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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I was never bored with this book but I have to say I didn't really care for it mainly because I did not like really a single character. Part of that is the main character is so bitter and repulsive and tears apart everybody she meets. I wasn't sure what we were supposed to feel for her because she could be absolutely unlikable and then pitiful and the two sides of her never seem to go together. While the author did use a certain amount of mystery for the most part, a lot of what occurred was predictable. The creative writing teacher in me was hyper aware of her need to include similes way too often and when they weren't really necessary. So, not recommending this book
Don’t read this book. Seriously, don’t waste your time. I read it for book club and wanted to know what happened before going to our meeting, but I wish I hadn’t wasted the time reading this book. I hated how long it took to find out what the documentary was about. I hated the ending, that we didn’t get to hear the conversation that stopped the wedding. The story was super choppy. Drugs and Alcohol. Rape. School shooting. Awful book.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I could not stop reading this.... basically, it's well written chick-lit with some very serious subject matters such as bullying and (date) rape, but the suspense element as well as the satire concerning NYC "It" girls and high school dynamics was so compelling that I raced through this in a couple of days.
The less you know, the more you'll enjoy the story unfold.
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9th October 2022
So, this is embarrassing. I watched the Netflix movie based on this book tonight and thought that the title sounded vaguely familiar but I obviously hadn't read the book. At the end of the movie I went to check GoodReads, and I did read the book, albeit almost 7 years ago. Whoops. I did not remember a THING about it, not even the protagonist's silly name "TifAni" which she changed to "Ani" to distinguish her sophisticated adult self from the unhappy teenage self. Gosh, I wonder which other books and movies I am going to "discover" only to find out that I have read/watched them before.
The less you know, the more you'll enjoy the story unfold.
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9th October 2022
So, this is embarrassing. I watched the Netflix movie based on this book tonight and thought that the title sounded vaguely familiar but I obviously hadn't read the book. At the end of the movie I went to check GoodReads, and I did read the book, albeit almost 7 years ago. Whoops. I did not remember a THING about it, not even the protagonist's silly name "TifAni" which she changed to "Ani" to distinguish her sophisticated adult self from the unhappy teenage self. Gosh, I wonder which other books and movies I am going to "discover" only to find out that I have read/watched them before.
Ani FaNelli (nee TifAni) narrates this novel, beginning with her attempts to advance her social status once she enrolls in a tony prep school in Philadelphia. Like a lot of teenagers desperate to fit in, she puts herself in situations that don't end well. Ani's story is told retrospectively as we now see her as a "Sex in the City-esque" young professional in New York City, continuing to claw her way to "the perfect life" - the expensive clothes, the perfectly located apartment, the perfect job, the moneyed fiance. Ani is horribly unlikable as an adult and the novel tries to excuse this by slowly adding to the details of her tragedy-scarred teens but at the end of they day, even knowing what was in her past, I would still not want to know someone like Ani. Her redemption comes too late to make (me) care. Some people will rip through this book, and the author has already been called the next Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins, but I probably won't rush to pick up her next book.
The book was really boring, doesn’t possess a strong story!
A wonderful, thrilling story of a woman trying to fit in and find herself in a world telling her who exactly to be. Keeps you thinking and engaged!
This book was terrible. Absolutely none of the characters were sympathetic figures. Total waste if time.
This is one of those books that has half of me like, “Girl, I guess...” and half of me like, “Man, this could’ve been a great story.” This is nothing like Gone Girl so ignore that blurb because girl... I guess. I’m glad this was a library read.
2.5 really...I hated the narrator...intensely. Story was okay, but I wouldn't call it a psychological thriller. Certainly no Gillian Flynn...
3 1/2 stars. This is the story of Ani, who has the perfect life: a fabulous body, a fabulous job, fabulous clothes and a fabulous fiance. But there is something that happened in her past that was far from perfect. For a while, I wasn't sure if I was hate-reading this book or if I really actually liked it. The narrator is very unlikable and judgmental and I didn't even want to root for her at all. About halfway through the book, you get some insight into her backstory that softens your image of her somewhat, but even before that event, she was still an incredibly shallow and annoying person. But still, I COULD NOT put this book down! Not sure who to recommend it to, but it was a definite page-turner.