BOOK REVIEW: The Summer of Dead Toys, by Antonio Hill

The Summer of Dead Toys
Series: Inspector Salgado

Author: Antonio Hill

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: June 18, 2013

Source: NetGalley and Edelweiss

View on Amazon.com

Every time I tried to read The Summer of Dead Toys--which was a lot of times, I had the advanced copy for, like, ever--I had the exact same thought, "Is this the book that's supposed to be so good? Do I have the right book?" And then I'd go and read some of the advanced buzz and reviews and see that everyone seems to love this book. Like crazy love it. So I'd think, "I must just be reading it wrong." And I'd keep reading. Another hundred pages in I'd think, "Surely not EVERYONE loves this book, right? I can't be the only one who is finding it boring as hell, right? Am I?" And I'd look at online reviews and find out that yup, I was. So I again figured I was reading it wrong. By the time I had slogged through two thirds of the book I realized that nothing was going to make me like it but it was too late to stop at that point. So I finished...eventually.




Okay first of all let's start with the title. It is not the SUMMER of dead toys because the entire 10,000 page book takes place over a course of ten days. So at best it's the "Fortnight of Dead Toys." (And no, it's not really 10,000 pages, it just feels like it, but it is long.) And also, "dead toys"? That is the stupidest imagery ever. Dolls are not dead. Finding a sea of dolls is not creepy like "dead toys." Stop trying so hard to be creepy! It's like the whole book was trying to sneak up on me with an evil villain laugh, "Mwah-ha-ha! Look how EEvil I am!" Ugh. Stop.

The whole tone of the book was off-putting from start to finish. I was constantly surprised by the fact that this was a debut novel. That sounds like a compliment but it's really not. It felt like I was coming in on a story already in progress, like the second book in a trilogy that's not meant to be read out of sequence. The characters all had back stories that were alluded to and then explained, as if I was supposed to be tantalized by the secretive details. As if I was supposed to already care about all of the characters, their foibles, and their histories. But I didn't at all. I was just annoyed. JUST TELL ME THE STORY ALREADY! I wanted to scream.

Then I thought maybe the book was badly translated. Sometimes translators can focus too much on precision and lose the tone, or focus so much on tone that the story makes no factual sense. Back to the internet to investigate. Turns out Antonio Hill is a professional translator. So if there was a translation problem, whose fault would that be? His, that's who.

I rarely disagree so vehemently with the overwhelming majority of online reviews, but man I hated this book. It took me forever to get through it because I just hated so much. For me The Summer of Dead Toys turned into The Year of No Joy. Ugh, I'm making terrible book reviewer jokes now, that's how much I hated this book.

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