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Sanders' Starfish Tara C Allred 9781555177010 Books

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Sanders' Starfish Tara C Allred 9781555177010 Books

This is another case of a writer apparently self-epublishing* a first draft without benefit of an editor or proofreader. The characters were flat and two-dimensional. I really had no notion of what anyone looked like. I was never sure what the time period was, either. The plot was interesting and that's the only reason I finished it. I wonder what happened to some of the other patients. The ending was so abrupt. Please, Miss Allred now that you have some years behind you, please revise and revisit this novel. Freshen it with more realistic dialog. Have your characters come to life and not be stereotypes. Add more in-depth descriptions. This book could be so much more!

*This may not be a word, but you all know what I mean.


Tags : Sanders' Starfish [Tara C. Allred] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dr. John Sanders is about to begin his career as a clinical psychologist. Full of optimism, he believes he can make a difference and is eager to provide hope to a group the world has deemed hopeless. Yet in John's quest to offer those in his care a second chance,Tara C. Allred,Sanders' Starfish,Bonneville Books,1555177018,Psychological,Inheritance and succession,Inheritance and succession;Fiction.,Politicians' spouses,Psychiatric hospital patients,Psychiatric hospital patients;Fiction.,Psychological fiction,Psychotherapist and patient,Psychotherapist and patient;Fiction.,Suspense fiction,Literature & Fiction Contemporary,FICTION Psychological,Fiction,Fiction - Psychological Suspense,FictionThrillers - Suspense,GENERAL,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Thrillers - Suspense

Sanders' Starfish Tara C Allred 9781555177010 Books Reviews

I really wanted to love this book. I love the title and the starfish story that inspired it, and since I once worked in a hospital psych unit, I already had an interest in mental health issues, and for the people who work in this field. So I should have been sitting smack dab in the middle of the target audience for this book, right? I dunno. Maybe I simply expected too much from it.

The story in itself had the potential to be very good, and I commend the author for tackling it. The subject matter could have... should have... delivered a potent emotional punch, but it just... didn't. For me, the characters were flat, and the dialogue, unrealistic. Add to that a few grammatical errors coming from characters who would have known better, and scene transitions that were so awkward, at one point, I thought a page was missing from the book.

However, that doesn't mean I didn't like the book. I did, and there's a good chance you would, too. I'd give it three and a half stars. And yes, I'd read another book by this author. Matter of fact, I already have another one...
On one level, the basic premise was fine and could have been an interesting thriller, but the delivery of the story left much to be desired. Most of the movement was delivered through dialogue without any nuances or mediating description, which created a very choppy, distant feeling. The main character comes across as confused and obsessive, which made him hard to like, though it's clear we are supposed to be sympathetic towards him and his actions. Perhaps most frustrating, the basic plot of the "mystery" was clear from very early on. The exact reasoning behind the plot was the only thing that needed to be cleared up, and it was done quite abruptly, as was the ending itself.

Perhaps the biggest problem was that John Sanders was difficult to accept as a psychologist, both in his musings about life and his clinical sessions. He was pushy with the patient one-on-one (and I say patient in the singular because we never see him with another one, which could have fleshed out his character and attitudes a great deal), and mostly spouted textbook ideas in his group sessions, making it very difficult to envision him having much real impact. The other patients are one-dimensional pieces of furniture populating the scenario, with no purpose other than to set the scene of a larger institution, and most of the staff are the same. I probably would not have finished the book if I had not been laid up with a back injury, and as it is, I skimmed and skipped much of the last 25% just to get through it; I do feel as if I wasted my time reading this book, which seems much more like a first-draft that a finished piece of literature.
Have you ever sat down to write a review but you really don't know how to get started? OK, well yeah like every single review I write. This time it's more a I liked this book, but...There are some things that didn't work for me. Before I start my usual picking lets talk about the story. John Sanders is young, idealistic, following something he chose as a passion while still just a child and dealing with his mother's own mental illness. This is not overly fleshed out in the story and that's OK. It seems this is part of a potential series so hopefully more is fleshed out in the future. He finds a job at a private mental institution, when private is quickly becoming a think of the past due to insurance cuts and the cheaper easier route of state care. He's given patients to work with that honestly, some should never been handed over to a newbie, but that's just me. Especially to a newbie that you haven't fleshed out yet and these patients lead to bigger secrets of the administration. And as we all know secrets lead to drama, conflict, and coverups. And there sits John, the newbie trying to dig it all out

Here's where it gets complicated for me. It is hard to find a fiction book about mental illness that adequately and appropriately portrays mental illness. This book does that, somewhat but then it falls so flat with the interactions of those illnesses. John leads these in-depth group sessions with his patients where he talks with them as though they were his undergrad peers. Deep, thoughtful, here's the steps that you need to take and how I can help you get there if you want to do the work. But then in one on one conversations with those same patients the dialogue feels stilted, flat and at times almost like he is speaking to a child and not an adult diagnosed with a mental illness. This childish, stilted and flat conversation style carries over into conversations with his superiors, administration and even friends. There is good here but it's hiding behind the not so good. Even the title is so well painted to the idea behind the book. The story has so much merit but could really be improved with additional rewriting and some good editing.

On the idea of rewriting I find some huge formatting issues that also made the book difficult to enjoy. There are obvious breaks in the story that change location or time and are well marked. Other times the story will jump location or even time from one paragraph to the next without any notation that it's happening. Sometimes it was hard to follow the train of thought. Things that would again benefit from additional editing and rewriting. Beyond that there are elements of how things play out that are slightly far-fetched but make a great story. Additional back story and plot building would make these ideas work better. (SPOILER - John meets girl who happens to be a reporter. They go in to interview the administration over the things that he discovered that caused him to be fired. No one questions him showing up with a reporter who has a scheduled interview? Really?)

At the base of the book there's a really good story to be told here. However, a thorough going over by a good set of beta readers (not friends who will tell you what you want to here but readers who will help to build and create a better overall story) and some additional editing are needed. The story is worth reading. It's worth saving. It's worth the effort. But there's a lot of hills to climb for this to be the amazing book I know it can be. Still worth the read and I'm not in any way disappointed that I did read it. Or even that I do own it.
This is another case of a writer apparently self-epublishing* a first draft without benefit of an editor or proofreader. The characters were flat and two-dimensional. I really had no notion of what anyone looked like. I was never sure what the time period was, either. The plot was interesting and that's the only reason I finished it. I wonder what happened to some of the other patients. The ending was so abrupt. Please, Miss Allred now that you have some years behind you, please revise and revisit this novel. Freshen it with more realistic dialog. Have your characters come to life and not be stereotypes. Add more in-depth descriptions. This book could be so much more!

*This may not be a word, but you all know what I mean.