The Cactus

****There will be spoilers in this review****

2/5 stars

I gave this book a try after hearing it was like Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. I almost didn’t finish this book, even after the “plot twist” reveal. The only reason I continued is because I was already very close to the end. 

It felt like for the majority of the book, there was zero character development. Susan was not a likable protagonist for me. Her straight-forward approaches were not funny or quirky. The story wrapped up very quickly. You follow the story through Susan’s pregnancy and battle against her brother about their mother’s will. The story seemed to drag on and then tried to tie everything together in the last 20-30 pages.

**And now for the spoilers. I will fully admit pretty much the entire reason why I gave this book such a low rating is because I am an adopted person. Edward, Susan’s brother, has always been favored and it shows in their mother’s will. Susan loses her case against her brother because she finds out she was secretly adopted. What could have been a redemption story, turned into a cringe-worthy saga of a cliched plot device. And of course, there had to be the offensive dialogue about how Susan was not really a family member anymore…

An adopted person is isolated, odd, and clearly the unwanted child compared to biological children. In the story, the court supports this idea by throwing out her case.

The last chapter basically has all of the character development in it–forgiveness, love, and signs of change. I started out enjoying this book. As it went on, I found Susan more irritating and then almost gave up when the same-old adoption plot twist was thrown in. I wanted to love it just like I loved Eleanor Oliphant, but this was a major fail for me.