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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
being in the narrator’s head was just viscerally uncomfortable and even knowing it was intentional, it just made for an objectively negative reading experience. i kept reading because i wanted to see how it ended but it wasn’t even really a surprising ending? i think this was mostly a let down because i enjoyed dark places so much. both had sort of gray main characters who were imperfect by design but i just found camille much harder to connect with i guess? and without feeling any connection to her as a character, the way her past trauma makes her interact with and describe other characters (particularly young girls) just kind of made my skin crawl. i guess an argument could be made that thrillers necessarily should make you uncomfortable and i guess if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the book for you.
TW: major self-harm, child abuse, sexual violence
Finished this book feeling disgusted (the intended effect) and conflicted in my overall feelings about the narrative. This is a very dark book (I haven't seen the HBO mini series so I'm not sure what changed in the adaptation) and definitely not for the squeamish or those sensitive to the TWs listed above.
In the end, I wanted to enjoy this book (I've immensely enjoyed Flynn's other two books) but the characters in this particular story felt far less fleshed out than in her other stories in ways that didn't get me to really empathize or, at least, buy into their stories. There was a lot of senseless violence and depravity which I didn't understand the point of in regards to the rest of the story. The whodunnit question became pretty predictable about halfway through, , and I was frustrated that, despite all of these obvious hints, the pace didn't speed up or that we didn't get a deeper dive into these characters. At the end especially, Flynn introduces so many characters in such fleeting ways that I would have found her main characters much more engaging and compelling if all of this information about the setting wasn't thrown at us at the end.
Long story short, I would pass on this book, but Flynn's other stories are well worth reading. She's certainly gifted in crafting narratives of suspense and darkness, although this isn't her brightest moment.
Finished this book feeling disgusted (the intended effect) and conflicted in my overall feelings about the narrative. This is a very dark book (I haven't seen the HBO mini series so I'm not sure what changed in the adaptation) and definitely not for the squeamish or those sensitive to the TWs listed above.
In the end, I wanted to enjoy this book (I've immensely enjoyed Flynn's other two books) but the characters in this particular story felt far less fleshed out than in her other stories in ways that didn't get me to really empathize or, at least, buy into their stories. There was a lot of senseless violence and depravity which I didn't understand the point of in regards to the rest of the story. The whodunnit question became pretty predictable about halfway through, , and I was frustrated that, despite all of these obvious hints, the pace didn't speed up or that we didn't get a deeper dive into these characters. At the end especially, Flynn introduces so many characters in such fleeting ways that I would have found her main characters much more engaging and compelling if all of this information about the setting wasn't thrown at us at the end.
Long story short, I would pass on this book, but Flynn's other stories are well worth reading. She's certainly gifted in crafting narratives of suspense and darkness, although this isn't her brightest moment.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The entire world is terrible, everyone is unlikeable, why should I give a damn?
