Nicole F

The novel Tenderness by Rowan Beaird comprises 5% dialogue and 95% "tell, don't show" narrative in the form of long, interior, explanatory passages, sapping the story of energy and ultimately preventing the reader from engaging with the characters and story.

Astonishingly, Tenderness gives little to no sense of Synanon — not the cult's complexities, evolutions, and deep evils, its methods and expansions, its leaders and yes-men — although Synanon was supposed to be a primary component of the novel.

The novel evokes virtually nothing of the year 1976, despite some throwaway phrases about clothing. It conveys no sense of era at all.

William and Joel both come across as uninteresting losers; they certainly aren't characters who could earn and sustain the reader's attention. And Shay is more of a concept than a character. These problems are due in part to the "tell, don't show" narrative, but run deeper than that: the three main characters don't give the reader any reason to invest in them, for better or worse.

Tenderness as a novel is neither "tender" nor tough — thus the title is a head-scratching misnomer.