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3.08 AVERAGE
3.08 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of the best books I have read in some while.
An emotionally intelligent tale, Louis Doughty has crafted the most beautiful, heart-breaking, original and poignant way to portray emotional abuse, love in all its forms and how we learn to let go.
The story is narrated by a ghost, Lisa, who is trapped on Platform Seven of Peterborough train station, where her life ended. The story starts with a man who commits suicide by jumping in front of a freight train in spite of Lisa recognising what is about to happen and trying to stop him. She cannot leave the station but by following various people, listening in and analysing her thought processes she is eventually able to move beyond the confines of the station and in doing so we learn a lot more about Lisa when she was alive and the events that led to her death.
The prose is poetic, the pace slow, but in being so tension is created and the beauty in love, emotional pain and death laid bare.
The book makes for an excellent read because you become so invested in the characters' lives that you are desperate to know how things have ended up where they are, and how some situations might be resolved. The reader will also end up desperate for justice on Lisa's behalf. Dr Matthew Goodison or 'Matty,' Lisa's boyfriend, is a complex character who will make you angry, upset and ultimately baying for his blood.
Whilst the book is able to 'entertain' us as we follow the quest for truth and justice, it is mostly a novel that makes you think about some very serious issues; abusive relationships, sexual abuse, suicide, being a refugee, happiness, freedom and society's response (or lack thereof) to the needs of vulnerable people.
There is Dalmar a Somalian refugee, who was an engineer in his own country but now works on the railway and lives in the poorest part of town, Andrew and his sister who have suffered unspeakably as children but need to find their own way of saying goodbye to the past, and then there is Lisa's best friend, her parents and the neighbour who lives in the downstairs flat. Each one of these people has experienced traumatic events in their lives but what they all share is the ability to find ways to carry on living again, even though their lives are very different from 'before.' And by doing this, people who are dead but were loved can carry on living.
I am not the same person I was when I started reading this book. That is how powerful this novel is. It spoke to me on so many different levels and made me question my own beliefs and more generally how society is caught up in consumerism and the pursuit of perpetual happiness, which is of course a ludicrous goal because it just doesn't exist.
Dalmar cannot forgive himself for one act upon fleeing his country and therefore cannot allow himself to get close to another human being, young PC Lockhart is questioning whether he has really done enough and if not, is he actually cut out for a career with the British Transport Police. He understands the pain of loving another from afar, and the novel asks us to explore what true love is, making the distinction between love and possession.
This book made me weep, for the damage we cause one another, for the decisions we make and the torment we can go through. There is tragedy but there is also redemption. And as Lisa's ghostly wanderings help her to recover her memory of when she was alive, the truths are revealed in all their painful finality. Instead of the book being depressing though it is not, we rejoice in the fact that at long last Lisa can finally say goodbye and be free to choose where to spend the rest of her days.
I found it very hard to let this book go when I finished reading.
If I could award this book 10 stars I would! For me an absolute MUST read!
An emotionally intelligent tale, Louis Doughty has crafted the most beautiful, heart-breaking, original and poignant way to portray emotional abuse, love in all its forms and how we learn to let go.
The story is narrated by a ghost, Lisa, who is trapped on Platform Seven of Peterborough train station, where her life ended. The story starts with a man who commits suicide by jumping in front of a freight train in spite of Lisa recognising what is about to happen and trying to stop him. She cannot leave the station but by following various people, listening in and analysing her thought processes she is eventually able to move beyond the confines of the station and in doing so we learn a lot more about Lisa when she was alive and the events that led to her death.
The prose is poetic, the pace slow, but in being so tension is created and the beauty in love, emotional pain and death laid bare.
The book makes for an excellent read because you become so invested in the characters' lives that you are desperate to know how things have ended up where they are, and how some situations might be resolved. The reader will also end up desperate for justice on Lisa's behalf. Dr Matthew Goodison or 'Matty,' Lisa's boyfriend, is a complex character who will make you angry, upset and ultimately baying for his blood.
Whilst the book is able to 'entertain' us as we follow the quest for truth and justice, it is mostly a novel that makes you think about some very serious issues; abusive relationships, sexual abuse, suicide, being a refugee, happiness, freedom and society's response (or lack thereof) to the needs of vulnerable people.
There is Dalmar a Somalian refugee, who was an engineer in his own country but now works on the railway and lives in the poorest part of town, Andrew and his sister who have suffered unspeakably as children but need to find their own way of saying goodbye to the past, and then there is Lisa's best friend, her parents and the neighbour who lives in the downstairs flat. Each one of these people has experienced traumatic events in their lives but what they all share is the ability to find ways to carry on living again, even though their lives are very different from 'before.' And by doing this, people who are dead but were loved can carry on living.
I am not the same person I was when I started reading this book. That is how powerful this novel is. It spoke to me on so many different levels and made me question my own beliefs and more generally how society is caught up in consumerism and the pursuit of perpetual happiness, which is of course a ludicrous goal because it just doesn't exist.
Dalmar cannot forgive himself for one act upon fleeing his country and therefore cannot allow himself to get close to another human being, young PC Lockhart is questioning whether he has really done enough and if not, is he actually cut out for a career with the British Transport Police. He understands the pain of loving another from afar, and the novel asks us to explore what true love is, making the distinction between love and possession.
This book made me weep, for the damage we cause one another, for the decisions we make and the torment we can go through. There is tragedy but there is also redemption. And as Lisa's ghostly wanderings help her to recover her memory of when she was alive, the truths are revealed in all their painful finality. Instead of the book being depressing though it is not, we rejoice in the fact that at long last Lisa can finally say goodbye and be free to choose where to spend the rest of her days.
I found it very hard to let this book go when I finished reading.
If I could award this book 10 stars I would! For me an absolute MUST read!
I ended up dnfing at about 65%. It was just too slow for me. I really think the marketing let this book down by selling it as a spooky thriller. I found the writing dry and detached, and didn't really connect or care for any of the characters. Once the 'boyfriend' got introduced I immediately knew where the story was headed, which never happens to me. All in all I was just quite bored and frustrated.
I hadn't actually heard of Platform Seven by Louise Doughty before I picked it up for an online book club, but it sounded intriguing enough, not to actually purchase it but at least to borrow the audiobook. It's a novel that begins with a man killing himself by jumping in front of a train on Platform Seven, the same platform that Lisa jumped off of less than two years earlier. Her ghost watches him--but are they connected? And what really happened to Lisa? The book spends the next nearly 450 pages going into Lisa's history and the events leading up to her death.
Although Platform Seven has a supernatural element it's definitely more focused on the mystery and Lisa's ghost is just a vehicle for telling her story. That said, it's not really a mystery either. I don't know what it is really, except maybe a sad, meandering novel that barely managed to keep my attention long enough to finish it. Doughty definitely focuses on all the ordinary moments that make up a life, but this isn't literary fiction and there's not enough in the description or relationships to fuel a book this long. Most of the novel is dedicated to an awful, toxic, relationship which is not fun to read about but is clearly bad from the beginning so watching it continue to get worse is not much of a surprise and felt a bit repetitive at times. There are some atmospheric moments but I went into Platform Seven looking for suspense and there was very little of that. Overall, a disappointing read.
Although Platform Seven has a supernatural element it's definitely more focused on the mystery and Lisa's ghost is just a vehicle for telling her story. That said, it's not really a mystery either. I don't know what it is really, except maybe a sad, meandering novel that barely managed to keep my attention long enough to finish it. Doughty definitely focuses on all the ordinary moments that make up a life, but this isn't literary fiction and there's not enough in the description or relationships to fuel a book this long. Most of the novel is dedicated to an awful, toxic, relationship which is not fun to read about but is clearly bad from the beginning so watching it continue to get worse is not much of a surprise and felt a bit repetitive at times. There are some atmospheric moments but I went into Platform Seven looking for suspense and there was very little of that. Overall, a disappointing read.
Pretty fun...I wasn't really sure where it was going, and there was a part in the middle that was kind of uncomfortable to read, but overall I liked it. Small glimpses of several intersecting lives, and the PoV character is a ghost who at first doesn't know who she is.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"Those who care for you will never, never recover".
This is the first time I'm reading a book from this author. I felt like this is more like a literary fiction than a psychological/horror thriller.
This story follows a woman who is a ghost and is trapped in the platform seven of Peterborough railway station. She can see other passengers day and night and she reads their minds and analysis them through out the book. Then a suicide occurs in the same platform after almost one year of her death. And then she realises her name was Lisa and how she died. Throughout the story there is more content about the relationship between Lisa and her former lover Matty, a doctor.
I especially liked the character of P. C. Akash Lockhart who is an inspector working with the railway. I have mixed feelings about this book. I felt a bit off because it has very less horror elements as I was excited to read because of that. It basically highlights about physical abuse in relationships and how women go through it since ages. For that part, this book gives a good message.
This is the first time I'm reading a book from this author. I felt like this is more like a literary fiction than a psychological/horror thriller.
This story follows a woman who is a ghost and is trapped in the platform seven of Peterborough railway station. She can see other passengers day and night and she reads their minds and analysis them through out the book. Then a suicide occurs in the same platform after almost one year of her death. And then she realises her name was Lisa and how she died. Throughout the story there is more content about the relationship between Lisa and her former lover Matty, a doctor.
I especially liked the character of P. C. Akash Lockhart who is an inspector working with the railway. I have mixed feelings about this book. I felt a bit off because it has very less horror elements as I was excited to read because of that. It basically highlights about physical abuse in relationships and how women go through it since ages. For that part, this book gives a good message.
This was incredibly painful to listen to on audio. Definitely would not recommend to anyone who is even slightly likely to be triggered by domestic abuse and gaslighting.
Probably an important book for someone who needs it but it was not for me.
Probably an important book for someone who needs it but it was not for me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated