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lenny3 's review for:
You Don't Know Me
by Imran Mahmood
3.5
TW for violence, islamophobia and addiction/drug use.
“I know it is weird, but book people are weird, trust me.”
You don’t know me tells the story of an unnamed narrator, who, over the duration of the novel, defends himself against a murder accusation. I read this via audio, and I was blown away by the narration and how well the narrative lends itself to an audio medium. I feel like this would translate beautifully to a stage production. The reader is put into the place of the jury, and the story is made up of ‘transcriptions of court recordings’ from the closing statements of the court case.
For a debut piece, this is a really interesting concept that is fairly well executed. The narrators voice was so distinctive and rang with authenticity, however it is really important to note that, as far as I have been able to find, this is *not* own voices, but does provide an intriguing look at drug, street and gang scenes. Everyone is morally grey, unreliable and that works strikingly.
What I found really interesting was at about the 60-70% mark you feel like you have gotten to the meat of the murder and, to be honest, if that was the overall ‘outcome’, it would have been an interesting, but kinda flat, story. The plot twist though! It was such a gentle reveal and Mahmood teased it out in a smooth, natural way. Even though it was easy to foresee, I think it was done really well!
My main issues is that there were several instances (in the audio at least) where the story suddenly cuts (at times, mid word) and jumps to a new chapter starter. There is one point where this is so jarring I am still not sure there that there wasn’t an error in the recording. It does end up coming together, but it really takes you out of the flow of the story. I would also have preferred a little more ‘show not tell’ regarding the development of the main relationship – the narrator goes to the end of the earth for his girlfriend, however, not enough time is spent building the relationship into something that seems strong enough to withstand, or to justify, the narrators willingness to risk *everything* for this woman.
I am really interested to read what else the author comes out with.
TW for violence, islamophobia and addiction/drug use.
“I know it is weird, but book people are weird, trust me.”
You don’t know me tells the story of an unnamed narrator, who, over the duration of the novel, defends himself against a murder accusation. I read this via audio, and I was blown away by the narration and how well the narrative lends itself to an audio medium. I feel like this would translate beautifully to a stage production. The reader is put into the place of the jury, and the story is made up of ‘transcriptions of court recordings’ from the closing statements of the court case.
For a debut piece, this is a really interesting concept that is fairly well executed. The narrators voice was so distinctive and rang with authenticity, however it is really important to note that, as far as I have been able to find, this is *not* own voices, but does provide an intriguing look at drug, street and gang scenes. Everyone is morally grey, unreliable and that works strikingly.
What I found really interesting was at about the 60-70% mark you feel like you have gotten to the meat of the murder and, to be honest, if that was the overall ‘outcome’, it would have been an interesting, but kinda flat, story. The plot twist though! It was such a gentle reveal and Mahmood teased it out in a smooth, natural way. Even though it was easy to foresee, I think it was done really well!
My main issues is that there were several instances (in the audio at least) where the story suddenly cuts (at times, mid word) and jumps to a new chapter starter. There is one point where this is so jarring I am still not sure there that there wasn’t an error in the recording. It does end up coming together, but it really takes you out of the flow of the story. I would also have preferred a little more ‘show not tell’ regarding the development of the main relationship – the narrator goes to the end of the earth for his girlfriend, however, not enough time is spent building the relationship into something that seems strong enough to withstand, or to justify, the narrators willingness to risk *everything* for this woman.
I am really interested to read what else the author comes out with.