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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
I would say more of 2.5 stars. This was a book club read and not one of the normal types I would pick up. I feel this is the current popular genre of books along with "Girl On the Train", "Big Little Lies", and others like it..., I was right. I felt the build up took too long to get us answers and the ending was rushed to close it all up. I think the author could have given us a shorter build of information of what happened and gave us more of how it affected the relationships such as Bill (when and how did he come back), Mike with the kids, her mom... etc. The epilogue tried to tie up all these but I felt the journey to the answers would have been interesting to follow.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Decently fast paced, twists were mostly decent. Ending felt a little weird.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
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What You Did by Claire McGowan
Narrated by Pearl Hewitt and Karen Cass
Synopsis: Ali is thrilled to host all of her college friends for the first time since a terrible incident broke them apart years ago. The night starts great, until Aliโs best friend Karen stumbles inside late, hurt, accusing Aliโs husband Mike of rape. The accusation tests loyalties, trust, and begs the question - do you ever really know the people closest to you?
Going into this book, I definitely thought it was going to be more of a thriller. It ended up being a little bit more of an adult, contemporary drama. While it didnโt end up being exactly what I thought it was going to be, I still did enjoy the themes of touched on.
Ali is sort of a quasi-celebrity, having come into the spotlight after a televised debate with an anti-feminist influencer. She works for womenโs Resource Center helping place women in dangerous domestic and sexual situations in safe spaces. But when her best friend, accuses her husband of rape, she reverts back to all of the classic anti-feminist themes like her friend being too drunk, what she was wearing, and her past sexual exploits. This double standard causes a lot of issues in Aliโs life, including her relationship with her teenage daughter.
The author tried to tie what was happening in the present day two in event that occurred at Oxford, when the six friends were all in college of a murder. I really donโt think this piece of the story was necessary, and I think it caused the book to be longer than it needed to be, if that makes sense. But I do think that it showed the major changes in these people as they grew up, and showed the insecurities that we have as young adults somehow always blossom into issues in our adulthood, no matter how much time goes by, which I found compelling.
I didnโt love the ending of the book, and I felt like it was VERY rushed. But overall the themes of masculinity, feminism, rape culture, and adult friendships felt authentic and thought provoking. I give What You Did a 7/10 bubble baths.๐๐
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this one but I really couldn't. I hated every single character, which is a disappointment because the premise was really good and interesting.
All in all - good idea but a horrid execution.
Spoiler
I didn't care about the protagonist Ali - she is boring and just plain stupid sometimes. I didn't care about either of the victims- Karen or Mike, they were both scummy and I didn't care about either of them, and don't get me started about who the real killer and rapist was. He came out of nowhere, and his wife actually cleaning up after him and being the secret mastermind all along whilst he was just a horrid drunk who did stupid things because he was drunk and she kept cleaning after him to keep the perfect image of her family, that was boring and I didn't care about either of them getting any punishment.All in all - good idea but a horrid execution.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Wow
The events just have me thinking differently. I mean the people that's supposed to be there for you and love you is the ones that hurt you the most smh.
The events just have me thinking differently. I mean the people that's supposed to be there for you and love you is the ones that hurt you the most smh.
You can't really connect with any of the characters but I don't see it as a bad thing. These people are flawed, so flawed it makes you mad but I feel like it only shows the true nature of people.
Ali is preaching something but when she's put in position in which she has to decide whether to trust her accused husband or her best friend who got raped, she makes bad decisions that don't go along with her beliefs. I hated the fact that she didn't have her best friend's back and she wanted to keep her family intact when that was actually no longer possible.
Other characters are no better and the reveal made me sad a bit. Secrets that were hidden for so long, only to protect the idea of a life someone dreamed of and planned, only to discover that it was all for nothing. I feel like the message of this book should be: "Women, stick up for yourself, rely on yourselves and don't be afraid to be alone." If Jodi realised this earlier, this story wouldn't exist.
The writing was very smooth and I enjoyed it a lot. I also liked the different points of view and flasbacks from the past, it made the story much more dynamic.
Ali is preaching something but when she's put in position in which she has to decide whether to trust her accused husband or her best friend who got raped, she makes bad decisions that don't go along with her beliefs. I hated the fact that she didn't have her best friend's back and she wanted to keep her family intact when that was actually no longer possible.
Other characters are no better and the reveal made me sad a bit. Secrets that were hidden for so long, only to protect the idea of a life someone dreamed of and planned, only to discover that it was all for nothing. I feel like the message of this book should be: "Women, stick up for yourself, rely on yourselves and don't be afraid to be alone." If Jodi realised this earlier, this story wouldn't exist.
The writing was very smooth and I enjoyed it a lot. I also liked the different points of view and flasbacks from the past, it made the story much more dynamic.