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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This book made me so angry my friends begged me to DNF but against all odds I finished. However that was a mistake because the ending may have made me even angrier. I’ll try to be succinct-
-Pacing: Half way through the book you still don’t know anything beyond what’s on the book jacket. There are countless droning flashbacks that establish the same thing over and over: younger sister is lost and lonely, older sister is scared and angry. I can appreciate a slow burn but there was no pay off because there was ZERO tension in the story until the last 20 pages of the book.
-Depiction of small town NY: This felt so inauthentic and hollow, as if the author watched a movie about a small town once and tried to create one from memory. Despite the constant mention of being in a small town, nothing ever happens to show us what this community is like or how they interact with each other as a unit. It could be set anywhere and nothing would change. I’m also unclear if this story is supposed to take place decades ago or if the author thinks that in the year 2024 (when this was published) cell phones were new to upstate New York, women in their 30s were afraid to use the internet, and lesbians were fired for being gay and had to live in hiding. Of course homophobia/bigotry still exists but the way it’s presented in this town you’d think it was pre-stonewall. Also on a completely petty level… “Knife River” doesn’t even sound like a town name that would exist upstate.
-Sister dynamic: I love a strained family dynamic and it’s what made me take a chance on this book but these sisters don’t have any better understanding of each other than the nameless strangers in their hometown do. I felt nothing for them and was bored out of my mind reading the same inner monologue the main character has about their shallow relationship over and over.
-Grief: The depiction of grief was so unnuanced, the characters have the same emotions the whole time (younger sister avoidant/sad, older sister direct/angry). At no point was I struck by anything profound or rooted in emotional truth. At least not anything I’ve seen or experienced. Not to mention the older sister is so stubborn and impossible when it comes to the investigation that I found myself siding with A COP?? A HOMOPHOBIC COP!? And that made me furious.
-Pacing: Half way through the book you still don’t know anything beyond what’s on the book jacket. There are countless droning flashbacks that establish the same thing over and over: younger sister is lost and lonely, older sister is scared and angry. I can appreciate a slow burn but there was no pay off because there was ZERO tension in the story until the last 20 pages of the book.
-Depiction of small town NY: This felt so inauthentic and hollow, as if the author watched a movie about a small town once and tried to create one from memory. Despite the constant mention of being in a small town, nothing ever happens to show us what this community is like or how they interact with each other as a unit. It could be set anywhere and nothing would change. I’m also unclear if this story is supposed to take place decades ago or if the author thinks that in the year 2024 (when this was published) cell phones were new to upstate New York, women in their 30s were afraid to use the internet, and lesbians were fired for being gay and had to live in hiding. Of course homophobia/bigotry still exists but the way it’s presented in this town you’d think it was pre-stonewall. Also on a completely petty level… “Knife River” doesn’t even sound like a town name that would exist upstate.
-Sister dynamic: I love a strained family dynamic and it’s what made me take a chance on this book but these sisters don’t have any better understanding of each other than the nameless strangers in their hometown do. I felt nothing for them and was bored out of my mind reading the same inner monologue the main character has about their shallow relationship over and over.
-Grief: The depiction of grief was so unnuanced, the characters have the same emotions the whole time (younger sister avoidant/sad, older sister direct/angry). At no point was I struck by anything profound or rooted in emotional truth. At least not anything I’ve seen or experienced. Not to mention the older sister is so stubborn and impossible when it comes to the investigation that I found myself siding with A COP?? A HOMOPHOBIC COP!? And that made me furious.
-Addiction: This was my absolute breaking point where I decided I just needed to start skimming. A little more than half way through, it’s revealed that the younger sister had no idea that their mother was a severe alcoholic. She was thirteen years old when their mom disappeared but the older sister “hid the alcoholism from her” ???? It’s specified that their mom would black out and try to drive drunk and the older sister would handle it so the younger sister was blissfully unaware??? I think any family member of an addict but ESPECIALLY the child of an addict knows that there is NO WAY you MISS your parent being drunk half of the time. That's something you start picking up on around age five... a thirteen year old having no idea is insulting to the intelligence of children everywhere.
-Mental illness/PTSD: I can't even get into why I hated the ending, we simply don't have the time BUT I will say the idea that these characters were simply cured of their neurosis thanks to one specific event undercuts the whole (failed) slow burn.
-Mental illness/PTSD: I can't even get into why I hated the ending, we simply don't have the time BUT I will say the idea that these characters were simply cured of their neurosis thanks to one specific event undercuts the whole (failed) slow burn.
LASTLY, nearly every woman in this story has the same physical description for some reason, that's the least of it's problems but I still wanted to vent about it.
I don’t know anything about this author but this whole story truly felt like she had no lived experience with anything she wrote about.
I am enraged and that's on me for continuing to read it. Now I am as insane, angry, and repetitive as these characters.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This tips more towards literary fiction than mystery/thriller; really I’d say there’s only one scene that has the kind of tension I expect from a thriller. I enjoyed this, it mostly focuses around the lives of two sisters and how they begin to finally process the trauma of their mother’s disappearance when they were teenagers.
The last 3 hours were good, but the first 9 hours were a SLOG (for what point?)
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dark and sad, with a slow and somber pace - and I mean that in the best way possible. This isn’t a snappy thriller full of twists and turns, and it’s not a book with a feel-good story, but it was powerful and made me really feel for the MC and her sister and the way their lives had turned out. They both had issues that were very real and human, and were also very easy to tie to the trauma that happened when their mother disappeared. The story was built so carefully that I would have been happy no matter how it ended, though I did like that there was at least some resolution (hopefully that’s not a spoiler).