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A review by hollidayreadswithme
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
2.0
How should I begin?
I just finished this book and already forgot what the main character’s name was. Kit, I guess. I have so many issues with the characterization of all of the characters in this book.
Kit is a pushover. A giant freaking pushover. She keeps playing the victim and goes along with whatever Diane says because she envies her. Or because she has the world's lowest self esteem. There is this big secret that Diane tells Kit when they are seniors in high school and it severs their friendship because she is just not down with being friends with someone who does something like that. It’s hinted in the book what it is and the reveal is so ill-placed that I almost missed it.
Diane is the quintessential psycho. She is a product of her environment. Of parents who didn’t really want her. Does that turn into a crazy person? I don’t know. I don’t think so but Abbott wants you to think that. Diane is just unmistakably in charge of her own actions but acts like it’s not her fault. Nothing is ever her fault. She is so oddly managed. She’s all together and then she’s falling apart. She can’t move and then she’s got all this energy.
Their relationship literally makes no sense. Unless Diane has a big fat lesbian crush on her, but that’s not the case. It’s heavily hinted at but not confirmed.
The other issue that I had with this book was that Kit’s internal thoughts are just kind of ridiculous. She just goes on and on and it takes up so much space in the narrative, her making assumptions about people and about Diane and what’s she thinking. For someone so brilliant, she’s really stupid.
The book was also way too long for the overall plot, even the last page felt like I had to just be like “why”. There was nothing there except the full circle meaning of the title. Which at that point I didn’t care about. It should have stopped at the last twist.
I originally gave this a three star ebavsue the premise had potential but I’m going to rate it for the book that it was and not what I hoped it would be.
2 / 5 stars.
I just finished this book and already forgot what the main character’s name was. Kit, I guess. I have so many issues with the characterization of all of the characters in this book.
Kit is a pushover. A giant freaking pushover. She keeps playing the victim and goes along with whatever Diane says because she envies her. Or because she has the world's lowest self esteem. There is this big secret that Diane tells Kit when they are seniors in high school and it severs their friendship because she is just not down with being friends with someone who does something like that. It’s hinted in the book what it is and the reveal is so ill-placed that I almost missed it.
Diane is the quintessential psycho. She is a product of her environment. Of parents who didn’t really want her. Does that turn into a crazy person? I don’t know. I don’t think so but Abbott wants you to think that. Diane is just unmistakably in charge of her own actions but acts like it’s not her fault. Nothing is ever her fault. She is so oddly managed. She’s all together and then she’s falling apart. She can’t move and then she’s got all this energy.
Their relationship literally makes no sense. Unless Diane has a big fat lesbian crush on her, but that’s not the case. It’s heavily hinted at but not confirmed.
The other issue that I had with this book was that Kit’s internal thoughts are just kind of ridiculous. She just goes on and on and it takes up so much space in the narrative, her making assumptions about people and about Diane and what’s she thinking. For someone so brilliant, she’s really stupid.
The book was also way too long for the overall plot, even the last page felt like I had to just be like “why”. There was nothing there except the full circle meaning of the title. Which at that point I didn’t care about. It should have stopped at the last twist.
I originally gave this a three star ebavsue the premise had potential but I’m going to rate it for the book that it was and not what I hoped it would be.
2 / 5 stars.