A review by paopuleaf
Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 WHAT A DERANGED ENDING TO THIS BOOK. I SAW IT COMING BUT CHRIST. i picked this one up on a whim after looking at a list of epistolary novels for a display at work, and almost put it down a couple entries in; decided not to, mostly because samantha is a flawed unreliable narrator to follow and i found that sort of interesting, and wanted to see if the autistic reading i was picking up from her was based in anything solid. didn’t bring anything new to the table and while some of the characters got depth, the rest felt as significantly one-dimensional as you might expect from the writing point-of-view of a white woman whose main canonical character flaw is “bad at paying attention to other people” – and i really, really wish that reay had managed to subvert that. and of course the “twist”. jesus christ the twist.

alex was deranged for leaving her on read for the entirety of the fall and then showing back up, asking to marry her (WITH THAT SPEECH???) and then the reveal that he was mr. knightley the whole time!! and knew everything she felt about him!! and DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING OR COMMIT TO CUTTING THAT RELATIONSHIP OFF!! THAT’S FREAK BEHAVIOR IN THE WORST WAY!! SAMANTHA KILL THIS CLOWN. WHAT IN THE GODDAMN.

anyway 2 stars. what a weird entry back into epistolary fiction.