Review of If the Mountain Were Smooth

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Roy Nick
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Review of If the Mountain Were Smooth

Post by Roy Nick »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "If the Mountain Were Smooth" by Angelina Marie.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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Gabriella (Gabby), a pretty model based in New York City, is the protagonist of the story. She has three failed suicide attempts, and her mother was a drug addict. Her stepfather sexually assaulted her often, and when she did report him to her mother, she did nothing. Gabby sees demons tormenting her, and overcoming these unreal images is part of her daily routine.

Fast forward, Gabby finds love in Jason, and the two are soon in a relationship. Nonetheless, she is still stuck with her ex-boyfriend, Lyman. Things take an abrupt turn when a court subpoena letter arrives at Gabriella’s mail, making her a witness in Lyman’s hearing. Lyman has been charged with sexual assault. How will the court proceedings turn out?
The tale has some homophobic and racial discrimination content in it. Gabby has low self-esteem. Jason has issues with himself for having been kicked out of the marines and him being black. If the Mountain Were Smooth by Angelina Marie will evoke deep emotions in a reader.

There are many things I did not like. The illustrations of the book’s content were overly done. Initially, I thought they gave the tale some unique taste; however, as I proceeded, they became monotonous. Also, there are repetitions, incomplete, unclear, and poorly constructed sentences. In an instance, the narrator says, “I thought he was mean sometimes but she didn’t like it when I said that because Daddy always made sure we had food and money and a roof and Daddy took care of me and was very nice to me and it was the least I could do to show a little respect.” Such sentences can be revised to avoid statement fragments. Additionally, some wordy statements reduced readability.

On the contrary, I appreciated a few aspects. First, there were instances of humor. There was an aspect of simplicity in the author’s writing technique. The choice of words enabled me to follow the tale smoothly. Jason had a sense of humor; he always brightened my face whenever I encountered his dialogue with Gabby.

I have to admit I learned several things about models, photo shoots, and their different poses during the shoot; suggestive poses, family-friendly, holiday-card poses, etc. Even though I found numerous errors, I realized they were as a matter of style, and the author did it deliberately. Therefore, the book is professionally edited.

Nonetheless, even though the redundant sentiments were illustrating a matter of style with Gabby’s character, they affected my enjoyment of the book a great deal. I had a frowning face every time the protagonist expressed herself with run-on sentences. Therefore, I rate it 2 out of 4 stars. I recommend it to audiences who enjoy reading a story packed with dark sexual violence and mental illness.

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If the Mountain Were Smooth
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Aarti Jha
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Post by Aarti Jha »

Definitely don't enjoy reading some story packed with dark sexual violence and mental illness. Great Review!
Eddy E
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Post by Eddy E »

Just reading through, you can only but be empathetic to people in such situations, you never really understand. Great Review
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