My rating: 1 out of 5 stars*

There is probably a point to Thin Air, if someone looks long and hard, the same way water stains on a wall sometimes depict something. Try as I might, however, I couldn’t find it. Skipped most of it to make it to the end in order to understand what the writer wanted to convey. Turns out the writer wanted to create an atmosphere, which is good and fine… as long as there is also a plot. Error 404: plot not found.

I’ll be brief. Thin Air is boring, confusing, moody and pretty much pointless. The point of view changes constantly, almost everyone is regretful and depressed, and all the characters are non-sexual, allergic to sex, sickened by sex and/or sex-starved. The book even begins with a narrowly escaped rape, and it gets weirder and worse. Other than that, everything can be more or less summed up in one sentence: try not to be a shitty parent, because if something happens, you’ll feel awful. I wish I liked the particular character, or any of the characters, in order to care. I didn’t. I felt I was sinking in mire while having an intense episode of brain fog, interrupted by passing images of Ireland’s landscapes, adorned by horses and manure. Plenty of both. Oh, and swans. In a polluted lake.

The blurb at the back of Thin Air was the only remotely interesting aspect of this whole experience. Unfortunately, the blurb talks about fairies and gates and the book is about a missing person. Um, pray tell, why? If I knew what the book was really about, I might or might not have not bothered reading it, but at least I would not have expected a modern fairy tale to be force-fed instead mid-life anguish and family drama.

*My star rating and what it means: 

Zero stars: Why me?!?  I do come across books that aren’t really books, but brain damage in disguise. For reasons you can all understand, I won’t be publishing reviews on them. I tend to become enraged and say things I later on regret.

One star: Meh… I didn’t like it and won’t be keeping it. It might be the book, or it might be me. I’ll try to clarify in my review.

Two stars: Average/ Okay. Either the kind of light/ undemanding book you read and don’t remember in a month, or suffering from flaws that prevented it from realising its potential.

Three stars: Better than average. Good moments, memorable characters and/ or plot, maybe good sense of humour… Not to die for, but not feeling like you wasted your time and money either.

Four stars: Wow, that was good! Definitely keeping it and checking to see what else I can buy from the same writer.

Five stars: Oh. My. Goodness. The kind of book you buy as a gift to all your friends, praise to random strangers on the bus, and re-read until the pages fall out and the corners are no longer corners, but round.