Reviews

Despite my better judgment, I kept reading this because there were some twists and turns that had me OMG-ing. But this book is all over the place. I get that it's a mystery, but it was confusing to the point of irritation. The entire experience left me annoyed.

mangosteem's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

superperfundo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

pernille's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

blacksphinx's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I feel like I didn't like this for reasons that are different than some of the other negative reviews.

I loved the format, writing, and pacing of this story. When I was told it's entirely epistolary, starting with a table of contents that doesn't match the actual contents of the book, and that the story ends halfway though a sentence... It intrigued me. I loved Evie's stream-of-consciousness style. It wasn't how people actually write letters but it IS how people talk if you give them the space and don't reply, so I really enjoyed it. I liked discovering the "terrible secret" that was outed at the wedding reception. The way the confession letter is torn in half, with that break in the middle? How things that seemed inconsequential became both important and sinister in retrospect? Loved it.

It was some of the other plot points not involving our main couple that have left me cold. This book kind of wants to be about too many big ideas, too many social ills, and it doesn't get enough time to sit with some of them. It was convoluted and coincidental to the extreme. (I am also completely baffled by the amount of people I've seen say the story is funny?) It kind of felt to me that, just like our main narrator, the author didn't know how the story ended either and hoped there was enough present that us readers would want to chew it over and come to our own conclusions. I couldn't care enough to do so. I kind of think I would have liked the story more without the last 70 pages, even though that's where most of the plot not directly involving our couple is laid out.

Content Warnings

katariv's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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