I've discussed many times how I've opened up to reading different genres this year, and while I've come across some books I really enjoyed that were outside my usual range of reading (thrillers, crime novels, etc.), I've also pushed through some books that weren't necessarily enjoyable for me. The Half-Life of Remorse was one of those books. At just over 200 pages, I figured I could get through the book fairly quickly - I assumed it would just take me a day to get through. I was wrong. It took more than a couple days, because I was so bored with the book.

Brief Synopsis: The book follows three characters - Chick, Sam, and Claire - who's lives are all intertwined, even though they don't know it. Chick and Sam are both homeless men who take a kindling to each other and find solace in each others' company. Claire is a woman who is on a search for her father, who went missing after a horrific incident when she was a child, and she isn't even sure if he's alive.

The first thing that really got to bothering me about the novel is the Chick is spelled one way inside the book, while being spelled as Chic throughout any description of the book. Further, the book never really hit any kind of climax for me. It stated pretty boring all throughout, and while I'm sure there is a wonderful message within the story, I never connected with the characters or enjoyed the story being told.

The book is split into a few different parts, and each part is set up differently. Part one is story-telling of the characters. Part two is the majority of the book and is told from each characters perspectives (including their personal dialect). It's almost like a journal of each character. Part three is one long-ish chapter of story-telling again. It's just very inconsistent, and again - I found myself very bored the entire time. The plot is, however, interesting, and I think I would've liked this novel is written in a different format, where I could've formed a better connection with the characters. There are even very intense scenes in the book that, while they didn't necessarily need to be more graphic, could have definitely been written more excitingly.


I wouldn't recommend this book.