Eliza Robertson

Demi-Gods

Briar's Reviews

Demi-Gods by Eliza Robertson is a magnificent, little gem of a book that will read like a tale you would have picked up in English class.

Seriously, Eliza's writing feels like it should be in a hall of fame somewhere. The way she crafted the story was marvelous and I'm thoroughly impressed by her skill. And this was only a debut?! Imagine how much better she's going to get.

But, despite it being this masterpiece of a book, it was honestly not for me. I didn't enjoy this book one bit. I wanted to DNF it, but I also wanted to finish it because Eliza's writing deserved the respect of a finished read. It wasn't the writing style or the tone, it was just the plot that had me feeling kinda 'meh'. I felt like I didn't know where this book was going and by the end I still didn't feel like it had a concrete beginning, middle and end. Despite it being a contemporary beauty, it just felt like a story not a novel.

There's lots of strange familial/non-familial incest in this book. Lots of hookups with the new boyfriend's kids and strange ties throughout the story. It's an unsettling story, but Eliza makes it intriguing. I would say this book is not for the faint of heart, easily. 

We watch Willa's life and family dynamics change as she experiments with sex and emotions, all in the 50s. It's dark, unsettling, bizarre, and abusive at times. The entire family turns out to have issues and you watch how people influence each other and take on each other's traits. 

My biggest con was the lack of quotation marks in my copy. I couldn't tell what was supposed to be dialogue every once and a while, so I'd have to go back and re-read sections over and over, which just distracted me more than anything. 

If I could have my wish, I would want this examined or explained to me. Why was this book made this way? What are the themes? I want an English Professor to break it down because I think this is the perfect book to be analyzed. There's something there that I'm not seeing. Oh, how I miss those high school days with English essays... just me?

I would say this book is in a niche market. You'll either love it or you won't. I can see why so many people love it, but it's just not for me. I can totally appreciate it and I think Eliza deserves all the cred, but it's just not a book I'll pick up again. All the love!

One out of five stars.