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inaweofhim's review
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
williamz4lyf's review
4.0
This was a comic and light and read. I found Patrick douchey and annoying but I felt sympathetic to the stalker ex girlfriend. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
ginamarie85's review
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
Audible audio performed by Tamara Lovatt Smith
Ellen O’Farrell works out of her home as a professional hypnotherapist. She likes her life, except for a failed romance. She’s moved on but would welcome another shot at a long-term relationship. Then she meets Patrick. They hit it off and things are going well when he spouts the dreaded “We need to talk.” Turns out Patrick has an ex-girlfriend who is stalking him.
What an interesting and fresh take on relationships and the psychology of love. What makes us attracted to one another? What holds us together? What happens when one partner moves on, but the other hangs on – desperately, crazily, dangerously?
The relationships between these three people – Patrick, Ellen and Saskia (the ex-girlfriend) – are complicated by misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and secrets kept from one another. They are all broken in some way, and all trying to come to grips with past and current relationships. And it will take a significant crisis to finally bring some sense of resolution, however tenuous.
Tamara Lovatt Smith does a fine job narrating the audiobook. However, Moriarty switches point of view between the two women. In the text it’s a little easier to tell when she switches. One character’s perspective is always written in first person, the other in third person narrative. However, there is much dialogue in which a character would naturally speak in first person. (e.g. “I went to the store.”) While this is easy to discern on the printed page, it’s less obvious when listening. Not the narrator’s fault at all, but it still adversely affected the audio experience. I would probably have rated this higher if I had read the text rather than listened.
Ellen O’Farrell works out of her home as a professional hypnotherapist. She likes her life, except for a failed romance. She’s moved on but would welcome another shot at a long-term relationship. Then she meets Patrick. They hit it off and things are going well when he spouts the dreaded “We need to talk.” Turns out Patrick has an ex-girlfriend who is stalking him.
What an interesting and fresh take on relationships and the psychology of love. What makes us attracted to one another? What holds us together? What happens when one partner moves on, but the other hangs on – desperately, crazily, dangerously?
The relationships between these three people – Patrick, Ellen and Saskia (the ex-girlfriend) – are complicated by misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and secrets kept from one another. They are all broken in some way, and all trying to come to grips with past and current relationships. And it will take a significant crisis to finally bring some sense of resolution, however tenuous.
Tamara Lovatt Smith does a fine job narrating the audiobook. However, Moriarty switches point of view between the two women. In the text it’s a little easier to tell when she switches. One character’s perspective is always written in first person, the other in third person narrative. However, there is much dialogue in which a character would naturally speak in first person. (e.g. “I went to the store.”) While this is easy to discern on the printed page, it’s less obvious when listening. Not the narrator’s fault at all, but it still adversely affected the audio experience. I would probably have rated this higher if I had read the text rather than listened.
zoedicocco's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kcrawfish's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars
This whole novel gripped me from start to finish. What an intriguing plot: a stalker I could sympathize with? Sensational. I was definitely hooked.
I really liked Ellen, our hypnotist, and was rooting for her and her happy ending. There are two narrators: Ellen (the heroine) and Saskia (Patrick's, stalker—Patrick being Ellen's new beau). Knowing a bit about Moriarty's style from her previous novels, I expected I would come to love Saskia, as well as Ellen, or sympathize with her at least.
But I was really surprised by how much I liked Saskia. I will say that by the end of the novel, she was a largely sympathetic character, and something down in me just wanted to go hug her and bring her a plate of cookies. The resolution of her story was quite moving.
It was super interesting, because when you read from her view, you were inside an addict's head, only, in stead of drugs or alcohol, there was super creepy stalking. This woman had everyone she's ever called family torn away from her in one fell swoop, and is coping the only way she knows how.
Hypnotism played a pretty large roll, and added a really interesting dynamic as a profession for our heroine. I even was prompted to do some research (high brow google-ing) afterwards.
I was a bit concerned about Ellen's whole relationship with Patrick. The fact that from her perspective I thought that Patrick might be psychotic or possibly delusional in the beginning should tell you something about Ellen's narration of their relationship. The love between them definitely needed more time and more work since their relationship was central to the plot.
Ellen definitely had her flaws, and it was so interesting being inside of the mind of someone who everyone thought was perfect, and who'd sort of bought into the idea of her own perfection. The novel (especially towards the end) is a series of humbling events in Ellen's life. The feelings and fears she's thought herself so above come flooding in and she realizes she's human too.
This was a good read! I would reference my first paragraph and point out that this is a story about a HYPNOTIST and a STALKER. Can I get an "omg, I must read it!" or what?
OVERALL THIS BOOK GETS 4 STARS. A GOOD READ.
More awesome reviews = http://rantingsravingsbookreviews.blogspot.com/
This whole novel gripped me from start to finish. What an intriguing plot: a stalker I could sympathize with? Sensational. I was definitely hooked.
I really liked Ellen, our hypnotist, and was rooting for her and her happy ending. There are two narrators: Ellen (the heroine) and Saskia (Patrick's, stalker—Patrick being Ellen's new beau). Knowing a bit about Moriarty's style from her previous novels, I expected I would come to love Saskia, as well as Ellen, or sympathize with her at least.
But I was really surprised by how much I liked Saskia. I will say that by the end of the novel, she was a largely sympathetic character, and something down in me just wanted to go hug her and bring her a plate of cookies. The resolution of her story was quite moving.
It was super interesting, because when you read from her view, you were inside an addict's head, only, in stead of drugs or alcohol, there was super creepy stalking. This woman had everyone she's ever called family torn away from her in one fell swoop, and is coping the only way she knows how.
Hypnotism played a pretty large roll, and added a really interesting dynamic as a profession for our heroine. I even was prompted to do some research (high brow google-ing) afterwards.
I was a bit concerned about Ellen's whole relationship with Patrick. The fact that from her perspective I thought that Patrick might be psychotic or possibly delusional in the beginning should tell you something about Ellen's narration of their relationship. The love between them definitely needed more time and more work since their relationship was central to the plot.
Ellen definitely had her flaws, and it was so interesting being inside of the mind of someone who everyone thought was perfect, and who'd sort of bought into the idea of her own perfection. The novel (especially towards the end) is a series of humbling events in Ellen's life. The feelings and fears she's thought herself so above come flooding in and she realizes she's human too.
This was a good read! I would reference my first paragraph and point out that this is a story about a HYPNOTIST and a STALKER. Can I get an "omg, I must read it!" or what?
OVERALL THIS BOOK GETS 4 STARS. A GOOD READ.
More awesome reviews = http://rantingsravingsbookreviews.blogspot.com/
kindredpinny's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
gabrielle_erin's review
3.0
Possibly even 2.5/5 stars.... This book just lacked the Liane Moriarty charm that I have loved in her other books. I didn't really care for any of the characters and found the plot to be dull and unrealistic. Disappointing, because I love her work so much. It seems almost as if this was a debut novel, as the narrative voice seemed so naive and underdeveloped, however it was written after Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret - both better books in my opinion.
mcmahonmegan's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I LOVE Liane Moriarty but this book didn’t quite hit for me. Found all of the main characters just a bit irritating (especially Patrick - what did all these women see in him?!) and found it to be very slow paced, ended up having to switch to audio book to finish it in the end!