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brittmezger021's review
2.0
This was so painful to get through. I would’ve put it down about 50 pages in had it not been for a book club. I mostly despised the writing style, and the interview format. It also felt so predictable, except for the very last page, and that just felt very stupid to me to throw into the epilogue. Yuck.
megelizabeth's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
"The world was bearing down on me. The world was a great big globe made of glass. It was heavy and I couldn’t remember anyone giving it me to carry, but I could feel it and it was taking all my strength not to let it drop from my shoulders and fall in splinters at my feet. I was bent double with it. I was breaking in two. It was only a matter of time now."
This is a layered, gripping story with a lot of important things to say about mental health, trauma, knife crime, and the position of women, and I did find it an intriguing and poignant read, but it didn't quite work for me overall. It very much tries to be both a mystery/thriller and a social commentary, and while sometimes the two can blend well, I was left feeling like both elements were just slightly lacking and didn't quite fit together cohesively.
I still had some unanswered questions by the end, so there are elements that would have benefitted from being explored more, and there are a few questionable comments that don't quite fit with the messages the book tries to get across. Additionally, while it's ultimately handled better than in a lot of books, the 'this person is mentally ill so are they trustworthy' trope never quite sits right with me.
This was a perfectly fine read, then, and I'm glad I read it for the fact that it prompted me to think about several difficult but important issues, as well as having a decent enough plot and mystery and a good twist, but it just didn't quite hit the mark for me overall.
This is a layered, gripping story with a lot of important things to say about mental health, trauma, knife crime, and the position of women, and I did find it an intriguing and poignant read, but it didn't quite work for me overall. It very much tries to be both a mystery/thriller and a social commentary, and while sometimes the two can blend well, I was left feeling like both elements were just slightly lacking and didn't quite fit together cohesively.
I still had some unanswered questions by the end, so there are elements that would have benefitted from being explored more, and there are a few questionable comments that don't quite fit with the messages the book tries to get across. Additionally, while it's ultimately handled better than in a lot of books, the 'this person is mentally ill so are they trustworthy' trope never quite sits right with me.
This was a perfectly fine read, then, and I'm glad I read it for the fact that it prompted me to think about several difficult but important issues, as well as having a decent enough plot and mystery and a good twist, but it just didn't quite hit the mark for me overall.
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