Sorry did not finish

Not sure why but did not appeal to me

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

I've wanted to read something by Nell Zink for some time, so I was glad when my request to read this was approved (a long while ago - I'm trying to get caught up with all the many reviews I've forgotten to write).

NICOTINE is an interesting story about a young woman who inherits her father's childhood home. Penny isn't like the rest of her family - she "rebelled" by taking a traditional, safe, "regular" route (she got a business degree). For someone who is rather square, the discovery that the inherited home is populated by a number of smokers' rights activist squatters... is something of a shock. However, over the course of the novel, she warms to them.

Well-written, funny, a bit odd, but also endearing. Recommended.

Nell Zink's writing is like no one else's - she has such an original voice. I loved The Wallcreeper and Nicotine did not disappoint. Hard to describe why it's so special - just read it.

This book fell far short of expectations. I didn't know what to make of the protagonist and what she gained from her experience of grappling with her father's death, coming to terms with the true nature of her family members and making a way for herself.

Review for Nicotine:

This was a difficult read for me. I was initially very excited about this book. The premise, a girl inherits her father's childhood home & discovers it's occupied by activist squatters, is pretty fun. Unfortunately, I didn't really see that there was any real point to this book. If you were to ask me what it was about, I don't think I would be able to answer.

2 things stuck out to me:

1. I love unlikeable characters, but the problem was that I think I was SUPPOSED to like them. Every character threw their privilege around in such a maddening way, that, if it had been in the context of social commentary, I would probably commend it. Similarly, the characters weren't really given very defined personalities. I think Matt, Penny's brother, had the most defined personality & he was, by far, the most interesting character.

2. There was no plot. It was really just a random series of events that happened to and among a group of people. When there was a confrontation at the house between 2 male characters, I thought it was a turning point and that everything after would be directly related, but it was just a more exciting event that happened.

For me, if the characters' personalities had been more defined OR there had been a plot, it would have been better, but having neither, it was difficult to feel engaged.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate, and Nell Zink for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was something about these characters that just didn’t ring true. All of them were unlikable, one-dimensional ‘millennials’ parodying activists from earlier decades. Despite all of the characters being affiliated to a house (squat) with a specific cause, none of them ever seemed to be organising or doing any activism or even arguing about anything related to their activism. There is now a resurgence of activism in the USA at a time when basic rights for women, black, latino, LGBTQ and other minority groups are under threat. Clearly, social justice movements are more than affluent white people paying lip service to intersectionality. However, this novel sends a very cynical message about the place of activism in society.
I received ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. It may have been just bad timing but I couldn't get into the style of writing. I also tried the audio version but had to give up at around the same place.

Thankyou for approving my request to read it as, even though I did not finish the book, I have definitely been able to take something from it for referral purposes to customers.