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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(2.5 stars)
Okay...
Makkai is obviously a skilled writer. Her sentence structure, the way she lays out a story, all stellar. Even when I wasn't enjoying the plot, I could appreciate her writing.
But the plot...Half-baked, overly ambitious, and not as impactful as it is trying to be. References to cultural movements don't make a book compelling, it is the way you have these conversations. The way she engages with cancel culture, the Me Too movement, institutional racism, grooming, sexual harassment, etc is lackluster. I feel like Makkai takes on too much with tackling these topics so nothing really is given its space. With so many important issues, it can become clear which topic is given the time to really be explored and which are just glossed over. Topics like these can be connected and have overlap, but when some are consistently given less time it can make it feel like some issues are more important than others.
Along with this, the perspective of the book feel so off for so much of it. Bodie as a narrator means that you are constantly getting an outsider perspective that values some experiences over others. Having a flawed character is normal, but having her as the only source of information is borderline infuriating. Especially when you feel like Bodie is not giving you the whole story. Bodie also is pretty high and mighty about some things and then totally denies other experiences.
I will most likely read more Makkai, but I found this project disappointing. The book is unbalanced and long, so plot heavy at the end when it goes so slow at first. The cultural commentary is not quite what it could be. The end is unsatisfying, not just the end of the case but the end of the book.
Okay...
Makkai is obviously a skilled writer. Her sentence structure, the way she lays out a story, all stellar. Even when I wasn't enjoying the plot, I could appreciate her writing.
But the plot...Half-baked, overly ambitious, and not as impactful as it is trying to be. References to cultural movements don't make a book compelling, it is the way you have these conversations. The way she engages with cancel culture, the Me Too movement, institutional racism, grooming, sexual harassment, etc is lackluster. I feel like Makkai takes on too much with tackling these topics so nothing really is given its space. With so many important issues, it can become clear which topic is given the time to really be explored and which are just glossed over. Topics like these can be connected and have overlap, but when some are consistently given less time it can make it feel like some issues are more important than others.
Along with this, the perspective of the book feel so off for so much of it. Bodie as a narrator means that you are constantly getting an outsider perspective that values some experiences over others. Having a flawed character is normal, but having her as the only source of information is borderline infuriating. Especially when you feel like Bodie is not giving you the whole story. Bodie also is pretty high and mighty about some things and then totally denies other experiences.
I will most likely read more Makkai, but I found this project disappointing. The book is unbalanced and long, so plot heavy at the end when it goes so slow at first. The cultural commentary is not quite what it could be. The end is unsatisfying, not just the end of the case but the end of the book.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really, really good
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a very long story, but I don't see how it could be shorter, really. I didn't particularly like Bodie, but she is a good narrator and character for this story. This is a story about power and abuse and murder of women and how their killers and abusers are treated. I'm still not sure why the story is addressed to Bodie's teacher (he's the "you") in the story and I wonder if it would have worked just as well without that. Narrator is great. And, of course, spoilers: Robbie is the killer. Probably. But he won't ever be charged and Omar will likely remain in jail. But that is a solid—if unsatisfying—end to this story. Women and victims rarely get the justice they deserve.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Absolutely phenomenal - how an author that is not explicitly a thriller genre could make something that feels so utterly consuming is incredible to me. Truly enthralling and so well-written, looking forward to more of this author's novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.75 stars
This might be a generous rating. This book was way too long for what little it had to say. I was expecting more from this book and this author given the majority of the reviews. I may just be the wrong audience. The main character was pretty unlikeable. While I like flawed characters, she was whiney, self-absorbed, clueless, and hypocritical. The book tried to tackle way too many issues: gender issues, racial issues/racial profiling , statutory rape, predation/grooming, sexual assault, domestic violence, me too movement, cancel culture, etc. The bottom line is if you try to tackle too many issues, you end up doing most or all poorly. This is what happened with this book. I felt that for its length, this book didn’t go anywhere. The main take always is that there is violence to women and that there stories, sadly, are almost interchangeable and that men of color can be unjustly incarcerated due to racial profiling and poor investigations. These are not new issues and have been explored better in other books. Similar to what I read from another reader, I thought the author might explore the genre of true crime and some of its negative impact. Not so. Ultimately, I was disappointed by where this book went and where it didn’t.
This might be a generous rating. This book was way too long for what little it had to say. I was expecting more from this book and this author given the majority of the reviews. I may just be the wrong audience. The main character was pretty unlikeable. While I like flawed characters, she was whiney, self-absorbed, clueless, and hypocritical. The book tried to tackle way too many issues: gender issues, racial issues/racial profiling , statutory rape, predation/grooming, sexual assault, domestic violence, me too movement, cancel culture, etc. The bottom line is if you try to tackle too many issues, you end up doing most or all poorly. This is what happened with this book. I felt that for its length, this book didn’t go anywhere. The main take always is that there is violence to women and that there stories, sadly, are almost interchangeable and that men of color can be unjustly incarcerated due to racial profiling and poor investigations. These are not new issues and have been explored better in other books. Similar to what I read from another reader, I thought the author might explore the genre of true crime and some of its negative impact. Not so. Ultimately, I was disappointed by where this book went and where it didn’t.