Suncatcher by Romesh Gunesekera

DNF @ p. 39

Sadly, this is a case of "it's not you, it's me." Reading ARCs is always really difficult because there are no preliminary reviews to clue you in to whether a book will work or not. You're going solely by the concept and the summary. I thought this book sounded really good. I love coming of age stories, especially international ones that give you a slice of life idea of what it's like to live in another nation. On that note, I think SUNCATCHER delivers really well, because SUNCATCHER is a snapshot of what it's like to live in 1960s Sri Lanka (Ceylon) as a teenager.

I think where this book fails is that it's a slow-moving, character-driven vehicle. There isn't really a lot of plot. And before you jump on me for abandoning ship so early, I skimmed through the book to see if it would pick up, as sometimes a book really does start to get moving before it finds its pace. But no. This author actually reminds me a lot of Don DeLillo in that way; it's less about the destination than the journey.

My advice to you, when you get this book, is to read the sample and see if you like the character and the writing style. If it really clicks with you and you just want to lose yourself in the time period, you will probably like this. If, however, you are hoping for something faster paced, you will probably not enjoy this book. I found it very boring and that's my opinion, and you might disagree with me, but that isn't going to change about how I felt about SUNCATCHER. I really wanted to like this, but I kept losing interest in the story and I have too many other books I need to read.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

1.5 to 2 out of 5 stars