Every once in a while, I find a book that I struggle to read. 99% of the time, it’s because the book is so good that I don’t want it to end. But, occasionally, the book is just not my cup of tea, but I don’t want to give up on it. Different by David Gelernter was one of the latter books for me. I really struggled with the book. Which is unfortunate, because it has a 83% 5 star rating on Amazon. So far, everyone who has reviewed it really enjoyed it. It’s kind of making me wonder one of two things: Either there’s something wrong with me, or those other people are fudging their reviews. I can’t really decide which. I doubt there’s anything wrong with me, and I am The Picky Bookworm for a reason, so I’m willing to bet this book just wasn’t for me.
I’m pretty sure I’m just spoiled from indie authors as well, because they are aware enough of readers’ habits, being readers themselves, that they know to avoid the “info dump” part of stories, because they wouldn’t want to read something like that. Different was not an indie book, that I saw, although it’s possible, but I really struggled with the various “tell them don’t show them” aspects in much of this book. It was long, but unnecessarily so. Some books are like that, and I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but Different just didn’t get any better in that regard.
I don’t usually post negative reviews on The Picky Bookworm, because I’d rather rave about the books I loved, rather than rant about the books I didn’t. But, I made a deal with myself a couple months ago that I was going to review every book I read, regardless of content and regardless of my opinion. So, you might get some books with some sex in them, because I won’t know every time if there’s gonna be sex in a book before I read it. Normally, I’ll avoid reviewing a book with explicit sex scenes, but you might get some of them.
This post may contain affiliate links. Your purchase provides The Picky Bookworm with a small commission, and I’m so grateful for the support!
Synopsis
Darius Stein is Different. During World War 2, mixed race relationships in London and the surrounding areas were almost unheard of. So when Carrie gives birth to a dark brown baby, when she herself is pale and blonde, it creates quite an uproar.
Set against the aftermath of WW2, read about Darius’ life as a Black, Jewish man, who makes a name for himself in various areas, despite his “disadvantages.”
Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of (book) in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
My Thoughts on Different by David Gelernter
I’m not sure exactly what to say about Different by David Gelernter. It didn’t suck, but the author had some writing quirks that I struggled with. I find I struggle most when a man writes a woman character. The typical outcomes from this are:
- The woman is over-sexualized
- The woman is way too feminine/weak
- The woman is far too masculine
Sadly, unless the author gets plenty of feedback from women in varied walks of life, one of those three things are going to happen. In the case of Different, Carrie (Darius’ mom) was just written kind of flat and fit with number two. She’s described, not in so many words, as weak-willed, and that the father of her child held no blame for their one-time-stand that led to Carrie’s pregnancy.
Writing Style
Like I said before, the author had some writing quirks that I struggled with. Most of these are typos and grammar issues, so with this being an uncorrected proof, it makes sense. I can only hope David ran it through a couple editors before publishing.
I also struggled with one scene in particular. Carrie has just given birth, and her sister is visiting. When Rita takes Darius’ fingers, he looks at her with blue eyes (highly unlikely in a mixed baby. Eyes would likely be brown, even though they say all babies are born with blue eyes) and smiles.
Babies don’t have the muscles to even hold their heads up for months, and they don’t smile that soon after birth. It is physically impossible. When people tell me “oh no, that baby smiled at me!” It was a muscle spasm or gas. Babies just don’t have the brain power to recognize faces or realize they’re happy to see the blur, or put together the connections enough to make their faces form the symbol for happy. It doesn’t happen.
To be fair, I did google “when babies start smiling” and almost everything I read said around 2-3 months, with a couple places stating within 4 weeks. Nothing I read stated babies will smile at a person within hours of birth. Most baby smiles at that age are basically facial twitches.
The Pacing
Ok, so this is where Different gets a little wonky. Most of the book through the first 20% was about Darius’ family, and seemed in omniscient POV, which irritates me. If you’re an author who likes writing in omniscient POV, please never ask me to read your book. I just don’t like being in everyone’s heads at once. I get that enough in real life (Empath, hello) so I don’t need it in my escapes too.
What irritated me most, though, is that one chapter switched to Darius’ POV, and told his story through age 13. Then, suddenly, in the next chapter, it’s back to the original timeline and in Henry’s POV.
The jump in time irritated me, because the book is called “the curious story of Darius Stein” as its tagline, so once the book jumped to Darius, I figured it would stay there.
And frankly, I didn’t give one hoot about that family, once Henry came home from the war. He was a dick.
The book keeps switching back and forth between Darius and his family, which is a bit irritating. I really just don’t care about them, so unless the book somehow merges at some point, I’m struggling. I made a deal with myself that I was going to review every book I read, good or bad, so that’s really the only reason I’m writing about it at all.
The Length
I kind of feel like the whole book is one big info dump. The book is over 500 pages, and I honestly feel like the author could have shrunk it by about 150 pages, and it would have been the same story. It just didn’t need to be that long, because it felt like it dragged. Too much of the book was unnecessary explanations for things, and clarification of things that didn’t need clarification. It might be possible that the author took a bunch of stuff out before publication, but I honestly doubt it. Normally when an uncorrected proof is sent to Netgalley, the book is “finished” enough to go through one last proofread and they send it for pub. Different just didn’t have the writing style and pacing that I’m used to, and I found it really irritating.
My Recommendation
Based on the uncorrected proof, I can’t recommend Different by David Gelernter. I felt like in a lot of ways, I was reading a first draft. There was a ton of “info dumping” and explaining things that didn’t need explaining.
For example, when a character requests his birth certificate, he states “I was a toddler when I was brought here. Nobody ever came to see me, and I really don’t know who I am.”
That is enough in itself, but the author still felt the need to add,
“He thought he would pile it on a bit thick and play on her sympathy.”
The book is honestly full of that stuff, and honestly I found it irritating. I believe that some tell-not-show is important in a story, but when it reaches the level of “almost info dump” is where I get lost.
Normally, I would have DNF’d by now, but I’m really trying to give it a shot. I wanted so badly to shrink my Netgalley queue in November, so getting these books read is important to me.
Your Review made me curious! Take me to Amazon to check out Different!
Conclusion
I’m honestly very sorry I couldn’t give a better review for Different by David Gelernter. I thought the premise and the story idea was amazing. I also really enjoyed reading and learning about the various aspects of Jewish culture and religion. Unfortunately, the book as a whole just wasn’t for me. I won’t give up on finding more diverse books for my TBR, but I doubt I’ll read anything else by this author.
Do you have any recommendations for books that include diverse characters? Head down to the comments and let me know! I’m always looking to add to my TBR, even though I’m pretty sure it’s a book or two away from exploding. Thanks to everyone for sticking around, and I’ll be back soon with another review!
Until Next Time, Friends!
