Customer Reviews

Karma Has a Name

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Have you ever rented a DVD movie that is full of bonus clips? When you watch the director's cut, the director explains why certain scenes were cut out, and usually when you see the scenes that were cut, you agree. They weren't really necessary for the movie. That's how I felt reading "Karma Has a Name." The book is 537 pages, but realistically the same story could've been told in 237 pages.

Editing issues: Almost every time the word "worse" was used, it should've been "worst." There were tab issues on just about every page, and there were pages that were spaced apart. I'm assuming the large spacing areas were to show that the scene was changing, but " * * * " could've done the same thing. This would've also cut down on the page numbers. The "KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK" weren't necessary. That could've just been a description that someone knocked. There were also some strange things going on with fractions and slashes that should've been excluded or reformatted.

Characters: There were just too many unnecessary characters. They didn't lend to the story. Once Naomi was out of the picture and left town, I didn't really care what happened to her. She served her purpose, and I wasn't interested in her. The same thing happened with several "affairs." Once the affair happened, I thought about the characters later and my reaction was, "How did ________ help the plot?" I found that just about all of the extra characters didn't really do anything for the story, minus the "ice/ring" person. THAT was actually rather clever.

Sex Scenes: Now I usually don't get into erotica, but these were pretty good ones. I have to give it up to the author on these. At least we got to know the characters before they were bumping and grinding so it was much more interesting to read the scenes, and it wasn't vulgar, so that was a relief.

Extra Stuff: I didn't need to know every single drink, every single meal, and every single time somebody was crying. It got to the point where I didn't even care if somebody was crying because they were forever falling out and bursting into tears. There were full paragraphs about why someone chose a certain meal or a certain drink, and after awhile, sections started reading like cookbooks. I could've done without that altogether. Although it's interesting to learn characters' tastes, if the food didn't mean anything to the story, why did I have to know every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal?

Ladies: I just had a hard time liking them. No matter what Preston did, they just KEPT going back to him. I can understand someone being in love, but after about 300 pages, I just couldn't see how any sane woman would go back to this man. I didn't even feel sorry for them after awhile. I didn't like him, didn't like them, so I was just growing frustrated.

Now for the pros: I know I'm coming down hard on this book, but I really think the author has GREAT potential. The dialogue was fresh and realistic. The scenes were interesting and I could picture them immediately. All of the main characters (not the fluff ones who could've been excluded) were initially interesting. The plot was absolutely intriguing, minus the last 37 pages which flat out could've been left out completely. Although the story dragged on, I thought the author really had something here. And I mean that sincerely. Do I think she writes well? Yes. Do I think the book could've been edited more? Yes. Do I think she did a good job? Yes.

It's not that I didn't like the book, but there was just more fluff than there was a hard plot. If all of the fluff was cut out, this would've been one helluva read. Would I read a book by her again? Absolutely. But before she writes her next one, I'd want her to re-read every section and ask herself, "If I removed this character, would anybody miss this character? If I removed this scene, would it matter?" If the answer is "yes," leave it. But if the answer is "no," take it out.