The Bird Box Review And Musing Monday

This is a combination book review and Musing Monday. Musing Monday is hosted by MizB at Should be Reading where we have bookish rants or talk about our reading habits. Anyone can play along!

The book I am reviewing is The Bird Box by K.J. Steele.  I received this ARC in exchange for a review. The publication date is scheduled for February of 2015. I tried really hard to like this book. I have a Master's in Counseling so I was intrigued by the premise of two people in an asylum. I know things were different back then in terms of how people were committed and for what reasons and of course what life was like in one. My issue started from the beginning with Dr. Davidson, the doctor at the hospital. His tone with the patients was not one that counselors would have with patients; his tone was more impatient than nurturing. And I suppose this could have been a reflection 0f the times. But the book was also a bit scattered and boring. One creed of a writer is generally, "show, don't tell." This author did a lot of showing. He spent so much time on inane details, like the doctor's history. The first chapter from the doctor's POV basically told his life story and the story of the hospital in the first couple of pages. It was too much, too soon. I also feel like the editor should have cut the book down a bit. This book is supposedly about the relationship between two of the patients in the asylum. But I was on Chapter 5 and these patients had still never met! I don't believe they met until I was a quarter of the way into the book. So eventually I had to just quit reading. I was not getting anything out of the book. I don't really have a zero star on my rating scale, but I think that's what I have to give it: 0/5.

This leads me to my musing for the day: when is it okay to give up on a book? Up until six months ago, I was the type who finished every single book I started, no matter what. I was at a point where I was reading way too many books that I only gave one star. Then I had an epiphany: why was I killing myself to finish books that I absolutely hated? What good was coming from it? I have over a hundred books on my Kindle and about two hundred more on my TBR list that I have yet to read. So with all of those books just waiting to be read (and many of which I am sure are four or five star worthy), what is the point of wasting time on a book that I hate? It's not like I get some kind of reward for it.

I remember the very first book I quit before reading the whole thing. It was Slaughterhouse-Five. It is supposed to be a classic, but I just found it very dry and boring. I don't remember how long I pushed myself, maybe two or three chapters. I just knew I was done.

Don't get me wrong; I still finish books that end up with a one star rating. The last book of the Fifty Shades trilogy comes to mind. Usually though, the reason I completely give up on the book is because it is the type of book I dread reading. Usually when I am reading, I get so invested that I cannot put it down. So if I would rather do laundry or the dishes than pick up the book I am reading, it is a pretty good sign that I shouldn't be reading it. Now I do have a system: I will give the book at least fifty pages or three chapters, whichever is longer. Since I didn't stop reading this book until 25% of the way through it, I can honestly say I gave it a fair chance.

Do you feel the need to finish every book? Do you have a system for how long you read before giving up?



Hey, follow me on Bloglovin!