I don't know what to say about this book. I even had a hard time deciding how many star to grant it. It wasn't good, not really at all. There were parts that were cringe-worthy. But, it had its moments and it was sort of a page turner. 'Red Leaves' is the story of two people at heart; Kristina Kim and Spencer O'Malley. Kristina is on the verge of twenty-one, she's a philosophy major at Dartmouth and shows plenty of promise for the future. Except, she's kind of a completely idiot (more later). She's had the same close knit group of friends since Freshman year; Jim Shaw (her boyfriend), Conni Tobias, and Albert Maplethorpe (Conni's boyfriend with whom she's having an affair). The first section of the novel belongs to her as she goes through the final few days before Thanksgiving break, culminating in her traditional naked walk across an icy bridge with a 70 foot drop (no, this is never really explained). Her part ends abruptly here because her body is found lying in the woods, and Spencer takes over. Spencer met and was intrigued by Kristina in the days leading up to her death. He becomes obsessed with the case and the reader is taken through twists and turns as Spencer hones in on the killer and stirs up secrets from the past. We'll start with the stupidest character put to paper, Kristina. I've read a lot of negative reviews of this book and most seem to agree on one point, Kristina makes no sense. She's forever changing so her motivation is often confusing. At times I had to wonder if she was even a little slow, or perhaps foreign. When events from her past are revealed I think we were supposed to understand her a bit better, but... I didn't. Also, her reasoning was nonsensical. For example, early in she gets in a car accident that flips and totals her car. While the other driver is searching for help Kristina leave the car and stumbles back to campus, not because she's in shock or drunk, but because she's not a fan of hospitals. She spends the rest of her short life in pain. Why? If we'd been given some hospital related trauma maybe I'd understand it, but we weren't and her obstinance was absurd. And if that's not stupid enough, after she stumbles home she proceeds to immediately get shit faced so if the cops were to arrive, as one might imagine they would, she'd look as if she were drunk. Spencer made more sense. It might have improved things if the book had belonged entirely to him. Actually, the whole book improved with Spencer's arrival. While wading through the first half I stopped to check if English was perhaps not Ms. Simons' first language. The author is from Russia, but she moved to Queens in childhood so the language explanation seems moot. So, it was a problem. At times it read like a primer. "Kristina got in the car. She started the car. 'I hate this car!' she said." Not good. If the whole thing had been like that I would have quit. Thankfully things improved with the narration switched to Spencer's point of view. Also, the book was somewhat steeped in mystery. So many, in fact, that they didn't all get solved adequately. There were also a couple of plot twists that I was sure were supposed to shocking. And it's not as if I saw them all coming, I didn't, but if Ms. Simons wanted to scandalize me she really didn't go far enough. In the end I wasn't really satisfied with the knowledge we were left with, morally ambiguous or no. I understood the facts but not all the motivations and that left me, not exactly unsatisfied by the book, but certainly puzzled. And I'm not sure that's a good thing.
some books should remain out of print,left to molder and rot without curious readers tracking them down and disturbing the wisdom of nature. even ones that have saucy insets like this: scandalous!if you had told me that this book was written by an alien from the planet glorp with no familiarity with human behavior, i would have no trouble believing it.if you told me this was a nanowrimo book, written in one month, without proofreading or author-sleep, i would understand.if this were the work of a child or a dog who thinks he's people, i could forgive a lot of it.but.it's not.it's just not very good, and occasionally, it is terrible. this is a very distorted depiction of how humans behave and interact, and it is so unintentionally funny in places, i almost feel bad for it.and i am also confused - there is a big reveal at the end of the book that i had taken as a given from the beginning. and then about halfway through, i was like - "oh, wait, are we not supposed to have guessed this yet?" because it was so obvious, that i was sure it was one of those things where the reader is made aware of something that the characters have yet to figure out. but, no. it was supposed to be this big surprise, and when she did reveal it, i felt quite embarrassed, like when ricky martin came out and everyone was like, "duh."i don't actually feel too bad trashing this, because it is out of print, and the novelist has a successful career writing historical fiction that is well received, so i can just gently rib this book as a youthful indiscretion, like me that one time at that club i got snowed in at in providence.so many meyerisms, too - why is everyone panting all the time?? it is disconcerting. is the air that thin in new hampshire?? i am concerned because my dad will be moving there, and i want to make sure he will be able to breathe without panting all the time. that was the real mystery: where has all the air gone?oh, god, and this:"she lay there naked in the snow?""yes." frankie shrugged. "i know it sounds weird. but she was a philosophy major. there are men in tibet who pierce their bodes or eat swords or walk on hot coals and don't get hurt. she had this gift. she successfully steeled her body against the cold."DID YOU KNOW THAT BEING A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR GAVE YOU MAGICAL POWERS??? young'uns - take note.there are so many hilarious conversations, confrontations, inexplicable decisions, almost NOTHING in this book makes sense. it is a hoot, but it's not painful to read or anything, it is just sometimes, you will come to a passage and want to smack your forehead a little in groaning glee. i suppose it is my own damn fault, this book was safely out of print until a readers' advisory assignment for readalikes for secret history led me to stumble upon it, and after learning that the nypl had but one copy of this book in a large print format, which had gone missing, i should have taken no to mean no.but i can't do that.and after reading elizabeth's review of another book by the same author which you can see right here, i somehow was made an offer to get this book sent to me by jen - who has already sent me a crappy movie in the course of our friendship, so it was time to be sent a crappy book. our relationship is crap-based.and i love jen for getting it to me.and i loved reading it, if mostly for the wrong reasons. because, really, it's not THAT bad. but it kind of is.and it is NOTHING like secret history.
What do You think about Red Leaves (2008)?
This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. The first half of the book is the 'background' of the four intertwined characters. It is a long drawn out section to establish this background and then you kill one of the main characters off? I felt I had just waisted 155 pages of descriptive, ground laying text - groan. I should have stopped there.Things did get slightly better with the introduction of Spencer the detective investigating the murder. Though he was very unprofessional on all counts, never once did he reveal there was a sightly personal level of involvement with the victim, that affected his ability to carry out his duties impartially as the lead investigator. This could have also got the conviction against the 'accused' overthrown or at the very lest, grounds for appeal. I will not go into the other unprofessional and illegal acts carried out by Spencer but basically this story was so wrong on so many levels.Do not waste your time reading this book. I have another book of hers to read and it will have to be the very last book in the house before I read it - book exchange, here they come.
—Nicki
! Red Leaves (stand alone.) Young collage student is found murdered. Thrilling, mysteriously and compelling.RED LEAVES sucked me in from page one. We already knew the twist beforehand, it was obvious from the very start that it was going to happen at some point. At least if you weren't going into this book completely blind. But we didn't know when or how or why it was going to happen. That was what kept me glued to RED LEAVES. That and PAULLINA SIMONS beautiful writing. I can't help it. I love
—Natalie
When a female college student is found dead, why wasn't she reported missing by her closest friends?"But what we are only comes out in crises. It's so easy to be passive in everyday life, which doesn't challenge us. There are no risks. But once or twice in our lives, our name is called. And when it's called, we have to stand up. Not run the other way." - SpencerHmmmmm, I'm having a difficult time rating this book. I absolutely LOVED the Tatiana series by this author, and they are on my all-time favorites list. As for this book, I'm just not sure what I think of it. I am left feeling confused, sad and even a bit angry. As for the rating, should I give it 4 stars because I enjoyed the suspenseful story (although something did seem a bit "off" about it) ... or 2 stars for the ending (which kind-of reminded me of a Jodi Picoult style ending that leaves you shocked and angry)? Although I'd already guessed who the killer was so when it was finally revealed, it wasn't as shocking as I think it was meant to be. Overall, I guess it rounds out to a 3 star rating, but I'm not sure I'm happy with that either. See? Like I said, I am very confused right now. While reading, this book reminded me somewhat of a VC Andrews novel and, in this case, that is not a good thing :/*** SPOILER ALERT *** This book concludes by revealing that the orphan murdered the college student and that just doesn't sit well with me. Why paint such a horrible picture of a boy just because he was an orphan and adopted by another family at the age of 6 or 7? I'm sure it happens, but in this instance, it made me sad, a bit disturbed and I can definitely understand why some reviewers were so enraged over this story.
—Rebecca
