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A review by readbydanni
The Susan Effect by Peter Høeg
2.0
The Susan Effect is a long-winded, confusing story of Susan; a woman with a special ability that makes people be completely honest and open with her. When people fall under "The Effect", they feel compelled to tell Susan things about themselves; things they've never told anyone else, secrets and their true feelings. Over the years Susan has learned to exploit her ability to build the life she wants for herself and her family. Her husband Laban has his own "ability" that he can combine with Susan's "effect" to allow them both to manipulate people. Susan and Laban have twin teenager children; daughter Thit and son Harald. As a family unit, they hone their abilities as one.
My first issue with this book is that absolutely none of the characters are likeable or relate-able. Susan especially is an awful character. I think she is meant to be strong and fiercely independent but she is just awful. Selfish and manipulative, she treats everyone as if they are beneath her - the part about what she said to her children's fellow nursery parents infuriated me. She uses men for her own sexual gratification and offers her husband no affection or attention. They talk about divorce multiple times but don't seem to actually have any intention of doing it. Their entire family dynamic is odd and unbelievable.
The abilities of the family as a unit are confusing and don't seem to make sense. All this talk of "turning left" ... what!?!! I understood what Susan's ability was but felt that the ability of Laban and the children was made overly complex and I couldn't really grasp what they were trying to achieve.
The plot of the book is unbelievable and not in a good way. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else wanting to read the book but when I finally finished it (after almost giving up on it 4/5 times!) I felt that about 75% of the book was completely pointless unrelated filler. When you look at what exactly happened and the reasons why things happened, I couldn't help but look at it like that. If the 75% was valuable plot lines or backstory then I'm sure they would've contributed and made the book more enjoyable but I just found it dull, boring nonsense that I was tempted to skim-read.
This review seems so harsh and I really don't like being so negative and mean but this is not an enjoyable book for me. It's unnecessarily complicated, long-winded and unbelievable on so many different levels that I could not get into it at all.
I gave The Susan Effect 2 stars because while I didn't enjoy it, the secret reason for everything in the book (I feel) does actually have the potential to happen. This could've been a much better book but I was frustrated and annoyed by a book that just wasn't enjoyable.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
My first issue with this book is that absolutely none of the characters are likeable or relate-able. Susan especially is an awful character. I think she is meant to be strong and fiercely independent but she is just awful. Selfish and manipulative, she treats everyone as if they are beneath her - the part about what she said to her children's fellow nursery parents infuriated me. She uses men for her own sexual gratification and offers her husband no affection or attention. They talk about divorce multiple times but don't seem to actually have any intention of doing it. Their entire family dynamic is odd and unbelievable.
The abilities of the family as a unit are confusing and don't seem to make sense. All this talk of "turning left" ... what!?!! I understood what Susan's ability was but felt that the ability of Laban and the children was made overly complex and I couldn't really grasp what they were trying to achieve.
The plot of the book is unbelievable and not in a good way. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else wanting to read the book but when I finally finished it (after almost giving up on it 4/5 times!) I felt that about 75% of the book was completely pointless unrelated filler. When you look at what exactly happened and the reasons why things happened, I couldn't help but look at it like that. If the 75% was valuable plot lines or backstory then I'm sure they would've contributed and made the book more enjoyable but I just found it dull, boring nonsense that I was tempted to skim-read.
This review seems so harsh and I really don't like being so negative and mean but this is not an enjoyable book for me. It's unnecessarily complicated, long-winded and unbelievable on so many different levels that I could not get into it at all.
I gave The Susan Effect 2 stars because while I didn't enjoy it, the secret reason for everything in the book (I feel) does actually have the potential to happen. This could've been a much better book but I was frustrated and annoyed by a book that just wasn't enjoyable.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.