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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Former orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jennifer White is the ultimate unreliable narrator, due to her Alzheimer's. When her friend turns up dead, with four fingers surgically removed, she is the prime suspect. The entire narrative is written as if coming in, through, and out of a dense fog. It's sometimes hard to follow, but LaPlante does an admirable job of keeping the plot moving forward. The text is sometimes choppy, but the brevity of many passages compels you forward, and soon you realize that you've been reading for far too long before bed.
I felt it ended with a whimper, though, with the revelations not all that exciting. However, it's a decent, quick and kind of suspenseful read.
I felt it ended with a whimper, though, with the revelations not all that exciting. However, it's a decent, quick and kind of suspenseful read.
hated the way it was written all in disjointed thoughts, and the italic/nonitalic to indicate person 1 and person 2 in a conversation was so confusing i kept getting lost about who was saying what. the story was ok, surprising twist at the end but not enough to redeem it.
Written in point of view of person with Alzheimer's. A little frustrating at times, but issues were resolved in the end.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a very interesting mystery/thriller which is told mostly in first person by Dr. Jennifer White, a hand surgeon who has early onset Alzheimers and is the main suspect in the murder of her best friend Amanda who had several of her fingers surgically removed.
Throughout the novel you follow Jennifer's slipping grasp on reality and the story is told in circles as she has good days along with bad. Of course I'm terrified of having Alzheimers and since the main character was also a Jennifer it was pretty creepy for me. The only problem I had with the book was the fact that the friend Amanda seemed such an unrealistic character, I know she had to be someone unlikeable for someone to want to murder her, it just didn't seem believable. Grateful that I don't know anyone like her.
Just goes to show you that rich doctors and lawyers can have a lot of problems even before they lose their minds.
Throughout the novel you follow Jennifer's slipping grasp on reality and the story is told in circles as she has good days along with bad. Of course I'm terrified of having Alzheimers and since the main character was also a Jennifer it was pretty creepy for me. The only problem I had with the book was the fact that the friend Amanda seemed such an unrealistic character, I know she had to be someone unlikeable for someone to want to murder her, it just didn't seem believable. Grateful that I don't know anyone like her.
Just goes to show you that rich doctors and lawyers can have a lot of problems even before they lose their minds.
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Difficult book to follow, but that’s kind of the point.
Excellent. Very well written and not easily explained. Excellent look at Alzheimer’s. Mystery is very well written as well.
Turn of the Mind, was an exceptionally good read, however terrifying. LaPlante having first hand experienced what it was like to have someone close to you be invaded by Alzheimer disease wrote an amazing account of the progression of this wasting condition, with its moments of lucidity, personality shifts and hallucinations. She accomplished this through shifting points of view and engaging the reader in the mystery, so much so, that I was guessing up until the very end. LaPlante herself did not know who had committed the murder until the last 50 pages, as she wrote this in one great creative surge and allowed her intuition to reign free.
LaPlante is a good writer, she knows how to get under a reader's skin.
I will be on the watch for her next book, "Coming of Age in the End of Days."
Spoiler
I question now whether or not Jennifer could have held out and kept the memory of her surgical removal of Amanda's fingers secret. And that the blending of secrets with memory deficits, however clever, is used in this case as the vehicle for resolution. This is also used as a cover for manslaughter. As readers we are shown the horrible Amanda and the horrible effects of Alzheimer and then asked to collude with the characters to cover up the story of unaddressed crime. I hesitate here in an ethical quandary and I wonder why I was so willing to participate in also keeping this crime a secret? Was it sympathy? or something else darker?LaPlante is a good writer, she knows how to get under a reader's skin.
I will be on the watch for her next book, "Coming of Age in the End of Days."