The Boxcar Librarian

The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes

The title and cover were alluring to say the least!

I was disappointed in the slow burn on the story development. It took forever. There were too many perspectives going on before a character had footing in the story.

The alternation of viewpoints and time lines was confusing. I don’t like having to flip back into a story to figure out what is happening and for character references.

This one tried to hit on too many historical points at once and therefore didn’t do any of them justice. You had the Montana mining community injustices and unions, the WPA Writer’s project in the Depression era, and the boxcar library to provide materials to mining communities. There was just too much to cover and the story seemed scattered. I really just wanted the boxcar libraries, truthfully.

Until the end, it just missed the mark on holding my attention, I had to work too hard to keep up with what year it was in relation to the characters. It took away from the simple pleasure of reading the story, The pace was depleted with 3 different stories in 3 different decades.

There was just too much going on for one book and the flow seemed disorganized. I didn’t enjoy it, disappointing. 2/5⭐

I would like to Thank NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this novel.