Review: Lies

Lies by Enrique de Hériz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Gonna go ahead and DNF @ Pg 123 (30%)

The truth is, I just don't care. I've actually been reading this on and off since December and it has no hold over me at all. It's about a woman who inadvertently fakes her own death so she can live wild, researching anthropology, while her children back home have to learn to go on without her. Her daughter is obsessed with discovering the truth of the past, so there's also a bunch of stuff about her mysterious grandfather? But it's so, 'oooh but maybe that part is a lie?!' that there's kind of no point to any of it? Except for maybe the whole point of the story being that everyone lies all the time. YAWN.

It's told in a rather confusing manner, and I think that's a big reason why this just wasn't working for me. It's clearly a translated novel so maybe it's a 'lost in translation' issue but there are so many words and just not enough substance. Timelines dance all over the place, so one minute you think you're reading about the present and the next you're reliving something from the past or someone else's story entirely. Bit of a headache in that.

There is something of an interesting story here and I'm assuming there'll be a twist later on but there's too much effort required. I'm getting harsher with what I spend my time reading these days and after 100-odd pages and some random skimming of the rest I feel like this just isn't worth the effort.

Maybe one for the literature lovers but too convoluted for me. Pass.

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