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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
Read for book club. I think it will be an interesting discussion. At the beginning I was really curious what had happened to her in high school and I did not predict the full extent. The rest of the book was pretty predictable, though. Overall, enjoyable.
Enjoyable enough. I think the horrifying aspects of high school could lead someone to become a narcissistic and shallow person but I’m not sure it had to be that way. There were some good aspects to the story and there were moments I wanted to keep reading. It was a good summer read - quick, entertaining and not too deep.
The writing was very good. I loved the authors use of description and metaphor. Really found the prose very intelligent and enjoyable to read. I did not care for the characters—I found them stereotypical and unrelatable. I did not enjoy the plot and was left feeling disappointed at the end.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have no idea how to rate this. I hated it. I really liked it. I don't know.
TifAni FaNelli may be the least likable heroine in all of current popular literature. She's abrasive, selfish to the point where you start to consider that maybe she's a sociopath, and she's that particular type of social climber that just makes your teeth hurt from clenching. She's greedy and hard and bitter and cynical. Above all else though, TifAni is heartbreaking and that redeems her just enough that you find yourself caring about what happens to her.
Luckiest Girl Alive sat on my to-read list for months before I finally broke down and read it. I'd heard so many things about this book - comparisons to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl (although I personally think a more apt comparison would be with Flynn's Dark Places), to Megan Abbott's Dare Me and The End of Everything. I heard that I had to read it. I heard that I should avoid it like the plague.
I hated TifAni FaNelli and her grasping, desperate ways but at the same time, I empathized with her. She's got awful parents (really the only thing you need to know about them is that they named her TifAni for Christ's sake - it only gets worse from there) and she's just so lost in the world. It's no wonder she got hard. People like TifAni either go depressingly soft or they become frighteningly hard. TifAni's a damned diamond.
The first half of the book wasn't good. It just wasn't. It's almost cliche to say this, but it just tried too hard. I could feel author Jessica Knoll pushing at me through the page, trying her best to shock me, to make me uncomfortable. To make TifAni edgy for the sake of being edgy.
But then, somewhere around the middle of the story it was almost as if she let go and just let the story take over. Once that happened everything shifted and the book became great. I suddenly understood all those comparisons I'd been hearing.
It's hard to give much of a plot summary that you won't find already printed on the dust jacket of this book without giving any of the twists away so I won't bother with all that here. Suffice it to say that this book was good and fans of Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbott (and all the other dark and twisty authors that are becoming so popular these days) should definitely give this a chance.
Luckiest Girl Alive sat on my to-read list for months before I finally broke down and read it. I'd heard so many things about this book - comparisons to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl (although I personally think a more apt comparison would be with Flynn's Dark Places), to Megan Abbott's Dare Me and The End of Everything. I heard that I had to read it. I heard that I should avoid it like the plague.
I hated TifAni FaNelli and her grasping, desperate ways but at the same time, I empathized with her. She's got awful parents (really the only thing you need to know about them is that they named her TifAni for Christ's sake - it only gets worse from there) and she's just so lost in the world. It's no wonder she got hard. People like TifAni either go depressingly soft or they become frighteningly hard. TifAni's a damned diamond.
The first half of the book wasn't good. It just wasn't. It's almost cliche to say this, but it just tried too hard. I could feel author Jessica Knoll pushing at me through the page, trying her best to shock me, to make me uncomfortable. To make TifAni edgy for the sake of being edgy.
But then, somewhere around the middle of the story it was almost as if she let go and just let the story take over. Once that happened everything shifted and the book became great. I suddenly understood all those comparisons I'd been hearing.
It's hard to give much of a plot summary that you won't find already printed on the dust jacket of this book without giving any of the twists away so I won't bother with all that here. Suffice it to say that this book was good and fans of Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbott (and all the other dark and twisty authors that are becoming so popular these days) should definitely give this a chance.
I can't quite put my finger on why this book has me so emotional as I finish it. I honestly hated the narrator, but I sincerely felt for her. Too many books start out strong and then falter. This one was difficult to get into and then exploded.
Got an extra star because I did finish it, and I keep thinking that if it was REALLY that bad I would have just put it down. But--did not like. An author refusing to tell you what happened to the character isn't suspense, it's just not-telling-you.
This book was absolutely awful. I will hide my spoilers, but as a public service warning, know it is sooooo far from being what it's marketed as. This has nothing to do with dark, twisty fun of Gone Girl. It is not a suspense and the "surprises" are just details revealed as they would be in any book. Ug.
Spoiler
There is something grotesque about marketing the violence endured by a 14 year old as 'Gone Girl" ish. Was Ask Amy raped by a group of fellow teens? I can't even believe how successfully terrible the campaign was. Call me a sucker. And I kept reading it because I kept thinking there was a twist - there was not twist but more violent horror revealed. I found the school shooting and subsequent investigation so heavy and handed and hard to believe. The whole wedding subplot was nothing anyone could care about with everything else going on. Terrible.
I really struggled between 3 or 4 stars and will explain what ultimately bumped it down to three.
Firstly - I had no idea that this book was adapted to the screen and I always try to make sure I read the book before watching a TV adaptation. Why? Because sometimes the writing is not strong enough to overpower the preconceived images I now have conjured in my head thanks to the movie. This was not the case here, and the writing was strong enough that I wasn’t busy imaging the cast while reading which I’m very happy for.
The pros - fast paced, keeps you on the edge of your seat and interested in finding out more and see how everything comes inevitably crashing down and blowing up. I also think the author perfectly captured the “shame culture” that comes with assault and people always blaming the assaulted and not the assaulter. It’s a delicate dance to balance that topic, and I think it was done well.
Cons - some heavy topics not properly addressed and the MC is unlikable for a good portion. I understand and enjoy the adult aspect and why she has the charade and persona built - you can feel why she is the way she is. But the young chapters even before the major events happen, there’s an air of insufferable that we never get an explanation for. At the end I told myself it was her as an adult perhaps narrating as the child to explain why right off the bat she was entitled and driven to wanting such monetary possessions and status, but in the start that was not clear and it made it challenging. I am also not going to even touch the perhaps grooming situation that was danced around and never properly addressed. It seemed like a forgotten and forced plot line that didn’t add anything and if anything, took more away.
The reason for 3 instead of 4 stars - the absolute jarring language used to show the racism of the older generation was in my opinion not needed. To me, I find it lazy to just throw the N word in there. It was already perfectly illustrated how the Harrison family was quite bigoted and there are other ways this can be done without the shock factor of a white author just so casually writing those words. It was not needed and could have been done so many other ways. Some of the illustration of the homophobia too personally made me uncomfortable though I feel it wasn’t as blatant as just dropping the N word mid sentence. Is that a petty reason for docking it down? Perhaps some may see it that way but for me it completely took me out of the story and not in a good way.
Firstly - I had no idea that this book was adapted to the screen and I always try to make sure I read the book before watching a TV adaptation. Why? Because sometimes the writing is not strong enough to overpower the preconceived images I now have conjured in my head thanks to the movie. This was not the case here, and the writing was strong enough that I wasn’t busy imaging the cast while reading which I’m very happy for.
The pros - fast paced, keeps you on the edge of your seat and interested in finding out more and see how everything comes inevitably crashing down and blowing up. I also think the author perfectly captured the “shame culture” that comes with assault and people always blaming the assaulted and not the assaulter. It’s a delicate dance to balance that topic, and I think it was done well.
Cons - some heavy topics not properly addressed and the MC is unlikable for a good portion. I understand and enjoy the adult aspect and why she has the charade and persona built - you can feel why she is the way she is. But the young chapters even before the major events happen, there’s an air of insufferable that we never get an explanation for. At the end I told myself it was her as an adult perhaps narrating as the child to explain why right off the bat she was entitled and driven to wanting such monetary possessions and status, but in the start that was not clear and it made it challenging. I am also not going to even touch the perhaps grooming situation that was danced around and never properly addressed. It seemed like a forgotten and forced plot line that didn’t add anything and if anything, took more away.
The reason for 3 instead of 4 stars - the absolute jarring language used to show the racism of the older generation was in my opinion not needed. To me, I find it lazy to just throw the N word in there. It was already perfectly illustrated how the Harrison family was quite bigoted and there are other ways this can be done without the shock factor of a white author just so casually writing those words. It was not needed and could have been done so many other ways. Some of the illustration of the homophobia too personally made me uncomfortable though I feel it wasn’t as blatant as just dropping the N word mid sentence. Is that a petty reason for docking it down? Perhaps some may see it that way but for me it completely took me out of the story and not in a good way.