Mimi's Bookcase

Synopsis: "Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much - not because she's not pretty - she's a very cute bubbly blonde - or not interested in a social life. She really is . . . but Sookie's got a bit of a disability. She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill: he's tall, he's dark and he's handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting all her life for. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's fussy about his food, he doesn't like suntans and he's never around during the day . . . Yep, Bill's a vampire. Worse than that, he hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind. And then one of Sookie's colleagues at the bar is killed, and it's beginning to look like Sookie might be the next victim..." (Taken from Amazon.co.uk)


My Opinion: Hmm what can I say? I must admit I'm disappointed by this novel. After hearing so much about the TV series and the novels, I thought that it would be THE book that makes me addicted... unfortunately it wasn't. I'm not saying I hated it but just that I was expecting much more.
First, you have to know I read this book in French so maybe it would have been better in English but I'm not sure ^^'. Moreover, you should know that I watched the first 4 episodes of "True Blood" some time ago (never had the time nor truly the great desire to watch the rest) so the first chapters were very familiar to me as the 1st season = the 1st novel... how they managed to last 12 episodes with this single novel is such a wonder that now I feel the need to watch the rest.
Let's talk about what I didn't appreciate first so we can end on a more positive note.

1) The characters. I didn't appreciate any of the characters. Ok, Sookie is much less a nitwit than in the TV show but she's not lovable in any way in my opinion. What annoyed me was the lack of depth in the characters, everything seems to be on the superficial side, there are no real development in any of them. I'm aware this is a series so they can't say everything in the first book but damn, you also have to make us want to read more, I didn't feel connected to any of them.

2) Incoherence, especially in Sookie's case. Because of Sookie's telepathic powers, people thinks she's mentally instable and some don't hesitate to make fun of her right in her face and she doesn't say a word, she doesn't tell them to go to hell, she doesn't do anything. But when she meets an old and powerful vampire who could kill her in 2 seconds, she has no problem talking back to him... hmm okay, it doesn't sound very logicial to me but oh well. In my opinion, there's a serious lack of coherence in Sookie's behaviour throughout the book. Once again that's only my opinon.
As for Bill, the vampire wants to fit in the small town so he drinks synthetic blood (good points to him) but then somewhere in the novel he only wants to drink human blood... sure you'll fit much more now O_o.

3) Romance. I wouldn't say this novel is "bit-lit" but rather "chick-lit" with fantasy. The novel focuses too much on the romance part for my taste. Moreover, I didn't "believe in" this love story, their "I love you" didn't ring true.
When I read the synopsis, I thought there'd be a real investigation on the murders but it wasn't the case... the author was too interested in Sookie & Bill's relationship... which brings me to my final point:

4) The end. I won't say much except that it was so botched I wanted to laugh. The who & why of the murders were absolutely not credible to me, it seemed like the author realized she'd have to give a name and a face to the murderer and explain their actions so she wrote the first thing that went through her head. Sorry, I don't buy it.


Now you probably wonder what good I can tell about this book: it was truly a pleasant and easy read. The writing is simple and it's good when you're in need of something light. It only took me a few hours to read it and despite my reproaches I still enjoyed it... not to the point of reading it again but I didn't feel like hiding it in the back of my bookcase XDD
Will I read the 2nd book? Yes, I think so because we can't judge a series by only the first book (except if the experience was too "facepalm" you know) and because it's so popular I want to understand why ^^'
Oh before I forget; I read several times that the series is supposedly funny... I didn't find so with this first book but that may just be me. The few episodes of True Blood I watched were much funnier (in a crazy way I admit XD). If you want "chick-lit"+vampires+fun then I suggest you read "Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs" by Molly Harper (read the review HERE)


To summarize:
- You like romance tinged with fantasy and light novels then go for it.
- You're more into strong characters, investigations, mysteries, danger? Have you ever heard of Mercedes Thompson? No, then go HERE