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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
I'll begin this review by saying I've been a fan of Megan Abbott for years and "Give Me Your Hand" is one of her best works yet.
I was fully engaged in the story. I was always waiting for something bad to happen to the main character, Kit, or some of the other supporting characters. Eventually, things do happen and the story continues to ramp up with suspense. The climax of the story happens and I did not see it going in the direction that it did.
Such a fantastic read from Megan Abbott, I highly recommend this one. Can't wait for more stories from her in the future. Read it now!
I was fully engaged in the story. I was always waiting for something bad to happen to the main character, Kit, or some of the other supporting characters. Eventually, things do happen and the story continues to ramp up with suspense. The climax of the story happens and I did not see it going in the direction that it did.
Such a fantastic read from Megan Abbott, I highly recommend this one. Can't wait for more stories from her in the future. Read it now!
This is my first experience with Megan Abbott and I can definitely say I am a fan.
The focus of this book is on the darkness of the psyche and the relationship between two women in particular. It is interested in how people come in and out of our lives and how they might change everything, mean everything, even with just a few moments.
Told from the perspective of Kit, this story is set in the fiercely competitive boy's world of research science, where Kit and Diane are both paving a way for themselves. When Diane shows up at Kit's lab days before a new team is to be selected for a very prestigious study, everything about their past when they were younger comes flooding back to Kit and fills her slowly with dread and doubt about who Diane really is.
Seeing their entanglements from the past in alternating chapters was a nice technique. They are competitive, but they each push each other to be better. There is a rivalry, but there is a kinship, and on Kit's part a reverential or almost mystical view of Diane and her stark perfection. I thought I was so smart figuring out what Diane's big secret was early on. But there are so many more layers at play here.
The book swings heavily toward the psychological and the fallout that can occur when people are forced into a corner, pushed far past their comfort zone but forced to keep silent about it, and the violence that can bubble up from that. It is about the relationship between two women, but even more than the moments they spent together, it is about how their relationship grew and mythologized in the interim, in the in-between.
My thanks to Little Brown for my copy of this one to read and review.
The focus of this book is on the darkness of the psyche and the relationship between two women in particular. It is interested in how people come in and out of our lives and how they might change everything, mean everything, even with just a few moments.
Told from the perspective of Kit, this story is set in the fiercely competitive boy's world of research science, where Kit and Diane are both paving a way for themselves. When Diane shows up at Kit's lab days before a new team is to be selected for a very prestigious study, everything about their past when they were younger comes flooding back to Kit and fills her slowly with dread and doubt about who Diane really is.
Seeing their entanglements from the past in alternating chapters was a nice technique. They are competitive, but they each push each other to be better. There is a rivalry, but there is a kinship, and on Kit's part a reverential or almost mystical view of Diane and her stark perfection. I thought I was so smart figuring out what Diane's big secret was early on. But there are so many more layers at play here.
The book swings heavily toward the psychological and the fallout that can occur when people are forced into a corner, pushed far past their comfort zone but forced to keep silent about it, and the violence that can bubble up from that. It is about the relationship between two women, but even more than the moments they spent together, it is about how their relationship grew and mythologized in the interim, in the in-between.
My thanks to Little Brown for my copy of this one to read and review.
slow-paced
Diane was just...fucked up. It was hard to feel much sympathy for her. She was so obviously the bad guy that the book had no suspense. Kit was boring, almost an auxiliary character.
This belongs on the highest shelf of psychological thrillers. As always, Megan Abbott brings us fully realized characters and twisting plot arcs. Her style draws you in and her perfect pacing makes it impossible to take a break, desperate to find out the next reveal.
I love Megan Abbott's writing--crisp, clear, tightly written stories. Real, flawed female characters. Creepy, insidious thrillers. This story was as good as any.
3.5 stars - Abbott always excels at portraying complex female characters whose relationships with each other vascillate between fiercely competitive and caring. While Kit and Diane are not individuals I'd be friends with, the novel's focus on women in STEM and women's bodies (in the context of Dr. Severin's menstruation research and Kit's sexual relationships) make for a timely and compelling plot. I especially liked how it all came full circle at the end with the revelation about Steve, which basically led to all the events that occurred.
This is a 3/5 star book...it was a good read. I love that the women characters are smart and scientists. They are also flawed and have secrets - some really big ones from HS. When they re-meet as adults in the lab, competition for a spot on a grant, complications with other lab colleagues and the elusive mentor make for a tense read with lots of twists.