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3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
First, let me say: I started reading this book only because I really, really, REALLY wanted to watch the movie (I have this thing about reading the book before watching the movie/tv show). With that being said, because I wasn’t that enthused to read the book in the first place, it was actually pretty good! In general, it kept my attention, and I was just enthralled by the character of Emily. I do have to say that I’m not a fan of opposing viewpoints or unreliable narrators — which this book has both — but surprisingly it didn’t annoy me as much as I thought it would. While the character of Stephanie could have been less annoying and overbearing, and the character of Sean could have REALLY toughened up, the character of Emily was phenomenal…in a crazy psychopathic killer best friend-wife kind of way. I thought her character along with the general plot of the novel, honestly saved the book from total failure, and are the reason that I rated the book the way I did. I could do without the ending. It left me seriously unresolved and kind of annoyed that no one received justice. Though I am happy that they made a movie, I just wish the two (the movie and the book) were more similar. It was too different for my taste, however, I do wish the ending for the movie could have been the ending for the book. Though I think both the movie and the book were lacking some things, they were fairly adequate/good. I think I even look forward to her next book being released (April 2020).
I hated the characters although I liked the ending. Hated them.
If this book hadn't been my library book club's selection of the month, I would not have finished it. Honestly, I hesitate to even take the time to review it, as this novel already wasted too much of my life. So maybe I can boil it down to one simple question:
What did I hate most?
All of the characters were deeply unpleasant and made me want to walk away - at that point, could anything else be worse?
Maybe the worst thing was that they all had the exact same inner voice, so their perspectives felt interchangeable?
Then again, another contender could be that the author inexplicably chose to begin the book with thirty pages of blog articles written by a character who all of the other characters agree is unbearably annoying.
Perhaps my dislike was grounded in something as simple as how terribly the leading ladies behaved in relation to their siblings. That was pretty gross.
Late in the book, the author's choice to perpetuate the narrative that women falsely claim abuse as power move was made even worse by the character herself acknowledging in the text that such lies cause real harm to real victims, but was that the worst thing?
Why did I dislike this book so much?
The answer, of course, is All Of the Above.
What did I hate most?
All of the characters were deeply unpleasant and made me want to walk away - at that point, could anything else be worse?
Maybe the worst thing was that they all had the exact same inner voice, so their perspectives felt interchangeable?
Then again, another contender could be that the author inexplicably chose to begin the book with thirty pages of blog articles written by a character who all of the other characters agree is unbearably annoying.
Perhaps my dislike was grounded in something as simple as how terribly the leading ladies behaved in relation to their siblings. That was pretty gross.
Late in the book, the author's choice to perpetuate the narrative that women falsely claim abuse as power move was made even worse by the character herself acknowledging in the text that such lies cause real harm to real victims, but was that the worst thing?
Why did I dislike this book so much?
The answer, of course, is All Of the Above.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was excited reading this at the beginning but it started to fall flat in the middle. I thought the ending was anticlimactic and the characters are all unlikeable. There were a lot of cliches that I couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be satirical. Just an okay read, wasn’t terribly satisfying
I almost gave up a third of the way in. I am glad that I did not. Although I thought that the writing and format was somewhat sophomoric and pieces of characterization were really not necessary (and added nothing to the story -- for example, the background of Stephanie's son), the twists and turns in the final third of this novel made it an overall interesting read.
SPOILER ALERT: I couldn’t finish this book, even though I got quite a bit into it. I couldn’t stand the fact that people were all lying to each other. So I just gave up on it
I liked the plot of the book. I just couldn’t stand Stephanie or Emily.
dark
mysterious
tense
Absolutely dreadful. I just....ya this novel was boo boo