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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I think it's fair to day that Ani is not exactly a likable character in this story. But, I think that drives home the idea that even though we may not like Ani, it doesn't justify the violence and trauma inflicted upon her. The story itself let's the reader speculate for only a short whole before giving us the whole other side of the story. She's not Liane Moriarty with her twisty plot lines with red herrings, but it was still enough to keep me engaged.
found out a rape was coming and did not feel like i could hear that right now.
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
This book had way to much extra detail that I’d get lost in the side stories. DNF
Luckiest Girl Alive is a bit of an odd duck, to be honest. Given the divisive reviews on Goodreads, I was actually pretty uncertain if I would enjoy this book but actually, I did. Granted, there are definitely some obvious flaws with the book such as how it fails to address a lot of the topics that it brings up but I still found the plot entertaining.
The story alternates between the perspective of Ani FaNelli as she is now: thin, pretty and engaged to a wealthy, handsome man and the girl that she was before, TifAni FaNelli, who was overweight, bullied and ostracised in her snobby high school. As an adult, Ani thinks that she's finally got her stuff figured out and that she knows exactly how to package herself and to present herself right now. But living a perfect life isn't easy to achieve and Ani is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the facade of a happy life, without any of her old cracks showing.
Yet this facade is something that Ani feels like she has to put up with. Because as a teeanger, TifAni went through some pretty traumatic experiences and in order to label herself as a survivor rather than a victim, she re-packaged herself as Ani — a successful twenty-something, with a man who wants her enough to propose to her. And on the anniversary of the tragic incident at her old high school, Ani is asked to be part of a documentary and she is eager to showcase all that she has achieved in the years since. Only, it seems like she can't ever really escape the past or the girl that she was before.
Luckiest Girl Alive works because of the central mystery that propels the plot. We are told that something terrible has happened to Ani in the past (and when we do discover what happens, it truly is horrific) and I kept reading on to find out what it was. Knoll is really good at giving us enough information just to keep us wanting more. This mystery was why I found the book to be utterly captivating.
But it's true that there are multiple problems with the book: for one, there are too many plots that are introduced that aren't ever fully addressed. Ani's relationship with Luke isn't really properly depicted and I didn't understand how Ani reached the sudden conclusion that things with Luke aren't working out. Her unhealthy relationship with food didn't get much of a resolution. And it's true that a lot of the things that Ani went through feels like every after-school special that was mashed into one single plot, where the aforementioned plot didn't seem entirely cohesive.
At the same time, I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed Ani's bitchiness and her savagery and her experiences as a teenage girl. Although the rest of the characters seemed like cardboard cut-out characters (an embarrassing mother who tries her best to appear nouve-riche, a popular beautiful best friend who helps Ani reinvent herself, a boss who inexplicably loves Ani, a finance who is callous about her past), Ani seemed like a third-dimensional character to me. I felt for her and how damaged she was. And I kept wanting to know more, to find out what happened. And that for me, is enough.
The story alternates between the perspective of Ani FaNelli as she is now: thin, pretty and engaged to a wealthy, handsome man and the girl that she was before, TifAni FaNelli, who was overweight, bullied and ostracised in her snobby high school. As an adult, Ani thinks that she's finally got her stuff figured out and that she knows exactly how to package herself and to present herself right now. But living a perfect life isn't easy to achieve and Ani is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the facade of a happy life, without any of her old cracks showing.
Yet this facade is something that Ani feels like she has to put up with. Because as a teeanger, TifAni went through some pretty traumatic experiences and in order to label herself as a survivor rather than a victim, she re-packaged herself as Ani — a successful twenty-something, with a man who wants her enough to propose to her. And on the anniversary of the tragic incident at her old high school, Ani is asked to be part of a documentary and she is eager to showcase all that she has achieved in the years since. Only, it seems like she can't ever really escape the past or the girl that she was before.
Luckiest Girl Alive works because of the central mystery that propels the plot. We are told that something terrible has happened to Ani in the past (and when we do discover what happens, it truly is horrific) and I kept reading on to find out what it was. Knoll is really good at giving us enough information just to keep us wanting more.
Spoiler
And there are multiple bad things that happen to Ani. Her reactions after being raped by her classmates and trying to pretend like everything was alright was heartwrenching. And then learning that one of your only friends at school has staged a school shooting is terrible. And after all that, Ani still had to pretend that some of the victims weren't terrible people when they were alive. All of that is really terrible.But it's true that there are multiple problems with the book: for one, there are too many plots that are introduced that aren't ever fully addressed. Ani's relationship with Luke isn't really properly depicted and I didn't understand how Ani reached the sudden conclusion that things with Luke aren't working out. Her unhealthy relationship with food didn't get much of a resolution. And it's true that a lot of the things that Ani went through feels like every after-school special that was mashed into one single plot, where the aforementioned plot didn't seem entirely cohesive.
At the same time, I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed Ani's bitchiness and her savagery and her experiences as a teenage girl. Although the rest of the characters seemed like cardboard cut-out characters (an embarrassing mother who tries her best to appear nouve-riche, a popular beautiful best friend who helps Ani reinvent herself, a boss who inexplicably loves Ani, a finance who is callous about her past), Ani seemed like a third-dimensional character to me. I felt for her and how damaged she was. And I kept wanting to know more, to find out what happened. And that for me, is enough.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yeahhhh I think this is the last Jessica Knoll book for me. I think I’ve rated both of them 1.5 stars and haven’t been into them.
First of all - this one was boring. I didn’t have a good time reading it and didn’t really care about any characters or anything that was happening. I didn’t find it to have any plot twists or excitement or likeable characters or anything.
Secondly - it talked about a lot of intense topics with zero trigger warnings, but also didn’t feel like there was any care in how these topics were handled. Sometimes, a shitty thing will be said by a character, and you know that the other characters and writers don’t feel the same and it’s said for a specific reason. This didn’t feel like that.
A ton of talk about disordered eating and body image that was regarded, a really gross harmful comment about a queer off-page character that wasn’t really addressed, and a ton of other examples.
This wasn’t it for me and I don’t think I’ll be trying anything else by Jessica Knoll.
First of all - this one was boring. I didn’t have a good time reading it and didn’t really care about any characters or anything that was happening. I didn’t find it to have any plot twists or excitement or likeable characters or anything.
Secondly - it talked about a lot of intense topics with zero trigger warnings, but also didn’t feel like there was any care in how these topics were handled. Sometimes, a shitty thing will be said by a character, and you know that the other characters and writers don’t feel the same and it’s said for a specific reason. This didn’t feel like that.
A ton of talk about disordered eating and body image that was regarded, a really gross harmful comment about a queer off-page character that wasn’t really addressed, and a ton of other examples.
This wasn’t it for me and I don’t think I’ll be trying anything else by Jessica Knoll.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism