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novelinsights 's review for:
Platform Seven
by Louise Doughty
While I really enjoyed this book, I want to make it clear up front that this really isn't much of a thriller, and it's 100% not a horror. While this book does revolve around death and crime, it's very slow and contemplative and is more about exploring individual characters and relationships than about trying to solve any sort of mystery. I would really say it's a contemporary story with a paranormal element and even a sort of literary feel. So, please go into it with those expectations, because if you like that sort of thing, it's a good book, and it's not necessarily the book's fault that it's being marketed incorrectly.
I mainly took a star off of this book because it takes a while to get into. When I first started reading, the voice felt a little too stiff for a first person novel, and it takes several chapters for anything to really start happening. Once it does get going, though, I appreciated the details given and the accuracy with which the book depicts an emotionally abusive relationship. As someone who has been in that position (albeit not nearly to the extreme depicted in the book), I found the thought process of the victim to be completely on point and relatable.
Another thing that I felt a little iffy about with this book was the way the narrator frequently commented on differences between men and women. While I'm fine with admitting there are differences to some extent, the stereotyping went a bit overboard at times, and I didn't find everything she was saying about women relatable. I think that, at least to an extent, the author was considering some things universally male or female traits when they are really based more on individual personality.
All that said, I really admired the author's writing style here. All the characters felt very three-dimensional, and she included lots of details in her description of each scene, which helped make everything feel that more real. I would be happy to read more of her work if it's all written like this.
I mainly took a star off of this book because it takes a while to get into. When I first started reading, the voice felt a little too stiff for a first person novel, and it takes several chapters for anything to really start happening. Once it does get going, though, I appreciated the details given and the accuracy with which the book depicts an emotionally abusive relationship. As someone who has been in that position (albeit not nearly to the extreme depicted in the book), I found the thought process of the victim to be completely on point and relatable.
Another thing that I felt a little iffy about with this book was the way the narrator frequently commented on differences between men and women. While I'm fine with admitting there are differences to some extent, the stereotyping went a bit overboard at times, and I didn't find everything she was saying about women relatable. I think that, at least to an extent, the author was considering some things universally male or female traits when they are really based more on individual personality.
All that said, I really admired the author's writing style here. All the characters felt very three-dimensional, and she included lots of details in her description of each scene, which helped make everything feel that more real. I would be happy to read more of her work if it's all written like this.