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afroheaux's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.5
I never managed to connect with this book, but I wanted to finish it out of spite. It seems like this author threw a lot of elements at the wall to see if they could stick. You can tell she’s definitely a good descriptive writer from the prose but it felt purple at most parts. Since it’s a mystery, I’m sure every background character was given extreme detail to throw the reader off the trail of the killer. It just made the book confusing and hard to push through.
It reminded me of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn due to the unreliable and “unlikeable” narrator, but I actually didn’t really like the MC. His whole angry, manipulative streak was not endearing and he seemed full of himself. I wasn’t rooting for anyone in the book. Most characters served no purpose and I didn’t know who they were most of the time or their purpose in the story. The resolution of the main conflict of the entire story doesn’t even get covered in the epilogue and even then, it’s like an afterthought. I wasn’t thrilled or excited by this book, just wanted it to end so I could find out what happened to Nina, but jury’s still out on whether that was worth it or not.
It reminded me of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn due to the unreliable and “unlikeable” narrator, but I actually didn’t really like the MC. His whole angry, manipulative streak was not endearing and he seemed full of himself. I wasn’t rooting for anyone in the book. Most characters served no purpose and I didn’t know who they were most of the time or their purpose in the story. The resolution of the main conflict of the entire story doesn’t even get covered in the epilogue and even then, it’s like an afterthought. I wasn’t thrilled or excited by this book, just wanted it to end so I could find out what happened to Nina, but jury’s still out on whether that was worth it or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death of parent, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, and Violence
cursedepub's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Quiet in Her Bones is an enjoyable and suspenseful read, but ultimately isn't very fulfilling. The prose is great - tense and action-packed, while providing a lot of emotional appeal and insight into main character Aarav's personal psyche, and the book is populated with the perfect cast of dramatic, trashy, filthy rich people that make for the most fun mysteries and thrillers. It starts off strong and the pace picks up very nicely, but towards the end I was beginning to grow impatient with the almost never-ending addition of new possibilities to explore and how nothing we had previously discovered seemed to be coming together. The final reveal of the culprit and of the circumstances of Nina Rai's disappearance and death was very unsatisfying for me, and the way it was all hinged on a completely different disappearance and death came off as cheap and sloppy. I think more should have been done to establish the connection earlier in the novel, rather than spending time on points and hints that would eventually fade away or not end up particularly important.
One thing that definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the novel is how egregious the sexually objectifying male gaze was in the narration. I think genuinely every woman above the age of 18 in the novel was described in terms of her sexuality and/or physical attributes, to a degree I found gross and uncomfortable.
One thing that definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the novel is how egregious the sexually objectifying male gaze was in the narration. I think genuinely every woman above the age of 18 in the novel was described in terms of her sexuality and/or physical attributes, to a degree I found gross and uncomfortable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Misogyny, Medical content, Infidelity, Death of parent, Child abuse, Animal death, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Drug use
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