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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Self harm, Dementia, Abortion, Abandonment
I loved this book. What do you do when your own child is a psychopath, murders your other baby, and no one believes you? I was actually relieved when years later, Violet ends up killing her other little brother from her father's second marriage. NOW DO YOU CLOWNS FINALLY BELIEVE BLYTHE???? I have never wanted to kill a kid in a book as much as I do Violet. The story was fast-paced and I loved seeing glimpses of Blythe's mom and grandmother from the past.
I feel conflicted about this book. I definitely felt unsettled which I think was the point. But I feel like I was supposed to come out of it with some important takeaway, and I didn’t. What am I supposed to learn from this story? There was no redemption from or for anyone. I mean…maybe a little bit? But not really.
I will say, I got very drawn into the story. I had to keep reminding myself, “Not MY daughter, not MY husband”. I also thought it was interesting to have the book written essentially as a letter to Fox. I didn’t love the scenes from Etta/Cecilia’s past, however, because I kept losing track of who we were reading about. I know that those scenes were in italics, but I still got confused. Seb and Henry were indistinguishable and Etta and Cecilia were both awful.
One thing I thought was super effective, though, was the opening scene. It sets us up for the whole story and I found myself thinking about that scene more and more as the story progressed. It started off feeling one way and then morphed as we learned more about the characters.
Overall, I think this book would be really effective for someone else, but it was just okay for me. The subject matter is definitely hard so I might recommend looking up trigger warnings if you think you could be affected.
I will say, I got very drawn into the story. I had to keep reminding myself, “Not MY daughter, not MY husband”. I also thought it was interesting to have the book written essentially as a letter to Fox. I didn’t love the scenes from Etta/Cecilia’s past, however, because I kept losing track of who we were reading about. I know that those scenes were in italics, but I still got confused. Seb and Henry were indistinguishable and Etta and Cecilia were both awful.
One thing I thought was super effective, though, was the opening scene. It sets us up for the whole story and I found myself thinking about that scene more and more as the story progressed. It started off feeling one way and then morphed as we learned more about the characters.
Overall, I think this book would be really effective for someone else, but it was just okay for me. The subject matter is definitely hard so I might recommend looking up trigger warnings if you think you could be affected.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i really enjoyed this book, i read it almost compulsively. it’s pacing was perfect & it carried you through on intrigue without being cliché. i only wish it would have fully embraced the genre & been more of a psychological thriller rather than a (somewhat) mystery/drama. so much of it lacked in that aspect for me. i guess i just wanted it to be darker, scarier.
a great book to keep you reading & interested, just wish it had a wilder, more unhinged plot. but maybe that’s just me & my love for insane narrators coming out.
also, this book make me fear children & never ever want to have them. some children are the spawn of satan & this book proves it.
a great book to keep you reading & interested, just wish it had a wilder, more unhinged plot. but maybe that’s just me & my love for insane narrators coming out.
also, this book make me fear children & never ever want to have them. some children are the spawn of satan & this book proves it.
The only thing I really knew about this book before I picked it up to read was that it was a Thriller, and people were saying it was really F***ed up. I'd read some really messed up books so far this year, including Lie to Me by David Martin that included incest and child molestation, and Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Hawarth that included rape, and baby murder among other horrendous things. So I thought myself up for the challenge.
I could never have been more wrong.
This review is mostly for myself, because I feel like I need to journal about how I felt reading this book to get it out of my system. I'm not so self centered to believe this book will effect everyone the same way that it heavily effected me. You have to be a certain type of woman and in a certain place your life for it to hit you the way that it did. But at the very base of things - the writing in this novel was phenomenal. Five star worthy. It flowed freely, was never jaunty or uncoordinated and Audrain is beautifully skilled at conveying and putting to words some of the deep emotions and thoughts a lot of women I think have stewing, wordlessly, in their mind on the daily. Putting feelings into words gives them a great power.
The main character, Blythe, is a paranoid and anxious mother and wife. She came from a dysfunctional family, her mother came from a dysfunctional family and so on and so forth as the author tells it. Blythe is doing her best though, despite everything against her, including an out of the picture husband who does seemingly nothing to support her outside of paying the bills. (One of) The worst parts, I think, is that all her paranoia and anxious thoughts panned out to be true. That terrified me. Sparing you the mundane details of my personal mental health issues - this book is triggering, and threw me into a very dark place for the time I was reading it and a few days after I had finished.
That being said, I have no regrets reading it. As I said above, the writing was phenomenal. I wouldn't recommend to anyone with anxiety or insecurity issues though, it can be dangerous.
I could never have been more wrong.
This review is mostly for myself, because I feel like I need to journal about how I felt reading this book to get it out of my system. I'm not so self centered to believe this book will effect everyone the same way that it heavily effected me. You have to be a certain type of woman and in a certain place your life for it to hit you the way that it did. But at the very base of things - the writing in this novel was phenomenal. Five star worthy. It flowed freely, was never jaunty or uncoordinated and Audrain is beautifully skilled at conveying and putting to words some of the deep emotions and thoughts a lot of women I think have stewing, wordlessly, in their mind on the daily. Putting feelings into words gives them a great power.
The main character, Blythe, is a paranoid and anxious mother and wife. She came from a dysfunctional family, her mother came from a dysfunctional family and so on and so forth as the author tells it. Blythe is doing her best though, despite everything against her, including an out of the picture husband who does seemingly nothing to support her outside of paying the bills. (One of) The worst parts, I think, is that all her paranoia and anxious thoughts panned out to be true. That terrified me. Sparing you the mundane details of my personal mental health issues - this book is triggering, and threw me into a very dark place for the time I was reading it and a few days after I had finished.
That being said, I have no regrets reading it. As I said above, the writing was phenomenal. I wouldn't recommend to anyone with anxiety or insecurity issues though, it can be dangerous.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Compulsively readable, and dark and twisted. The ending is a punch to the gut.
I loved this because it explores the darker side of being a mother and parenting that most books don’t dive into. There’s a lot of discomfort and anger and sadness brimming in this psychological thriller.
I listened to the whole thing in just 2 days… truly couldn’t put it down.
Also the GASLIGHTING the poor main character dealt with… but of course, who would take her side? Gah. So so so good.
Compulsively readable, and dark and twisted. The ending is a punch to the gut.
I loved this because it explores the darker side of being a mother and parenting that most books don’t dive into. There’s a lot of discomfort and anger and sadness brimming in this psychological thriller.
I listened to the whole thing in just 2 days… truly couldn’t put it down.
Also the GASLIGHTING the poor main character dealt with… but of course, who would take her side? Gah. So so so good.
wow this was a fantastic thriller. up until the last page your unsure if the author is just unreliable or her perceptions are real. and the ending is