November 9, 2015
I checked this book out as part of the Big Library Reads program. I didn't finish it in a timely manner (obviously), so I had to purchase the ebook. This book wasn't a big turd like the last BLR book that I read, but I wasn't exactly blown away.
The premise was interesting. A young woman named Mary Shelley (that's her first name, and yes, it's after the author) leaves Portland for San Diego after her father was arrested. It's 1918, and her father is accused of being a German sympathizer, or worse. To top it off, the Spanish flu is killing people on the Homefront while young men die in the trenches in France. This was a timely read, since I just did my World War I chapter in my U.S. History class.
Mary Shelley stays with her widowed aunt. Her boyfriend's mother and half-brother live in the area. Stephen is fighting in France...or so she believes. She tolerates being around his shady brother in hopes of hearing of him. Julius is a drug addict and a swindler, using his dead stepfather's studio and development tricks to make people believe that he can take pictures of ghosts. At this point in the story, I'm still in.
But then, MS learns that Stephen has died. She attempts suicide...and has one of those cheesy out-of-body experiences before coming back to life. She can now communicate with Stephen's troubled spirit, and is determined to learn the truth about his death.
I think this book should have stayed grounded in reality. Stephen's experiences before his death were compelling, and the fact that Julius and Mr. Darning were highly immoral, troubled men would negate the idea of ghosts. MS shouldn't have hunted for the truth to save Stephen's spirit, but for the truth itself. Take out the ghost crap, and there'd be a very solid story here. As is? Not so much.
But still not bad. MS looked like Aubrey Plaza to me as I read, so obviously I think well of the character. As far as the Big Library Reads program goes, I'll read another select. Had this one been awful, I would write off the program for good. This book had it's good points, mostly the setting and characters, but the plot didn't hold together.
