DNF Review: The Mine

Synopsis:

In May 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can't use, money he can't spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of swing dancing and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. THE MINE follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

This was such a disappointment. The Mine  starts out intriguing and engaging, with our main protagonist Joel Smith traipsing into an abandoned mine in Montana in the year 2000, and coming out again in the year 1941. About ten pages later is where it stopped being interesting for me.

It took me a few days of forcing myself to read at least one chapter a night before I realized why I was bored. Nothing was going on. After Joel shows up in 1941, the plot just kind of disappears. He meets a few people (the only interesting one being the feisty Ginny, his grandmother!) and they do things like go to work and go to baseball games. But that’s about it. Maybe something big was about to happen and I just quit before I got there, but it was a decent while when nothing was happening.

It was all so unfortunate because the writing itself was quite good. There was lots of historical information that would have been interesting if I cared about sports in the 1940’s, and obviously the author had done research. So maybe some of my reason for not enjoying this book is because it’s definitely not my favorite genre. That’s my fault. I can admit to that.

So maybe this book wasn’t for me, but if you’re a fan of historical romance that takes place in the 1940’s, you should give The Mine  a try. It has really good ratings and reviews on Good Reads and Amazon, so obviously I’m in the minority of reviewers that didn’t love this book.