Okay. I was promised something Gone Girl-esque. It was compared to Curtis Sittenfeld books- perhaps not the most intellectual topics, but nicely written and complex and interesting, with no super extraneous information or weird detailing. I mean- Reese Witherspoon said I should read it! (Elle Woods has so rarely steered me wrong, and I’ll spare the names of any friends who suggested I read this book.)
I guess there was nothing inherently wrong with it- it was just…predictable. I could anticipate most of the “twists”, which were fairly inelegantly presented. Even the one or two surprises trudged along, unraveling to the point that they were no longer surprises when the ultimate payoff came about. The characters became caricatures as quickly as they were introduced, and it reminded me of The Knockoff in its reverence for Manhattan by way of needless name dropping. Some authors can artfully make New York a character rather than a backdrop; too many people try to bring the city to the forefront only to have it fall flat. This book falls into the latter category.
It was also hard to read about a school tragedy without recalling the gripping nature of Columbine. Though I’m comparing fiction and non-fiction, learning about the reality of the actual incident and then reading a rather juvenile description of (spoiler alert?) an attack on a high school was hard to reconcile. While it’s not the author’s fault that the gruesome reality is more compelling than an imagined event, it was hard to really dive into it.
I heard myself saying more than once in the past week that this book might be appealing to a reader who doesn’t feel a need to dissect and compare, that I find myself disappointed when I read a less-than-stellar book because of how many great ones are out there that I’m not reading. Yet again, it’s a fine escape read- the kind of book you can lazily float through at the end of summer- but there are way better ways to spend your time.
You’ll like this if: you like being lied to by Reese Witherspoon, I guess. If you want a sort of lazy and predictable book with a little mystery, this might be a good option.
Happy reading!
carlyreads 