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Title: Poor Writing, More Soap Opera than History
Review: The story of the long-ago explosion at Texas City has the elements for a good non-fiction narrative. But this book fails the test. In the hands of this author, a potentially interesting story is all soap opera and purple prose. No cliche is left behind. Bill Minutaglio uses an irritating present tense apparently designed to gin up reader interest. But the characters are cardboard. And his reach for pathos is more likely to bring laughter than tears.The biggest problem is that the line between fact and fiction is blurred with impunity. What's real? What's not? In the the hands of a better writer or a more disciplined historian, this book might been good. But there's little here to recommed.
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