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cassies_books_reviews's review
5.0
How have I never read a book by this author before? I could not put this book down. It had everything mystery, historical fiction and so much more.
Joan Lurie a reporter has just written and had her article published, an article that exposes Casper Osgood from the Globe another magazine as a sexual harasser. The night of her big reveal she’s attacked in her apartment, left on the floor she wakes up with a lump on her head and feeling disoriented from the chloroform. Looking to feel safe she moves to a more secure apartment called The Refuge. She gets offered a book deal to further discuss Casper and her findings. At the Refuge she meets her elderly neighbor Lillian. Lillian has lived there when the building was Magdalen Laundry and Refuge for Fallen Women in the 1940s. Soon Lillian begins to tell Joan about her life and how she ended up at the building that’s now an apartment complex. Her story is filled with mobsters and working under cover and soon how she was betrayed. Joan is blown away. Meanwhile we meet Melissa Caspar's wife whose now dealing with the aftermath of learning her husband is sexual predator. We are soon taken down the path where all three of these woman’s life begin to intertwine and the mystery is just beginning! I truly enjoyed this book it was so different than other mysteries! Five stars! FYI this book does cover the #metoo movement, rape, sexual harassment and death.
Joan Lurie a reporter has just written and had her article published, an article that exposes Casper Osgood from the Globe another magazine as a sexual harasser. The night of her big reveal she’s attacked in her apartment, left on the floor she wakes up with a lump on her head and feeling disoriented from the chloroform. Looking to feel safe she moves to a more secure apartment called The Refuge. She gets offered a book deal to further discuss Casper and her findings. At the Refuge she meets her elderly neighbor Lillian. Lillian has lived there when the building was Magdalen Laundry and Refuge for Fallen Women in the 1940s. Soon Lillian begins to tell Joan about her life and how she ended up at the building that’s now an apartment complex. Her story is filled with mobsters and working under cover and soon how she was betrayed. Joan is blown away. Meanwhile we meet Melissa Caspar's wife whose now dealing with the aftermath of learning her husband is sexual predator. We are soon taken down the path where all three of these woman’s life begin to intertwine and the mystery is just beginning! I truly enjoyed this book it was so different than other mysteries! Five stars! FYI this book does cover the #metoo movement, rape, sexual harassment and death.
bleyz16's review
4.0
Finished up the audiobook version...3 1/2 stars rounded up. I'm glad I finished it and did end up liking it. This one was all over the place but the ending did surprise me.
Going to finish this one via audiobook. Stopped at chapter 10
Going to finish this one via audiobook. Stopped at chapter 10
vickimarie2002's review
5.0
I had planned on giving this 4 stars as it was predictable. I pretty much thought I had it all figured out and predicted what was happening until the end!! Wow! There were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming and that's what gets 5 stars. When I'm blown away. There really is a lot going on through this book. The narration alternates between Joan, the writer who releases the article about the women that Cass assaults and Melissa, Cass's wife. We also meat Lillian, who decides to share her story with Joan, and that's a wild ride! Lillian had to deal with running from the mob and protecting her brothers, herself and her best friend Rose. I thought it was very well written and worth the read.
missrhinnan's review
1.0
This comes a close second to Alex Michaelides’ The Maidens in being the worst thing I’ve read this year—but only *just*, which admittedly is not saying a whole lot. But like The Maidens, it did have two of the dumbest female characters I’ve read since that book’s Mariana.
This book was a mess from beginning to end and having your two narrators read like complete dumbshits definitely didn’t help when your story (or rather, all the stories it was trying to encompass) fails. Is this book a crime mystery? An examination of our culture of sexual harassment and the #metoo movement? A post-war Coney Island gangster tale? Let’s just throw in ghosts too bc why the hell not?
Let’s start with Joan, a young journalist who’s written an exposé on a sexual predator. So you think she would know better about not going to the police after she herself is physically assaulted, likely causing a concussion bc she spends the rest of the novel barely able to see for the blurring of her vision, and attributing things she doesn’t remember to “her brain damage.” Yet she refuses to see a doctor for fear the news of her assault would overshadow the story she’s broken. Other than being a dumbshit and an agoraphobe as a result of her attack, Joan really doesn’t have much of a personality.
Then there’s Melissa who, despite being in her 40s, uses words like “chit” in her constant cartoonish denigration of Joan bc she blames her entirely for the the loss of her perfect life and not, you know, her sexual predator of a husband. Ironic considering one plot point involves Melissa deducing the online identity of a witness’s mother based on the fact that nobody under the age of 40 would be named “Barbara.” But apparently Joan is an entirely more common name, especially for 20-somethings. I think these instances reflect more on the author’s own age than anything else.
Otherwise, elitist, spoiled, entitled label/brand dropping white woman Melissa spends almost the entire novel being a elitist, spoiled, entitled, label/brand dropping white woman (who also somehow manages to buy a co-op apartment in NYC and move in *a week later*) until the very end when it seems she’s been suddenly taken over by a completely different personality. How Melissa could have supposedly gone to Brown and been a (presumably) good journalist and be as stupid as she was defies all logic. As does the fact that this stay at home society mom somehow has mad computer hacking and pickpocketing skills but is yet still too stupid to be alive.
This book was a mess from beginning to end and having your two narrators read like complete dumbshits definitely didn’t help when your story (or rather, all the stories it was trying to encompass) fails. Is this book a crime mystery? An examination of our culture of sexual harassment and the #metoo movement? A post-war Coney Island gangster tale? Let’s just throw in ghosts too bc why the hell not?
Let’s start with Joan, a young journalist who’s written an exposé on a sexual predator. So you think she would know better about not going to the police after she herself is physically assaulted, likely causing a concussion bc she spends the rest of the novel barely able to see for the blurring of her vision, and attributing things she doesn’t remember to “her brain damage.” Yet she refuses to see a doctor for fear the news of her assault would overshadow the story she’s broken. Other than being a dumbshit and an agoraphobe as a result of her attack, Joan really doesn’t have much of a personality.
Then there’s Melissa who, despite being in her 40s, uses words like “chit” in her constant cartoonish denigration of Joan bc she blames her entirely for the the loss of her perfect life and not, you know, her sexual predator of a husband. Ironic considering one plot point involves Melissa deducing the online identity of a witness’s mother based on the fact that nobody under the age of 40 would be named “Barbara.” But apparently Joan is an entirely more common name, especially for 20-somethings. I think these instances reflect more on the author’s own age than anything else.
Otherwise, elitist, spoiled, entitled label/brand dropping white woman Melissa spends almost the entire novel being a elitist, spoiled, entitled, label/brand dropping white woman (who also somehow manages to buy a co-op apartment in NYC and move in *a week later*) until the very end when it seems she’s been suddenly taken over by a completely different personality. How Melissa could have supposedly gone to Brown and been a (presumably) good journalist and be as stupid as she was defies all logic. As does the fact that this stay at home society mom somehow has mad computer hacking and pickpocketing skills but is yet still too stupid to be alive.
wildflowerz76's review
4.0
Joan has taken three years to write the story that exposes a local, important newspaper executive as a sexual predator. But when she's on the way home from celebrating her success, she's attacked. She soon accepts an advance to write a book about her investigation and moves into an old building known as The Refuge. Soon, she becomes embroiled in not only her own investigation for her book, bit the story of her neighbor Lillian, who lived at The Refuge when she was young. The Stranger has plenty to mysteries to keep you guessing. This fast-paced story will have you reading it all in one sitting!
juniperdisco's review against another edition
3.0
Be sure to read the Behind the Book essay at the end. Such a personal story.
dreamofbookspines's review
4.0
Content warning for attack by stranger (no descriptions of sexual assault)
Hooray, Goodman managed to not write about an all-girls boarding school in upstate New York! Engrossing concept, difficult to put down. Chapters alternate between perspectives of two main characters. Maybe a little disorganized, narrative-wise, toward the end but overall enjoyable. 4.5 stars.
Hooray, Goodman managed to not write about an all-girls boarding school in upstate New York! Engrossing concept, difficult to put down. Chapters alternate between perspectives of two main characters. Maybe a little disorganized, narrative-wise, toward the end but overall enjoyable. 4.5 stars.