Daniel Linares Linares itibaren Kaland, Uttar Pradesh 250342, India
The Woman In Black is a traditional style of ghost story and... Look, I tend to have a short attention span at times, it isn't unusual for me to pick up a book and zone out while reading the first chapter, or to get stuck rereading the same paragraph over and over. Basically it usually takes a while for me to become absorbed in a story. But frankly the first hundred pages of The Woman In Black were incredibly boring. I must have reread every second paragraph four times. Nothing happens. And when things do happen, they're predictable. The sad thing is, the book starts improving in the last few chapters. It's a shame it wasn't as interesting throughout.
A woman gets a tattoo and some hot sex from a sexy tattoo artist. Inked is simply an erotic contemporary short story that doesn't have a deep story line or fleshed out characters, but I didn't really expect that (ya know...because it's a short story). I thought the scope of the story was right for the size. It is only about 12 pages of actual story text and, as expected, focuses on the sexual encounter. However, I did end up getting a little more than I expected. I really liked that in those 12 pages (especially the beginning and end) it almost felt like the start of an erotic romance, not just an erotica short story. A lot of erotic romances start out with the lust first and the love and romance later, and it felt like that is where the story could have gone if it was extended. I'm not saying it should be longer but I liked that there was a spark of potential romance. I think the set up to the story at the beginning was done well too. It didn't just jump right into the sex, but gave the characters a chance to meet and spark an attraction that leads to their encounter. One issue I did have is the amount of typos. I counted about 12-14 and for a short story of approx 5,000 words or 12-ish pages that is quite a bit. I think another proofing pass would be helpful to the ratings. Warning: sexual content includes anal sex
I've used this text with a number of different student groups and every time I re-read it, I am struck by new insights. The way Dark weaves the biblical narrative, vast pop culture references and particular cultural artifacts (Radiohead, Beck, The Simpsons, Coen Brothers films and more) is simply brilliant. I think my copy is entirely underlined at this point ...