times! This author is on a journey. He has taken a stab at using is own story line in this book rather than relying on someone else's. I have to say that Wicked was one of the best books I've every read, and no, this is not Wicked, but it was a damned good read. It was very literally apparent that he took a lot of influence and ideas from A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, etc. But there are some more literary influences at work here that he did not spell out. I was reminded of "The Yellow Wall Paper", "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall", "Pedro Paramo" and some other experimental styles of writing. If you cannot tolerate constant stream of thought style literature this is not for you. If you need the structure of small chapters, punctuation, clear dialog, the distinction between voices, etc this book is not for you. Some people like to cozy up and read a good book, others enjoy the intellectual challenge of digesting literature. The thing about Maguire is that he demonstrated his ability to write and combine pulp fiction and literature when he wrote Wicked. All the pulp fiction, Wicked fans that jumped aboard the Maguire band wagon are disappointed because they don't want to have to think too hard, they just want to sit back and enjoy. I'm really not trying to pass judgment here; just figure out what you want out of your reading experience before you buy. The negative reviews you see here are largely from people who couldn't figure out how to re-read Wicked!