I did it. Fury crossed my threshold. I finally read Fury. I FINALLY READ FURY!
Do you know what that means? No. I don’t think you do. Story time!
This book is so incredibly hard to come by and I swear IT’S CURSED. Whenever it attempts to cross on over America’s border it mysteriously gets lost or stolen. Don’t ask me why it’s always this book. I don’t know.
All I know is this: I tried to order it from Fishpond.com and they cancelled my order due to publishing issues.
So I did what any book lover would do: I threw a miniature pity party, complete with black party hats and all. Then I heard of a book tour on GoodReads and I was super excited! I rushed over to the book group to sign up only to discover that they had closed the entries only hours before. I had a sad. Well, actually, it was more than a sad. I was starting to get angry.
After my little rage-fest, I found out about another tour that was held by Wendy Darling. My excitement was climbing! Until it was lost in the mail. I felt my pressure rising. I mean, this book was legitimately avoiding me. Why? Why did you hate me so much Fury?!
I got so angry I felt my biceps growing in size, there was suddenly wind in my hair and my fro was turning a nice shade of golden-yellow. If I didn’t read Fury soon, I knew the transformation was inevitable and all in my path would suffer the wrath of my black soul.
I did the only responsible thing I could think of to save my neighborhood: I fired up my computer and Googled images of Ryan Gosling. Instantly, I felt my fury subsiding. And then, just like that, my hot husband walks through the door with a package in hand. I couldn’t believe it. I quickly tore off the paper and hugged Fury close. I thought, “It was you Ryan! I knew you wouldn’t fail me!” and I lapsed into a daydream:
My husband cleared his throat at that awkward moment and walked away muttering something that resembled, “Get a room.” Then I looked down at the envelope and realized it was from Kat. Damn. Daydream over.
So yeah, the review. Fury is what a few of my friends (real life, not the ones that live in my computer) would call an ILC (Interesting Little Creature). Why? Because I both loved and hated this book. The main character, Eliza is everything I usually dislike in a heroine. She’s rich beyond belief, spoiled, bitchy, ect. And for most of the novel I didn’t like her. We didn’t get along and I really wanted to shake her. Hard. In fact, I pretty much felt the same way about all the characters. Poor little rich girls with their poor little problems. *eyeroll* I couldn’t understand understand why these girls were friends in the first place or the dynamic of their relationship. I just couldn’t relate to them for most of the book and Eliza’s attitude wasn’t helping. However, somewhere along the way as Eliza poured out her soul in the police station, I felt a fierce protectiveness for her and her best friends. I love when books do that. Make me feel like I hate everyone and then change my mind by the end.
So besides my love/hate relationship with the characters, there was the plot. Marr built the anticipation just right in Fury. The story flips back and forth from past and present as Eliza reluctantly tells her story to Dr. Fadden. I really enjoyed that method of story telling and was incredibly eager to find out what happened during the crime and who was killed. But at times it did leave me frustrated because Eliza would be in a middle of a flashback and the scene would flip back to the present. It’s almost like when you’re watching your favorite TV show and just when something good is about to happen, it cuts to a commercial. But I coud tell Marr had a plan. She allowed me to see Eliza’s other side – the broken side – and I began to appreciate those momentary gaps. Clever.
The ending was interesting because I really wasn’t expecting it to go down like it did. At one point in the novel I was worried because I could easily guess one of the plot twists. I thought the ending may go in similar fashion, but it didn’t. It was then I realized two things: 1) how much I liked Eliza or how much she grew on me and 2) how much I loved when Eliza went into a fury!
My feminist side was rejoicing. It was a good ending, but it also made me sad at the same time. *sigh*
All in all, while I wasn’t blown away, I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to read Fury. I finally can join in with the cool kids now and chat about this coveted GoodReads title. Now can we all please cross our fingers and toes that this makes its way back to Australia in one piece, preferably to Kat? I really don’t want to go back to her dungeon of doom and gloom. ‘Kay, thanks.
elena
Haha, it’s kind of eery that I just posted a review of Fury too and we had very similar thoughts! I couldn’t relate to the characters either or understand them either but I found myself enjoying reading about them. I wasn’t really a fan of the ending though, it seems to be a hit or miss with people.
Stephanie Sinclair
@elena:
I just read your review, Elena. I think that’s the beauty of Fury: not understanding the characters, but still caring about their well being!
Kara @ Great Imaginations
Awesome. Your reviews are so readable. It’s like a story unfolding. I love it. I’m on the fence about if I want to go to all the trouble to obtain this book because I’ve seen some really great reviews and some not so great. Anyway, I’m glad you sorta liked it. Great review as always.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Kara @ Great Imaginations:
Thanks, Kara! I think you should give it a go whenever you come across it. It may surprise you.
Kaethe
What do you think? Most coveted book?
I was blown away by the ending. What I like best about your review is how you got at the slowly learning to care for Eliza who is such a pain in the ass.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Kaethe:
Yes! The ending was surprising and left my mouthing hanging wide open! Eliza didn’t feel like a character that was meant to be loved from the start, though some readers do. But she does grow on you. With all her faults she was a good friend and her heart was in the right place. I can definitely see why it’s a coveted book!
BarkLessWagMore
I’m still caught up in the Gosling daydream. Thanks for that, I shall get nothing accomplished today.
Heidi
Wow! this book kept getting lost in the mail. that sucks. I was lucky enough to get on Wendy’s tour and read it back in December. Shirley was kind enough to pop over to my blog to post a epilogue. Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://rainydayramblings.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a015390e082b4970b015434b5568f970c/search?filter.q=shirley+marr
Stephanie Sinclair
@Heidi:
Oh, so you read it before it was lost! I believe it would have been on its way to me soon after since the last place it was seen was on the east coast. Thanks for the link. I think after reading that, I like the ending in the book much better.
VeganYANerds
Great review, Steph! I think I’m one of the only ones who actually liked Eliza from the beginning but like you my feelings for her grew over the book.
Stephanie Sinclair
@VeganYANerds:
Thank you! Once I understood her a little more and got past her initial front, she was easy to sympathize with.
Lexie B.
Man, with this book’s luck, it’s a miracle anyone ever gets a chance to read it. Also. Ryan Gosling.
Ryan Gosling.
I meant, uh, wonderful review! Characters that you can’t like/relate to are rather frustrating, but it still sounds like a good read. If I can ever actually get my hands on a copy, I’d most likely enjoy it.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Lexie B.:
Lol, thank you, Lexie! I think you would really enjoy this one!