I read this book early in the summer. It was one of my first books of a long list of books to be read. This book is a light read, ie. it is not Chaucer, Hardy or Hemingway. The content of the book, however, can be heavy, and even disturbing mentally. Some may say this book is for women, but its a great book with insight into depression and a stage a three clinger type situation (watch "The Wedding Crashers" for reference).
I actually wrote a lot of notes while reading the book, to put down thoughts, mark my favorite lines, and to mark tactics in the writing itself. I promise I read for leisure but note writing makes it even funner for me. Some stuff here maybe straight from my notes.
The books starts off as "point of view" from various characters. It's from the point of view of the main character Rachel. Over the course of the book I feel the main character changes. The books chapters are dated and timed, which is a very important part of the mystery, so pay close attention to those. The nice part is you can always go back and check the chapters.
A few things I tried to pay attention to apart from the dates, were the stations, towns and neighborhoods mentioned in the book as the mystery of it all unravels around these details. As the story unravels we understand that our Rachel who we are forced to side with due to her being the protagonist at this point and only being able to see her point of view, is a lonely heart broken lady who is having the hardest time getting over her divorce. She does see it being very one sided, such as she was the victim of a cheating man. The man who took everything from her, and left her with nothing.
She is the very broken hero of this story. Someone we love to hate, but also can understand her pains. She drinks a lot and is very morbid. The only thing that keeps her going is imagining the lives of her old neighbors who she does not know. She enjoys day dreaming of their perfect lives. Eventually she mentions Sylvia Plath and how she had to deal with a cheating husband, which eventually led her to put her head in an oven, and then her husbands' mistress ended up doing the same. (This later piqued my interest to read Plath). As you can imagine there are heavy psychological undertones to this.
We later get insight into other female characters' points of view. We learn, just as in our lives, other people have as complex relationships due to insecurities, and preconceived notions. We get an in-depth look into this monstrosity that can sometimes envelope us while we are with our nearest and dearest ones. We get to see the inner workings of the minds of three women so intertwined, without a few of them not even realizing it.
Why do I think this book is relevant: In a world where relationships are changing dynamically with the times this book gives us insight into our minds. Also into various degrees of mental illness, we can see how depression can effect people. This book does touch beyond depression, borderline, narcissistic and other personality/ behavioral disorders. Though fascinating it is a problem very real to many, and we need to help rather than term them as loony. So that is my case for relevance.
This book if not entertaining it was a true ride. Fast paced, a book you can not put down, a thriller, a mystery that will have you sweating and cursing the characters involved. Right after which there maybe a few other books you may be interested in reading.
Plot: 7/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Thought Provoking: 9/10
Recommend: 10/10
I actually wrote a lot of notes while reading the book, to put down thoughts, mark my favorite lines, and to mark tactics in the writing itself. I promise I read for leisure but note writing makes it even funner for me. Some stuff here maybe straight from my notes.
The books starts off as "point of view" from various characters. It's from the point of view of the main character Rachel. Over the course of the book I feel the main character changes. The books chapters are dated and timed, which is a very important part of the mystery, so pay close attention to those. The nice part is you can always go back and check the chapters.
A few things I tried to pay attention to apart from the dates, were the stations, towns and neighborhoods mentioned in the book as the mystery of it all unravels around these details. As the story unravels we understand that our Rachel who we are forced to side with due to her being the protagonist at this point and only being able to see her point of view, is a lonely heart broken lady who is having the hardest time getting over her divorce. She does see it being very one sided, such as she was the victim of a cheating man. The man who took everything from her, and left her with nothing.
She is the very broken hero of this story. Someone we love to hate, but also can understand her pains. She drinks a lot and is very morbid. The only thing that keeps her going is imagining the lives of her old neighbors who she does not know. She enjoys day dreaming of their perfect lives. Eventually she mentions Sylvia Plath and how she had to deal with a cheating husband, which eventually led her to put her head in an oven, and then her husbands' mistress ended up doing the same. (This later piqued my interest to read Plath). As you can imagine there are heavy psychological undertones to this.
We later get insight into other female characters' points of view. We learn, just as in our lives, other people have as complex relationships due to insecurities, and preconceived notions. We get an in-depth look into this monstrosity that can sometimes envelope us while we are with our nearest and dearest ones. We get to see the inner workings of the minds of three women so intertwined, without a few of them not even realizing it.
Why do I think this book is relevant: In a world where relationships are changing dynamically with the times this book gives us insight into our minds. Also into various degrees of mental illness, we can see how depression can effect people. This book does touch beyond depression, borderline, narcissistic and other personality/ behavioral disorders. Though fascinating it is a problem very real to many, and we need to help rather than term them as loony. So that is my case for relevance.
This book if not entertaining it was a true ride. Fast paced, a book you can not put down, a thriller, a mystery that will have you sweating and cursing the characters involved. Right after which there maybe a few other books you may be interested in reading.
Plot: 7/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Thought Provoking: 9/10
Recommend: 10/10
