Ariel's Reviews > Boy Swallows Universe

There was so much I didn't like about this novel that at times I questioned whether I was reading the same copy as everybody else. I found the plot convoluted, most of the characters pretty unlikable, and the writing contrived and hackneyed. (Seriously, if you don't like it when authors string a bunch of fragmented images together in an attempt to seem poetic, then you'll find the writing unbearable at times.)

In no particular order, here are the main things I found grating:
-- The main character Eli Bell starts the novel at about 12 and finishes at about 20 but sounds exactly the same the whole novel. I just don't believe it when a 12-year-old boy waxes poetical about complicated concepts like time, poverty, addiction, isolation, etc. etc.
-- The mysterious red phone, which shows up very briefly throughout the novel but has no real effect on anything (especially the plot), never gets resolved. It seems like a cheap device used to add some sort of mysticism or fantasy to the novel, which would've been a lot stronger without it.
-- August being mute when he feels like it. August's only dialogue being weird cryptic sentences that no one would say.
-- The Courier Mail being so involved in the novel. Knowing that Dalton was the assistant editor for The Courier Mail, I found it very embarrassing every time it was mentioned. Like I know there's advice out there about writing about what you know but don't name drop your former employer 600 times in you novel!! (Side note: it also makes me super suspicious of all the glowing reviews by other newspapers. Like of course journalists are going in wanting to like the book -- it's a novel by a peer which has newspapers playing a pivotal role in the novel. I fully acknowledge that this might be unfair though.)

Props to the cover designer, though -- very cool, eye-catching cover.