I was so excited to read this book, as lobotomies and the history behind them has always been morbidly fascinating to me. Unfortunately, I found that the execution of this story didn’t live up to the hype I’d built in my head.
The writing is incredibly predictable, and not in the way that feels like a favorite sweater on a cold day. The characters are archetypes we’ve seen before; none of their dialogue sounds the way people would actually speak, and paired with the plot you’ll see coming a mile away, everything just falls flat. Even the descriptions seem contrived and forced – I was concerned from the very beginning with the clunky way the author handled the physical appearance of the female characters.
I’ve given this an extra half-star because the history was clearly well-researched, and I was intrigued enough to continue reading, if only in the hopes that maybe things wouldn’t turn out the way they did. I would not recommend this book to those already familiar with the story behind lobotomies, nor to those looking for new and exciting historical fiction.
This was my Amazon First Reads choice for January 2022. This in no way had an effect on my review, aside from moving the book to the top of my TBR pile.