Stephanie Jane recenzis The Devil and Dayna Dalton de Brit Lunden
An interesting concept
3 steloj
The Devil And Dayna Dalton is the ninth novella in the Bulwark Anthology - a collection of stories by various authors which were inspired by Brit Lunden's original novel set in the small town of Bulwark, Georgia. These anthology stories are all standalone tales and can be read in any order. I, of course, haven't actually read Bulwark itself yet - why make my bookish life too easy? - but I understand that Dayna Dalton was one of the minor characters in that novel. We now have the chance to get to know about her life in more detail.
I loved the opening scene in The Devil and Dayna Dalton in which Dayna, having had far too much to drink the night before, awakes to find Skip in her bed - a man she would really rather have not picked up and brought home. I thought Lunden perfectly captured Dayna …
The Devil And Dayna Dalton is the ninth novella in the Bulwark Anthology - a collection of stories by various authors which were inspired by Brit Lunden's original novel set in the small town of Bulwark, Georgia. These anthology stories are all standalone tales and can be read in any order. I, of course, haven't actually read Bulwark itself yet - why make my bookish life too easy? - but I understand that Dayna Dalton was one of the minor characters in that novel. We now have the chance to get to know about her life in more detail.
I loved the opening scene in The Devil and Dayna Dalton in which Dayna, having had far too much to drink the night before, awakes to find Skip in her bed - a man she would really rather have not picked up and brought home. I thought Lunden perfectly captured Dayna in this scene, explaining her without judging her for her behaviour. As the novel progresses, we learn more about Dayna's childhood and fraught relationships with both her mother and her former carer, Mrs Sweetpea, who, in a strange turn of fate, now lives right next door. Lunden chose to focus on Dayna's unrequited love for the town Sheriff, Clay Finnes, and, while I appreciated that he was important in her life, I did feel that this took up too much of the attention, especially as I wanted to learn more about her dysfunctional family dynamic and about the grouchy Mrs Sweetpea.
Overall, I thought that this story had an interesting concept. I felt it would actually have benefited from being a full novel so greater depth could have been given to explaining things like why Dayna was chosen and where exactly she is going. The mythology link is a nice touch and I did like this unexpected angle.