Review: The Airways

The Airways by Jennifer Mills
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a story about a ghost seeking revenge.

You would think it would be a fantastic horror story but the real horror is the pain of reading this book.

'Minds are illegible; they read the body. Wet cold prickles under the back, the shirt too thin. Bacteria hitches a ride in the air, clings to a hair in the nostril. They move, are moved, into these discomforts, go where there are openings. (Do they open things?) The body coughs, its whole length poised and racking. The eyes leave the stars and return; the body sits up, relaxes. The joint held aloft. They are in the fingers where the burn will meet the skin. In sweet smoke.'

If you appreciate that kind of writing, congratulations. You did what I could not. Have fun with this book which is full of passsages like this. You will love it.

When did 'brilliant literature' become synonymous with 'convoluted writing that goes out of its way to say everything except what it actually needs to say'? It all seems so pretentious to me. Just tell the freaking story please.

I LOVE ghost stories. THIS STORY IS ABOUT A VENGEFUL GHOST POSSESSING PEOPLE ON ITS WAY TO FIND THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS DEMISE. It talks about themes like consent and identity and works its way into the mind of a man who thinks he's good but is actually a scumbag and it is actually full of really fascinating ideas. There was so much here to unpack and it could have been a really brilliant, entertaining story.

But, NO.

It decides instead to tell its fantastic story through long, convoluted passages and choppy imagery that remind me of all those times I filled my essays with pointless crap just to make the word count.

Also, I appreciate the importance pronouns have in helping us defining ourselves but unfortunately in the context of this book, all of the 'they' references just made an already-complicated writing style even harder to untangle. I was so lost.

This one was just not for me, folks.

I give full props to the story - the alternating chapters give us Adam's story and 'Their' story, but unfortunately They and Adam both do really, really boring things with their time so if you're not someone who enjoys books that just languish over describing boring things in a twisted manner then you will likely find yourself as frustrated as I was.

If you enjoy unravelling long, confusing passages to tease out what they're trying to say, you'll be all over this. This is for the language lovers; the people who are happy to forfeit action for pretty words. There are some really interesting themes and plenty of symbolism but if you're after a meaty story that really delves into these things you will be disappointed.

Honestly I was so excited to read this story and that just makes it all the more disappointing for me.

I hope others will appreciate it more than I did.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy.

View all my reviews