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A review by infinite_tbr
The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando
1.0
Yikes. I should have made this a DNF but it was short and I was at work with nothing better to do.
I'm not convinced there was really a plot in this book. Things just jumped from one thing to another. I also wouldn't really consider it a mystery or thriller. Considering the blurb on the front calls it "a taut, evocative thriller that's surprising to the last page", there was a bit of a disconnect between my expectations and what I actually read.
Okay, the premise is that Natalie's boyfriend died in a car accident 10 months before as he was driving to her house. Now, her parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise to celebrate Natalie's birthday and hopefully get her to feel better about everything. The first night of the cruise, she meets a mysterious guy who she later begins to think may have fallen overboard. Her suspicions seem reasonable when the captain calls for a headcount.
Here's the thing, this book was just not good. Natalie was an annoying character to read and all of the so-called-twists, I saw coming. Turns out the guy she met (Ray) has a twin and Ray is actually a bit crazy. Natalie does start to get over herself and her ex, which is good. But then it turns out he was cheating with one of the friends also on the cruise. Okay, fine I can deal with some teenage drama. It was annoying, but whatever if it drives the plot along. It didn't drive the plot along.
In the end we somehow end up with a "twist" that seems pretty lame considering how the story was all over the place. Spoiler alert for the end: Natalie's boyfriend died because Ray heard he was cheating and hypnotized him. So after spending the last 50 pages having Natalie decide that hypnosis isn't real (it didn't work on her), we find out that it is? It really didn't make narrative sense. Also, there is such a thing as trying to hard to tie up loose ends. Not once did I really wonder what caused the boyfriend's accident. Part of my disinterest was that Natalie didn't really care. And then there's the fact where it happened almost a year before the events of the book so it's old news and I don't care.
As for the "mystery" on the cruise ship? That's figured out half-way into the book. Ray threw an inflatable doll over the edge and made people think it was a person. We don't know why this happened until a bit later on, but I honestly didn't really care why he did it.
Finally, Natalie and her friends have all been given an assignment by their film teacher. (Natalie is a big Hitchcock fan so the entire book is filled with Hitchcock references.) They have to each make a two-line film while on the cruise. Natalie spends half the book daydreaming (brainstorming involves more brainpower than anything she did) up the scripts of her film. Half the time, the scripts fill us in on the events happening with/around her. The other half, they're just imagined scenarios. Rather than making me think Natalie was cool or something, these scripts typically had me rolling my eyes.
Overall, I found this book highly predictable, random, and not that well written. I would not recommend this to anyone. Also, I'm pretty sure this book doesn't pass the Bechdel test even though the characters mention the Bechdel test!
I'm not convinced there was really a plot in this book. Things just jumped from one thing to another. I also wouldn't really consider it a mystery or thriller. Considering the blurb on the front calls it "a taut, evocative thriller that's surprising to the last page", there was a bit of a disconnect between my expectations and what I actually read.
Okay, the premise is that Natalie's boyfriend died in a car accident 10 months before as he was driving to her house. Now, her parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise to celebrate Natalie's birthday and hopefully get her to feel better about everything. The first night of the cruise, she meets a mysterious guy who she later begins to think may have fallen overboard. Her suspicions seem reasonable when the captain calls for a headcount.
Here's the thing, this book was just not good. Natalie was an annoying character to read and all of the so-called-twists, I saw coming. Turns out the guy she met (Ray) has a twin and Ray is actually a bit crazy. Natalie does start to get over herself and her ex, which is good. But then it turns out he was cheating with one of the friends also on the cruise. Okay, fine I can deal with some teenage drama. It was annoying, but whatever if it drives the plot along. It didn't drive the plot along.
In the end we somehow end up with a "twist" that seems pretty lame considering how the story was all over the place. Spoiler alert for the end: Natalie's boyfriend died because Ray heard he was cheating and hypnotized him. So after spending the last 50 pages having Natalie decide that hypnosis isn't real (it didn't work on her), we find out that it is? It really didn't make narrative sense. Also, there is such a thing as trying to hard to tie up loose ends. Not once did I really wonder what caused the boyfriend's accident. Part of my disinterest was that Natalie didn't really care. And then there's the fact where it happened almost a year before the events of the book so it's old news and I don't care.
As for the "mystery" on the cruise ship? That's figured out half-way into the book. Ray threw an inflatable doll over the edge and made people think it was a person. We don't know why this happened until a bit later on, but I honestly didn't really care why he did it.
Finally, Natalie and her friends have all been given an assignment by their film teacher. (Natalie is a big Hitchcock fan so the entire book is filled with Hitchcock references.) They have to each make a two-line film while on the cruise. Natalie spends half the book daydreaming (brainstorming involves more brainpower than anything she did) up the scripts of her film. Half the time, the scripts fill us in on the events happening with/around her. The other half, they're just imagined scenarios. Rather than making me think Natalie was cool or something, these scripts typically had me rolling my eyes.
Overall, I found this book highly predictable, random, and not that well written. I would not recommend this to anyone. Also, I'm pretty sure this book doesn't pass the Bechdel test even though the characters mention the Bechdel test!