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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
However twisted the subject of this story may be, it's still one of my favourite books.
Heartbreakingly beautiful. So many things could have gone too far into the improbable one way or the other: saccharine or hard-edged, but this balanced complicated emotions and situations extremely well for the most part. Highly recommended.
Wow, what a book! I honestly had not heard of this book until coming across it on TikTok (I know, I know) and I am sad that it’s taken me this long to discover it. Lucy Christopher builds the setting and immerses you in the surroundings like none other. Usually too much “world-building” can bore me out after a while, but in this case it was vital and intertwined so perfectly with the point of the story.
A review on here also explained my thoughts perfectly - the author makes you question and experience Stockholm Syndrome from the inside. It makes you feel like you’re the captive and questioning and experiencing captivity throughout. It’s not your standard “held captive and then fall in love” story...and I loved this book because of that.
It was an easy read, I read 200 pages of it in a day and was hooked with how it would play out!
A review on here also explained my thoughts perfectly - the author makes you question and experience Stockholm Syndrome from the inside. It makes you feel like you’re the captive and questioning and experiencing captivity throughout. It’s not your standard “held captive and then fall in love” story...and I loved this book because of that.
It was an easy read, I read 200 pages of it in a day and was hooked with how it would play out!
Very interesting and twisting story, I read it all in one sitting, it doesn't have natural places to stop and break. And you need to know what is going to happen to her.
It felt really anti-climatic. I figured she would escape in the end but for some reason the book still left me with feeling like there needed to be something else.
Also I'm not a huge fan of second person narrative or whatever style this is called.
Also I'm not a huge fan of second person narrative or whatever style this is called.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Yes
i read this book a couple of years ago and i remember really enjoying it. i, too, fell into the spiral of trying to sympathise with Ty and i really wanna read this novel again to see if my stance has changed !!
I read this book a few years ago and it really stuck with me.
On this re-read, I again was holding my breath just as much as the first time. Yes, this is a letter so it's not really a second person point of view, but to me this style made it feel very intimate, which makes sense considering there are really only two characters of any significance.
I'm going to do some research on Stockholm Syndrome after this, and I will be interested to see if the behavior of Gemma is in accordance.
In reading some reviews here on Goodreads, one comment says that the characters are unrealistic and that it's hard to have any feelings for either of the two main characters. I felt like Gemma's reactions to what was going on around her, especially her constant fear of what will be done to her, were very logical and I identified with that. The behaviors that made less sense were usually accompanied with a comment saying that she wasn't sure why she was doing it either, a little bit of a cop-out maybe.
Ty's back story was supposed to make us feel sympathy for him and care about him, and perhaps suggest "reasons" why he is the way he is/why he stole her. But I was not particularly moved by his story, and feel like citing a bad childhood as a "reason" for his actions is stupid. I was more moved by his actions and paint shed, and think these things say more about his psyche than his history does.
On this re-read, I again was holding my breath just as much as the first time. Yes, this is a letter so it's not really a second person point of view, but to me this style made it feel very intimate, which makes sense considering there are really only two characters of any significance.
I'm going to do some research on Stockholm Syndrome after this, and I will be interested to see if the behavior of Gemma is in accordance.
Spoiler
I'm undecided about the ending of this story, because I feel like the *right* thing to do would be to tell the truth with the good and the bad, and like Gemma says, hope for a lighter sentence. However, I grew to have just as conflicted feelings for Ty as Gemma does, and there is a part of me that didn't want him to get any jail time. Obviously the fake story of how she ran away wouldn't work and if that had been the ending I would have been quite upset, but the way it was written made me want to know what happened, as if it was real life and I could google the results of the trial.In reading some reviews here on Goodreads, one comment says that the characters are unrealistic and that it's hard to have any feelings for either of the two main characters. I felt like Gemma's reactions to what was going on around her, especially her constant fear of what will be done to her, were very logical and I identified with that. The behaviors that made less sense were usually accompanied with a comment saying that she wasn't sure why she was doing it either, a little bit of a cop-out maybe.
Ty's back story was supposed to make us feel sympathy for him and care about him, and perhaps suggest "reasons" why he is the way he is/why he stole her. But I was not particularly moved by his story, and feel like citing a bad childhood as a "reason" for his actions is stupid. I was more moved by his actions and paint shed, and think these things say more about his psyche than his history does.