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amandae129's review against another edition
2.0
While I like the idea of what the author was trying to say, i.e. the social commentary of the book, the implementation was a problem. Between constantly switching narrators, years and points of view (is there a point to switching "narrators" if most of the chapters are in 3rd person? Was this just so you could have random 1st person narration by Alice?), it was confusing to follow along. For a contemporary American novel, I do not feel I should have to make a timeline and character list to understand a book. If you want something of comparable social commentary, but better written, I recommend "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo".
meme_too2's review against another edition
1.0
This book ran like a court case, witnesses telling what they saw, step by step reveal of the murder. I didn't particularly like that style of writing. Besides that it was pretty disturbing.
jmj697mn's review against another edition
1.0
This book was too f***ing weird. I didn't understand half of the political garbage & the ending didn't even seem plausible. I almost quit reading after the first 50 pages and I SO should have. I only finished it because I wanted to know what happened to Wendy & you never even really find out. Yikes.
acacia_happy_hour's review against another edition
5.0
This was manic, engaging, and well worth the read, but prepare to be disturbed.
liketheday's review against another edition
4.0
Basically, the reader knows absolutely nothing about this something bad that happened for, oh, the first half of the book. And then? Well, then the reader knows what the bad thing is that has happened, but not why or how it relates to all these other narrators' story lines that have been woven in and these weird police evidence report things and strange interviews with people that make no sense until they start making sense and then the reader sees what's coming and is like, "Oh, hell," but there's no stopping it now. Well, that's how I saw it, anyway.
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gleefulreader's review against another edition
4.0
So Much Pretty was positively gutting but well-worth the investment of time and emotion. Although it explores themes such as violence against women and vengeance, I think the book particularly excelled in its description of small town life, the fear of different, the poverty, the social hierarchy and construct of life where everyone knows everyone. I felt Hoffman may have been a little too overt in her description of the hippie/anarchist outsider parents and perhaps did not explore the inevitable tension and conflict that would have existed between them as outsiders and the townsfolk as much as she could have. In addition, I felt the book suffered from too many abrupt shifts in point of view, although this may have been intentional on Hoffman's part. Overall, these were fairly minor issues for a book that certainly grabbed and kept my attention.
machadofam8's review against another edition
4.0
This was not easy to read, but powerful and thought-provoking. I enjoyed it very much.
banrions's review against another edition
4.0
i decided to read this book because i saw someone say that the author got told that it was "too angry". the world doesn't like angry girls. and it especially doesn't like angry girls who won't shut up. i am often an angry girl; so, i grabbed the book. i had a vague idea of the plot going in, but i didn't expect everything i read. i guessed a few of the twists, some not until right as they were being revealed, but that's not what's important about this book. many of the lines hit me hard (as a pretty socially conscious woman, not a lot of it was new information) but they still hit me regardless. but, what jumped out at me the most, was,
It would hardly be rational to accept that I live inside a thing made of flesh that people capture, hide, and then wait in line to rape.
and,
Wendy White was raped, killed, and dumped. Men raped her, men killed her, men dumped her, men found her, men are examining her remains, men are looking for the men who did it. Then the men who did it will be represented in court by men, and a man will make the decision based on laws men made throughout the legal history of this country.
this is an angry book. it's angry for a damn good reason.
It would hardly be rational to accept that I live inside a thing made of flesh that people capture, hide, and then wait in line to rape.
and,
Wendy White was raped, killed, and dumped. Men raped her, men killed her, men dumped her, men found her, men are examining her remains, men are looking for the men who did it. Then the men who did it will be represented in court by men, and a man will make the decision based on laws men made throughout the legal history of this country.
this is an angry book. it's angry for a damn good reason.
emmamgregory's review against another edition
4.0
A brilliant first novel, although it was a slow burner to start, by a third of the way in I was so engrossed I read the last two thirds in two days.
The novel is set in a small rural town in upstate New York and each short chapter is either narrated by one of the main characters or in the third person.
Wendy White has gone missing she eventually shows up dead in the creek next to the supermarket and the book delves into who did it and what happened to Wendy White a great incentive to read on.
The short chapters skip from 1997 to the present time but in no particular order which at the beginning was hard to follow but once I had learned Hoffman's writing style it was easy to understand and set the scene to what happened to Wendy White. Once I understood each character this slow burner of a novel was set alight and by the end it was dynamite. As each chapter is dedicated to one character at a particular time in their life from the past to the present I felt like I knew them well throughout the novel and could recognize what certain characters were capable of. Also Ms Hoffman throws in some ethical situations that really got me thinking.
Overall a thoroughly great read that makes you think about what the human race is capable of.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes a mystery with a satisfying ending and if your confused as how it ends just go back to reading the prologue at the beginning.
The novel is set in a small rural town in upstate New York and each short chapter is either narrated by one of the main characters or in the third person.
Wendy White has gone missing she eventually shows up dead in the creek next to the supermarket and the book delves into who did it and what happened to Wendy White a great incentive to read on.
The short chapters skip from 1997 to the present time but in no particular order which at the beginning was hard to follow but once I had learned Hoffman's writing style it was easy to understand and set the scene to what happened to Wendy White. Once I understood each character this slow burner of a novel was set alight and by the end it was dynamite. As each chapter is dedicated to one character at a particular time in their life from the past to the present I felt like I knew them well throughout the novel and could recognize what certain characters were capable of. Also Ms Hoffman throws in some ethical situations that really got me thinking.
Overall a thoroughly great read that makes you think about what the human race is capable of.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes a mystery with a satisfying ending and if your confused as how it ends just go back to reading the prologue at the beginning.
wearethedepinets's review against another edition
5.0
This book was absolutely amazing. It is a must read! I love the twists and turns of the story line.