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phobosm's review
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-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
2.75
Pretty mixed feelings about this one.
Good points:
The characterisation and behaviour of the secondary characters feel realistic, i.e. the pliability of teenagers and their response to trauma and grief, the repressed dissatisfaction of the oblivious husband.
Not-so-good points:
The book seems to want me to believe that the main character is high-functioning and street-smart predator, yet throughout the book she is constantly demonstrated to possess poor self-control and easily swayed by her lust and emotions. Considering how careless and how often she makes poor and risky decisions, it seems hard to buy into the fact that she managed to escape scrutiny and has led a believably "normal" day-to-day life up till the events of the book.
Another somewhat related issue I had with her characterisation is how comically sex-famished she is. I understand that she was written to be a sociopathic sex deviant, but it just seems wholly eccentric how despite the type of situation, her mind remains solely fixated on her sexual cravings and assumes others feel the same (and thus reacts correspondingly). Some instances:Lover just witnessed his father die? Seduces him in order to comfort him. Gets caught for cheating/being a sexual criminal/etc.? Tries to find various ways to seduce everybody involved to get them to cooperate.
I get that she is a manic sex addict and thus may also expect that others are similarly incentivised by the pleasures of sex. But at the same time, I'm supposed to believe that THIS is the same person who managed to deceive her husband and everybody around her for so long? Her emotional intelligence is so poor that it seems hardly possible that she has managed to put up a charade for so long.
The ending seemed to hold the promise of some fairly interesting commentary about the flaws of the legal system. However the ending was very abrupt and any sort of exploration on this topic ended up being superficial. We also never get to see the long-term repercussions of the main character's abuse on the children she abused nor the people around them, especially those were supposed to protect them such as the school staff and family members.
Not all books need to teach some profound moral lesson, but for a book dealing with such a dark topic about a very serious issue that is often overlooked (female pedophilia is overlooked compared to their male counterpart), I personally feel like it would only have made sense for it to provide at least some insight and responsible commentary on the subject matter and its real-life impacts. Otherwise, this book just feels like another thriller story made purely for the entertainment of readers, and deriving empty entertainment out of a book that goes into all sorts of grotesque detail on the sexual abuse of children just feels wrong to me.
Some other minor thoughts:
Janet was a wasted character. It feels like the author had initially built her up for some important plot device, but then ended up pretty much discarding that idea and ended up making her an insignificant character in the end.
I had also expected the story to move towards a more chaotic direction where the main character descends into a murderous spree (and maybe end up having the consequences of her actions catch up to her in a horrifying or even fatal way). This is only because the author kept sprinkling hints of the main character's potential murderous proclivities throughout the book. It felt likethe first character's death was the beginning of her descent into murderous madness, but I was disappointingly wrong. Instead, the story ended in a very lukewarm way where the main character remains the same internally as she was at the start of the book; there was pretty much no character development on her part.
Good points:
The characterisation and behaviour of the secondary characters feel realistic, i.e. the pliability of teenagers and their response to trauma and grief, the repressed dissatisfaction of the oblivious husband.
Not-so-good points:
The book seems to want me to believe that the main character is high-functioning and street-smart predator, yet throughout the book she is constantly demonstrated to possess poor self-control and easily swayed by her lust and emotions. Considering how careless and how often she makes poor and risky decisions, it seems hard to buy into the fact that she managed to escape scrutiny and has led a believably "normal" day-to-day life up till the events of the book.
Another somewhat related issue I had with her characterisation is how comically sex-famished she is. I understand that she was written to be a sociopathic sex deviant, but it just seems wholly eccentric how despite the type of situation, her mind remains solely fixated on her sexual cravings and assumes others feel the same (and thus reacts correspondingly). Some instances:
I get that she is a manic sex addict and thus may also expect that others are similarly incentivised by the pleasures of sex. But at the same time, I'm supposed to believe that THIS is the same person who managed to deceive her husband and everybody around her for so long? Her emotional intelligence is so poor that it seems hardly possible that she has managed to put up a charade for so long.
The ending seemed to hold the promise of some fairly interesting commentary about the flaws of the legal system. However the ending was very abrupt and any sort of exploration on this topic ended up being superficial. We also never get to see the long-term repercussions of the main character's abuse on the children she abused nor the people around them, especially those were supposed to protect them such as the school staff and family members.
Not all books need to teach some profound moral lesson, but for a book dealing with such a dark topic about a very serious issue that is often overlooked (female pedophilia is overlooked compared to their male counterpart), I personally feel like it would only have made sense for it to provide at least some insight and responsible commentary on the subject matter and its real-life impacts. Otherwise, this book just feels like another thriller story made purely for the entertainment of readers, and deriving empty entertainment out of a book that goes into all sorts of grotesque detail on the sexual abuse of children just feels wrong to me.
Some other minor thoughts:
Janet was a wasted character. It feels like the author had initially built her up for some important plot device, but then ended up pretty much discarding that idea and ended up making her an insignificant character in the end.
I had also expected the story to move towards a more chaotic direction where the main character descends into a murderous spree (and maybe end up having the consequences of her actions catch up to her in a horrifying or even fatal way). This is only because the author kept sprinkling hints of the main character's potential murderous proclivities throughout the book. It felt like
ghost_rider's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
lilays43's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Extremely disturbing
taylorann512's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
chuckyinspace's review
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Blood, Stalking, Cursing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug abuse
Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Police brutality, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Bullying
maggiesasha's review
4.0
second most disturbing book I've read, after American Psycho. The writing is great. The ending was a bit rushed though.
hauntingcare's review
4.0
Alissa Nutting crafted such a unique and precise voice for Celeste, and went above and beyond in writing this gnarly, visceral and quickly escalating story. Brilliant and revolting.
grlmama5's review against another edition
1.0
I can’t keep reading.
This is just too wrong and gives me such grossed out feelings. Her thoughts, her planning it all. Ick ick
There aren’t many books I quit reading before finishing but this is the first in a long time. Nope. Nope.
This is just too wrong and gives me such grossed out feelings. Her thoughts, her planning it all. Ick ick
There aren’t many books I quit reading before finishing but this is the first in a long time. Nope. Nope.
brazilianbookworm's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was my first banned book I have ever read. It was difficult for me to get through the way the main characters mind works. She has some seriously gross thoughts, and it honestly triggered me a couple times, having been molested as a child myself. Of course I went into this book fully knowing the triggers, so that is my own decision. I can’t bring myself to give this a 5 star read simply because it unsettled me so much but maybe just that should be enough to give it 5 stars.
Do not read this if you cannot handle the darkness of humanity.
Do not read this if you cannot handle the darkness of humanity.
inlandempire's review
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0