Tuesday 20 November 2012

Review: Gold Mountain - Sharon Cullars


It’s been six months but I remember buying this book because I’d seen a semi-positive review on a blog—Dear Author probably—and because a romance of a mixed-race couple in the 1860’s Wild West sounded intriguing. Especially since neither character is white.

Unfortunately the story didn’t live up to its promise. 

I did like the start of the book, although I did think it somewhat boring. The author spends a lot of time setting the scene and describing the life of a Chinese worker building the railroads for a pittance and the life of a black single woman trying to build a new life and a business for herself and her friend. Bias, racism, sexism, it’s all there and prevalent in the vernacular. 

As if that’s not enough to create obstacles to the couple’s happiness, there’s also their inability to fully understand each other. Quiang speaks but a little English and he and Leah have to communicate through gestures, looks, and touches. 

There’s all this, and what does the author do with it? Nothing. Cullars glosses over all the difficult—and rewarding—steps of a meaningful relationship building and focuses on the paper thin physical attraction instead. There’s a brief mention of how Leah and Quiang learn to communicate with the help of a dictionary, but they don’t really talk to each other. When they’re together they’re either taking their clothes of and having sex or putting their clothes on and thinking about having sex. And those sex scenes are bad. There’s creaming and there’s tumescence, there’s orbs and there’s the infamous “her sex” euphemism. 

After all that, the story and my rating for it could have been saved had I bought Quiang’s interactions with the triad members. I can’t really pinpoint my problem with them, but something in the language used left me unconvinced. It wasn’t just Wao’s refusal to call an erection an erection, it was also how the revelation of the misappropriation was handled. Until then, I had liked Quiang’s willingness to engage in shady businesses for quick profit and that both characters had such defined lives outside each other, after it just felt anticlimactic. 

I didn’t want a happily ever after epilogue, I wanted to read how they get there. 

So what does the book have? Good historical description with nascent characterisations, but without any real character or relationship development, and a whiff of Wild West adventures. It simply wasn’t enough for me. 

1 star


Series: N/A
Pages: 232 (ebook)
Publisher: Loose Id
Published: February 23rd 2010
Source: Bought

24 comments:

  1. This sure sounds like a big disappointment, while it is such an intriguing time period! Hope your next book is a good one.

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  2. I confess I would have been intrigued by the period as well, love books like that. I'm sorry it was disappointing...

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    1. I used to watch a lot of westerns but—maybe because of it—I haven't read many that many books about the place and period. Maybe in a while I'll feel adventurous enough to try again.

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  3. Oh this sounded like it could have been good. Too bad. I mean you can't have a good romance if the sex scenes are bad. Oh well...

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    1. The bad sex scenes might have bothered me less had the rest of the story been strong enough to keep the whole thing afloat. Unfortunately it sank like a brick.

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  4. That's too bad. It would have been something unique tot he genre if it had focused more on overcoming their differences while falling in love.

    I guess sex solves everything lol

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    1. It's the magic penis syndrome I wish authors forgot ever existed.

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  5. Sorry this was such a disappointment,the premise sounded interesting.

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  6. I've been eyeing this book for a while.

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    1. Then I recommend you find and read a few other reviews before deciding what to do.

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  7. Well glossing over all the difficulty ruins the happily ever epilogue.

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    1. They didn't even need to solve everything, they just needed to work at it to solve something. I'm still a bit angry how little effort the author put into writing that aspect of their relationship.

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  8. And those sex scenes are bad. There’s creaming and there’s tumescence, there’s orbs and there’s the infamous “her sex” euphemism.
    Yuck.
    So many good ideas wasted. Without any real character or relationship development it cannot be a good book, romance or not romance.

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  9. "There’s all this, and what does the author do with it? Nothing. Cullars glosses over all the difficult—and rewarding—steps of a meaningful relationship building and focuses on the paper thin physical attraction instead."

    Well shoot! It sounds like so much more could have been done with their relationship - especially with their communication issues. It's definitely disappointing that those elements weren't explored more.

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    1. It's like the author used their lack of a common language as an excuse to not have them speak to each other at all. She could have at least let them describe to each other their hopes and dreams while lamenting the fact that the other doesn't understand. But she didn't.

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  10. Well, I was annoyed very early on in your review as you say that neither character is white but the cover is very obviously white-washed.

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    1. And then there's that. It really needs to stop.

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  11. Yikes, 1 star is pretty dismal for sure.

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    1. I thought about giving it two stars but I couldn't think of anything redeemable.

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