Let's start with the essentials:
- The main character of Lottie Hazell's Piglet is a young woman whose parents hung that atrocious nickname on her when she was a child because of a one misunderstood incident involving a large cake.
- Piglet's narcissistic parents are guilty of some of the worst parenting imaginable.
- Piglet is very insecure.
- Piglet resents the personal successes and achievements of even her closest friends - and acts accordingly towards them.
- As an adult, Piglet is now obsessed with everything to do with food, including its preparation and quality.
- Piglet cannot control her appetite, especially when she is under unusual stress.
That said, I did not feel bad for long about not giving a hoot about this narcissistic character as she goes about detrimentally impacting the lives of just about everyone who makes the mistake to letting her into their worlds.
Piglet is filled with characters I never grew comfortable with no matter how much I tried to understand their motivations for doing some of the rude things they kept doing to each other. This is one of those "every man for himself" kind of novels where, in the end, almost everyone ends up getting pretty much what the reader might wish upon them. None of it particularly good.
The best I can say for Piglet is that it's well written, and that it reads very smoothly. But still, the bottom line is that I couldn't wait to leave for good the company of the people in Lottie Hazell's fictional world. That's probably why it felt so good to turn the last page.
This one is just not for me.
It sounds like the kind of story that's like watching a train wreck. You're fascinated in a depraved sort of way and can't look away (or stop reading) but end up feeling profound dislike because you don't care about any of the characters or feel sympathy for them. (I know I just switched metaphors mid-sentence not great)
ReplyDeleteThat's very much the case, Jeane. Watching the main character make one terrible mistake after another was both fascinating and disgusting. That would not have been so bad if there had been more people in her life that were not as sadly misguided as her. Train wreck, for sure.
DeleteYes, this does not sound too appealing. Was it recommended? Sometimes I don't remember how something got on my TBR and I wish I had noted it at the time. At my book group, there is someone who mid-discussion will say, "Who suggested this one?" and while she may not mean it accusingly, that is how some of us take it.
ReplyDeleteMy niece at 1 tried to say Constance and it came out "Tackie." I didn't mind but my mother was afraid it might stick and the whole family might adopt the nickname. I can't even imagine how awful for a child to be stuck with Piglet.
You know, I can't remember where I first heard of this one...probably from another book blogger would be my guess. I do remember that the comments were not all positive ones, so I should have known better. I can't even imagine parents who would hang that particular nickname on a child...and then compound their cruelty by hanging onto the nickname all the way into the child's adulthood. No wonder this main character is so warped.
DeleteIt doesn't sound like one for me either. Thought I don't love it, I can understand a character who feels that much resentment towards others, but there has to be more about them...something I can at least like about them...for me to enjoy a book. And I don't think I would like Piglet at all.
ReplyDeletePiglet did have one socially redeeming value that I didn't go into in this short review. The misunderstanding about all the cake she ate that one time stems from her efforts to disguise the fact that her younger sister had an eating disorder. Good intentions...horrible results for the rest of her life.
DeleteYour thoughts are in line with a couple other reviews I've read recently. Now I'm sure I can safely skip this one!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, it's certainly not one I would ever recommend to anyone.
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