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adam75241's review against another edition
2.0
I admit, I started this book after watching the first episode of the TV series and decided to read the novel before continuing on with the show. And wow, was this disappointing.
The Sinner is extremely long-winded, painfully repetitive, and all-together unnecessary. The book mainly consists of flashbacks (child abuse and religious fanaticism) and drawn out interrogations of the unreliable Cora, wherein the reader is fed lie after lie of her “story,” until the truth finally comes out in the last chapter, rather anticlimactically.
I’ll be generous by rounding up to 2 stars.
The Sinner is extremely long-winded, painfully repetitive, and all-together unnecessary. The book mainly consists of flashbacks (child abuse and religious fanaticism) and drawn out interrogations of the unreliable Cora, wherein the reader is fed lie after lie of her “story,” until the truth finally comes out in the last chapter, rather anticlimactically.
I’ll be generous by rounding up to 2 stars.
jinmichae's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Death, and Incest
Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cancer, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child abuse, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Confinement, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Vomit
beckimoody29's review
4.0
I started this because i was too impatient to wait for the end of the TV series. I really enjoyed the mystery. This was my favorite type of psychological thriller: an unreliable narrator, unlikable but also a victim, and a slowly unfolding twisting plot line. Some of the procedural aspects were confusing — this is a foreign novel — but the story was very good.
whimsicallymeghan's review
3.0
While on the beach one day, Cora Bender stabs a man to death. She admits she’s guilty of the crime, it’s an open-shut case, but the police commissioner believes something else to be at play here. This begins the start of his own investigation on Cora and learning about her secret, dark past and everything in her life that has led up to this moment. This wasn’t a bad book, but it could get really confusing to read and there were parts that the reader just didn’t understand, but they thought that this had a decent plot that kept things interesting. One thing the reader can’t say was that this was boring because it wasn’t. There was always something new developing or changing; but even though it was entertaining, it could be very unclear where the direction was going, or why things were shifting so much. The author had a tendency to switch tenses and to switch up the timelines and so it made it very hard for the reader to catch up sometimes. We would get a good stretch in one tense and the reader would get invested in the story, but then it would shift and become slightly lackluster because it would never shift for the best. It would always go into a point of view and tense that the reader didn’t care about, nor did it really bare any real point to the overall story. The psychological part of the story was really interesting and so the reader appreciated the detours to get there, even if it was a bit of a long journey. The characters were alright; at times the reader really liked them because they made sense, they were developed and absorbing, but there were also times when they could be really frustrating and annoying to read. Plus, some characters went by different names and nicknames that made it very hard to keep track of how everything fit together. The reader didn’t fully connect with them, but they could see where they were coming from and understand some of their motives. In the end though, this was engrossing and captivating that told a very twisty tale.
erinbirnel's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
meje's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Confusing on so many levels. Cora tells so many variations of what probably happened that when she finally remembered the truth, I didn’t care much anymore. Also, feel like the translation maybe made things a bit more confusing?
I did enjoy reading a story where the police officer is digging deeper, when the culprit's begging to stay in jail, and her family has all but abandoned her.
It was a rough read though. And can’t imagine the tv series will stick to the most controversial subjects of the book, i.e. Cora remarking on her father’s masturbation, or her « helping » her sister…
I did enjoy reading a story where the police officer is digging deeper, when the culprit's begging to stay in jail, and her family has all but abandoned her.
It was a rough read though. And can’t imagine the tv series will stick to the most controversial subjects of the book, i.e. Cora remarking on her father’s masturbation, or her « helping » her sister…