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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
This book has been an interesting read at an interesting time for me, I'm reading it alongside watching the drama series The Fall starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan and it really has made me stop and question whether it is possible to be married to someone who is carrying out vicious sexual crimes yet have no knowledge of their true nature or actions.
Fiona Barton raises just this question in her book 'The Widow' where Jean Taylor is mourning the death of her husband Glen in a tragic accident. We learn that Jean was a devoted wife to Glen but that their marriage had been troubled after her husband was accused of the abduction and killing of a 2 year old girl, Bella, from her front garden.
This story is told from several viewpoints, some chapters tell Jean's story whilst others are viewed through the eyes of the investigating detective in the case of Bella's disappearance and others through the eyes of a journalist who has followed the case for years.
The book doesn't leave us any allusions about the true nature of Glen Taylor, he is a man addicted to child pornography, he is difficult to live with and gently controlling his wife through subtle use of language and ongoing reassurances that he is the wronged party and he is being hounded by police.
Jean is a frustrating character to read about, she lacks any real grit, she is the quintessential subjugated wife, she is over eager to please, trusting to a fault and also struggling with a life where she cannot have the one thing she truly craves, a baby of her own. She has no social circle and is isolated in her marriage, she had no one to talk to and this allows her husband to manipulate her to his way of thinking, even persuading her to lie to detectives about his whereabouts when Bella disappeared. I'm afraid Jean isn't a nice character to spend time with, at first her innocence is endearing but by the end of the book I just wanted her to at least be held a little culpable for her husband's actions. Her lies to police allowed him to remain a free man, to not be made to face consequences and ultimately to continue to control her. She is hard work as a reader because you want to sympathise bit her character traits are not admirable and she herself comes across as unstable and with a warped sense of right and wrong.
For all the frustration Jean put me through I feel it testament to the author that she did so, I would hope this was exactly the results she was hoping for, moral conflict alongside human compassion. It isn't the next Gone Girl or Girl on the Train although I imagine it will be a popular read this year.
Fiona Barton raises just this question in her book 'The Widow' where Jean Taylor is mourning the death of her husband Glen in a tragic accident. We learn that Jean was a devoted wife to Glen but that their marriage had been troubled after her husband was accused of the abduction and killing of a 2 year old girl, Bella, from her front garden.
This story is told from several viewpoints, some chapters tell Jean's story whilst others are viewed through the eyes of the investigating detective in the case of Bella's disappearance and others through the eyes of a journalist who has followed the case for years.
The book doesn't leave us any allusions about the true nature of Glen Taylor, he is a man addicted to child pornography, he is difficult to live with and gently controlling his wife through subtle use of language and ongoing reassurances that he is the wronged party and he is being hounded by police.
Jean is a frustrating character to read about, she lacks any real grit, she is the quintessential subjugated wife, she is over eager to please, trusting to a fault and also struggling with a life where she cannot have the one thing she truly craves, a baby of her own. She has no social circle and is isolated in her marriage, she had no one to talk to and this allows her husband to manipulate her to his way of thinking, even persuading her to lie to detectives about his whereabouts when Bella disappeared. I'm afraid Jean isn't a nice character to spend time with, at first her innocence is endearing but by the end of the book I just wanted her to at least be held a little culpable for her husband's actions. Her lies to police allowed him to remain a free man, to not be made to face consequences and ultimately to continue to control her. She is hard work as a reader because you want to sympathise bit her character traits are not admirable and she herself comes across as unstable and with a warped sense of right and wrong.
For all the frustration Jean put me through I feel it testament to the author that she did so, I would hope this was exactly the results she was hoping for, moral conflict alongside human compassion. It isn't the next Gone Girl or Girl on the Train although I imagine it will be a popular read this year.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Many thanks to Ben at Transworld for my ARC of The Widow by Fiona Barton.
I have been seeing this book pop up in tweets and on bloggers pages for the past couple of months so I was dying to get my hands on a copy to see what all the fuss was about. The lovely Ben Willis at Transworld Books kindly sent me out a copy to read and review. Needless to say I was like a child upon receiving it!
Goodreads description:
We've all seen him: the man - the monster - staring from the front page of every newspaper, accused of a terrible crime.
But what about her: the woman who grips his arm on the courtroom stairs – the wife who stands by him?
Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming.
Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.
But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.
Jean Taylor is going to tell us what she knows.
The Widow is a a great book. It's extremely psychological with intimate insights into the mind of the widow, the detective, the reporter, the mother and the husband told through alternating chapters. The aforementioned widow becomes one early on in the book,with her husband being hit and killed by a bus. Prior to this, her husband Glen, had been accused of a terrible crime.
A little girl goes missing from her front garden while her mother is inside. Glen is accused of kidnapping Bella Elliott and The Widow tells the story of events after, and later on in the book, prior to the abduction.
The Widow is by no means an on the edge of your seat thriller. It is a slow burner, with information slowly being revealed in each chapter. It's at times painful to read some of the details of the case. No parent ever wants to imagine anything happening to their child.
The widow herself, Jean, is hard to like as a character. I found her to be very hard to empathise with. If that's even possible in the situation she is in. Jean is clearly an emotionally weak person in the earlier half of the book, but towards the climax of the story she seems to find her inner voice.
I'm not one for spoilers,but with a book like this it's difficult not to see what happens at the end!
I have to say, I really enjoyed The Widow. Fiona Barton has a lovely writing style and it's very easy to follow. I'm glad I got a chance to read this book before January 2016 as with the hype surrounding it, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten near it!
My thanks again to Ben Willis and Fiona Barton for my copy of The Widow!
4 stars on Goodreads from me!
Happy reading
Algures entre 2016 e 2017 este livro fez furor. Foi lido e relido por imensa gente, comentado aqui e ali e, mais uma vez, sendo um livro tão escrutinado, optei por me afastar dele até que a poeira baixasse e fosse possível ler sem uma ideia pré concebida.
Neste período de confinamento, em que as leituras não tem fluido por ai além (culpa em parte de não andar os habituais 90 minutos diários de transportes públicos nem almoçar sozinha todos os dias), optei por ler os livros físicos que estão pela estante da vergonha à espera de vez.
(infelizmente também a actualização deste blog tem sofrido as consequências do confinamento... acabo de ler e esqueço-me de vir cá escrever a opinião. Agora de castigo escrevo de seguida dos 3 livros lidos entretanto, antes que termine o 4º livro)
Foi portanto a vez d'A Viúva, um thriller psicológico, narrado - a várias vozes - entre o passado e o presente, deixando entrever, para cada uma das personagens, que há ali qualquer coisa que não é bem claro. De inicio os acontecimentos e as personagens parecem não ter qualquer ligação entre si, mas vamos percebendo, ao longo da história, que afinal estão interligadas.
Fruto talvez de já ter lido vários livros do mesmo género, comecei a desconfiar do final mais ou menos a meio do livro. Mas - e ponto bastante positivo para o livro - o final acabou por me surpreender porque, se por um lado, o esperava, por outro não era bem assim que o esperava (e não posso explicar mais para não ser spoiler).
Não direi que é um excepcional livro mas é, seguramente, um livro a ler.
Neste período de confinamento, em que as leituras não tem fluido por ai além (culpa em parte de não andar os habituais 90 minutos diários de transportes públicos nem almoçar sozinha todos os dias), optei por ler os livros físicos que estão pela estante da vergonha à espera de vez.
(infelizmente também a actualização deste blog tem sofrido as consequências do confinamento... acabo de ler e esqueço-me de vir cá escrever a opinião. Agora de castigo escrevo de seguida dos 3 livros lidos entretanto, antes que termine o 4º livro)
Foi portanto a vez d'A Viúva, um thriller psicológico, narrado - a várias vozes - entre o passado e o presente, deixando entrever, para cada uma das personagens, que há ali qualquer coisa que não é bem claro. De inicio os acontecimentos e as personagens parecem não ter qualquer ligação entre si, mas vamos percebendo, ao longo da história, que afinal estão interligadas.
Fruto talvez de já ter lido vários livros do mesmo género, comecei a desconfiar do final mais ou menos a meio do livro. Mas - e ponto bastante positivo para o livro - o final acabou por me surpreender porque, se por um lado, o esperava, por outro não era bem assim que o esperava (e não posso explicar mais para não ser spoiler).
Não direi que é um excepcional livro mas é, seguramente, um livro a ler.
Pensé que iba a estar muy bueno. Resultó predecible y llevadero
Me gustó , el final predecible pero fue entretenido y decepcionante debido a esto
El esposo es la definición de alguien idiota y lo único , si se puede decir algo resaltante , es la esposa .
El esposo es la definición de alguien idiota y lo único , si se puede decir algo resaltante , es la esposa .
I can't say that this book let me down since I didn't have high expectations going in. It was a quick read, but I found myself not really caring about the characters. I understand the inspiration behind the story but am not somewhere who follows "missing tot" true crime. Which means I fall outside of this narratives target audience. Overall a solid story, but it was just O.K. for me. 2/5.
Solid thriller. I read on audiobook in two days so it was gripping and really kept my attention.
Meh. After the glowing reviews, I had hoped for more. Predictable, but still entertaining enough.