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ecaps's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Having read both The Silent Patient and The Maidens by the author I had high expectations. And boy were those met?! Thoroughly. Full Disclaimer not everyone likes how the author tries to make everyone a red herring and confuses you until the very end but I thoroughly enjoy it. It’s the Agatha Christie way of writing is what I call it :)
The story knows when to reveal what and the narrator is speaking to the audience directly so the fourth wall breaking style of writing is also something I enjoy.
Yays;
1. Fast paced, short chapters, every chapter kinda ends in a cliffhanger. If a story manages to pull me into the pages and zone out of my surroundings and zone into the plot like I used to back when I was a kid then it’s hands down a good read
2. The plot is like a whole maze that it makes you doubt your own mind, tons of plot twists and revelations BUT it is fairly easy to grasp the story which is a yay for me.
3. I love how the author has made the characters very dramatic. It might be corny for some people but I love it. It’s like those old classics, passionate, expressive and shocking.
Naahs;
1. I was not completely happy with the ending
2. Idk if this is a Naah but the story and characters aroused so many emotions in me that I still don’t know who I was rooting for at the end.
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
born_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cursing
maryconney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
kelisabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
justagir1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Blood, Acephobia/Arophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Self harm, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism
lanternheart's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The conceit of this book very much, at turns, reminded me of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, with the first-person retrospective of a narrator telling us their increasingly twisted, increasingly murderous, tale. Like Tartt's Richard Papen, Elliott Chase is a manufactured man of sorts, a desperate outsider to a world of privilege (here, Hollywood and the London theater scene, in TSH an elite group of students) and insularity that the desperate, painfully lonely child within the narrator seeks to become a part of at any cost.
Where the books diverge is the sheer number of twists, and the sheer Machiavellian ways that Elliott Chase, as The Fury continues, twists from semi-sympathetic narrator, gathering the reader to a story, to villain as the realization hits that he
As much as Elliott tells us he loves Lana, it's clear that his own attitude, his own belief that the others in his life he can orchestrate to make them love him, because he believes it will end in love, is folly of the utmost, a quest for self-fulfillment in a way that made me, as a reader, question everyone he says he loves. Of course, some of his affections felt genuine, but how much was this always about Lana herself? How much, in the end, as he describes himself having
Elliott's near-fatal mistake is believing that he, like the novel itself, like the structure of it, holds all the power: that the people in his life are characters whom he can control. When he tries, in his own narration, to want to "interrupt them—to say, No, no, you're not meant to be saying that and This shouldn't be happening. But it was happening," he all too late realizes the sheer unpredictability of others, and in turn the sheer unpredictability of himself, embodied by the furious island winds into murdering the woman he thought he'd loved in cold, furious blood.
Needless to say, this was a gripping, disturbing, and deeply fascinating read that will doubtlessly offer a fruitful future reread which, despite my discomfort with Elliott as a narrator (the further you go, the less likeable he is), will likely propel me to return again, knowing all the twists, to see the eventual tragic ending. Like a good play, I have a feeling you could read this book more than once, see it more than once, and pick up something new each time.
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Vomit
mylittlehappynook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Author: Alex Michaelides
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: January 16, 2024
T H R E E • W O R D S
Atmospheric • Clever • Dynamic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.
I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.
We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The Fury is my second book from author Alex Michaelides (skipped The Maidens due to Greek Mythology focus) and I knew to expect something clever and different than your run-of-the-mill thriller. And that is exactly what this is.
The story itself is fairly forgettable, with typical tropes and elements often used in other locked room mysteries. But what makes this book stand out are the narrator, Elliot Chase, and the brilliant structure. Told in the form of a play, with quick, short chapters, it was like sitting down and being told a juicy story as Elliot was speaking directly to the reader. On the surface it's a story of deception and revenge, but when digging a little deeper it's a love story.
Reminiscent of a Greek tragedy, Alex Michaelides has skillfully delivered one of the most unreliable narrators I have yet to come across in my reading life. The story isn't the strength of this book rather its the telling. I still prefer The Silent Patient, yet the author definitely has a gift in writing clever books. I am intrigued to see what he will do next.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• unreliable narrators
• murder mysteries
⚠️ CW: murder, gun violence, death, alcohol, drug use, infidelity, bullying, toxic friendship, toxic relationship, blood, stalking, gaslighting, mental illness, alcoholism, child abuse, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts, cursing
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"In case I am speaking to a young person now, let me give you something to hold on to: do not despair at being different. For that very difference, initially such a source of shame, so humiliating, and painful, will one day become a badge of honor and pride."
"We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives."
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cursing and Suicidal thoughts
honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
kimveach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism