Too Much on the Inside is a simple, short book about four characters from all across the world converging in one spot in Toronto. There is Dez from Brazil, Marlize from South Africa, Nicki from Israel, and Lukas from the east coast of Canada. The book is told with alternating POVs from each of these four characters. Throughout the book you get to see their interactions with each other, and learn about their lives before moving to Toronto in short snippets. I honestly think a lot of people would enjoy the simple, straightforward style of this book and the small observations about life from the places these characters are from, as well as in Toronto.However, I kind of wanted something that went deeper. The writing was very simple, and I felt like I was being told the characters' emotions instead of really feeling the characters' emotions. I think it had the potential to be a really beautiful, emotional story with the lives of these four characters' intertwining, as well as learning from their pasts and moving forward. The premise is great, which is what made me want to pick up the book in the first place. But it just stayed on the surface level, and relied on ancient tropes and cliches rather than doing anything new or interesting. Even the problems that each character had had an obvious solution, which was just postponed until the end when the characters conveniently found themselves and realized something that I could have told them after the first couple of chapters.
I liked the idea of the story, but it just didn't work for me, because it didn't make me feel anything. I didn't care enough about the characters to want to spend more time with them after the last page.
You can find it on Goodreads here.
Danila Botha's website
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