Rent Standish

If I could give this book less than one star I would. I finished reading only a few minutes ago and I want to scrub it from my brain. This book was an unending string of tragedy. I have never read a book WANTING the characters to hurl themselves off a cliff until now. This book is the reason for anti-depressants! And don't get me wrong, I love a great tragedy as much as the next person, and any story would be terribly boring without at least some obstacles and struggles. But this book had a few short pages of happiness, followed swiftly by a gut-wrenching, heart-shredding series of unrelenting wretchedness! And it NEVER gets better. Of the two main characters, Ambrose and Rafe, I kept praying for one to die just to end the torture of his existence, and for the other to suffer slowly due to how disgusting and weak of a human being he is. And by the end, I just hated them both! What is even the point of reading a book if you hate the characters and just want it to END?Seriously, this book makes Romeo and Juliet look like a light-hearted comedy! I could watch Schindler's List right now and it would actually be less depressing! An alternate title could have been Wretchedness: The Book. I kept hoping for a silver lining, a possibly happy ending, but there wasn't any. I just ended up completely despising BOTH characters, and finding the entire book utterly pointless by the end.I really REALLY wish I hadn't read this book. It just ****ed me off, making me want to watch Disney movies until it's erased from my brain. And, in case you think I'm weak-hearted and can't enjoy the complexities of tortured heroes, I ***ure you that isn't the case. I adore Shakespeare, Macbeth being one of my favorite plays, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Who Played with Fire/Who Kicked the Hornet's nest is one of favorite series, and Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite movies of all time. If the tragedy and suffering has a point, and adds to the complexity of story and characters, I will applaud its literary use. But when it's pointless, unremitting, and goes on to the point where you can't even bring yourself to like the characters anymore, it becomes loathsome. At that point, it's just badly written. Which, in many ways, this book was.I actually sat here and gave it some serious thought and I can't find anything even remotely redeeming about it. Do yourself a favor, save yourself the depression and outrage, and DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!