#AusReadingMonth2020 Dolores (novella)

• Author: Lauren Aimee Curtis
  
• Title:  Dolores ( pg 128)
  
• Genre:   novella
• Published: 2019
• List of Challenges 2020
• Monthly plan
• #AusReadingMonth2020  @Bronasbooks
• Bingo card: NSW
  
• Trivia: shortlisted NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2020
  
• …for New Writing
• #NovNov @746Books
• @bookishbeck
• #AWW2020  @AustralianWomenWriters

 

Introduction:

1. 16-year-old arrives, alone, at a convent in Spain.
2. She is given the name Dolores.
3. Short and mysterious…one-sitting read. (2 hrs)
4. …the close-up details of life in the convent.
5. Each chapter shows Delores adapting to the nuns’ routines,
6. before taking us to her backstory…to her secret.

 

Conclusion:

1. What can I say….
2. Of course you must remember this is a debut novella
3. and the author will improve as time goes on.
4. Ms Curtis was shortlisted for NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2020
5. …so somebody must have seen merit in this book.
6. Unfortunately, I did not.
7. A story is setup… Dolores is rendered human.
8. We see her encounter a problem or challenge.
9. She wanders through darkness in the convent.
10. But here’s the thing
11. …she doesn’t evolve into a problems solver or heroine
12. The book ends abruptly leaving me hanging in mid-air.
13. Weak point: too much description
14. no irony, complexity, nuance, depth
15. ….it’s all surface.
16. But when you start writing…sometimes surface is enough.
17. Strong point: the blurb was better than the book!
18. #NotBad…
19. But also…#NotGreat