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erinkolb's review against another edition
2.0
I have to give a book talk for one of my courses ... something in the thriller genre. Booklist says, "A mixture of The Lovely Bones and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." We shall see ...
And this review nails my feelings about the book:
http://www.theyorker.co.uk/arts/artand%20literature/literature/13004
And this review nails my feelings about the book:
http://www.theyorker.co.uk/arts/artand%20literature/literature/13004
skynet666's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book that I got off the NEW shelf at the library, but I had also seen a review of it in a magazine. I don't think I would recommned this book to anyone because it's not easy to read and you'll either love it or hate it. I had a hard time deciding whether this was a 2 or 4 star book, which has never happened to me. I think the second half of the book is what makes it a 4, but then I just read a review in which the read complained about how she felt micromanaged by the author into a certain state of mind by the end of the book - similar to being manipulated into viewing the story in a certain way. Well, I suppose that I agree with her, but while she thought it was annoying, I thought it was an interesting way to present the story. And as you'll see in many of the reviews, this is definitely a thought-provoking novel.
vegantrav's review against another edition
4.0
Of the new books published this year, Cara Hoffman's So Much Pretty is my favorite (so far).
As So Much Pretty begins, we learn that a young woman, Wendy White, has been murdered. There are also some initial clues that a high school girl, Alice Piper, is in some sort of trouble, and it seems to be connected, with Wendy's murder.
The novel then jumps back and forth through time, telling us about Alice's parents and their early years together as well as the present time, just after the murder, and the intervening years. We meet all the key characters in the story and learn their history with a primary focus on Alice and on the local newspaper reporter/editor, Flynn, and Wendy's background also receives a good deal of consideration, though not as much as Alice and Flynn. These three women are the focus of the story.
This is a suspense story where the tension builds really rather slowly, but after about 200 pages, I was completely hooked, and when the major turning point of the novel finally begins (where we, at last, learn what the trouble with Alice is), I was completely stunned: I did not at all see this turn of events coming, and I really don't think most readers will either, yet it fits perfectly with the narrative logic. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say what this event is here, but I think most readers will be shocked not only by the event but also its aftermath.
This is a great mystery story with some really fascinating characters and a fabulous ending. I highly recommend it.
****SPOILER ALERT****
Okay, so the event to which I was referring above is Alice's mass murder of seven of her male high school classmates who were responsible for the rape and murder of Wendy. (While these boys did not carry out the murder, they had raped Wendy and could have intervened to save her from being murdered had they wanted to do so.) Alice carries out the murders in Columbine-like fashion at her high school, gunning the boys down methodically, and she pulls it off in such a fashion that there is no solid evidence that she is the murderer, though she is the prime suspect and is arrested. From the narrative trajectory, it appears that Alice will go to trial and likely be acquitted due to insufficient evidence, but before that happens, Alice successfully escapes from a hospital after faking a suicide attempt and flees from her home in upstate New York to start a new life in California.
As So Much Pretty begins, we learn that a young woman, Wendy White, has been murdered. There are also some initial clues that a high school girl, Alice Piper, is in some sort of trouble, and it seems to be connected, with Wendy's murder.
The novel then jumps back and forth through time, telling us about Alice's parents and their early years together as well as the present time, just after the murder, and the intervening years. We meet all the key characters in the story and learn their history with a primary focus on Alice and on the local newspaper reporter/editor, Flynn, and Wendy's background also receives a good deal of consideration, though not as much as Alice and Flynn. These three women are the focus of the story.
This is a suspense story where the tension builds really rather slowly, but after about 200 pages, I was completely hooked, and when the major turning point of the novel finally begins (where we, at last, learn what the trouble with Alice is), I was completely stunned: I did not at all see this turn of events coming, and I really don't think most readers will either, yet it fits perfectly with the narrative logic. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say what this event is here, but I think most readers will be shocked not only by the event but also its aftermath.
This is a great mystery story with some really fascinating characters and a fabulous ending. I highly recommend it.
****SPOILER ALERT****
Okay, so the event to which I was referring above is Alice's mass murder of seven of her male high school classmates who were responsible for the rape and murder of Wendy. (While these boys did not carry out the murder, they had raped Wendy and could have intervened to save her from being murdered had they wanted to do so.) Alice carries out the murders in Columbine-like fashion at her high school, gunning the boys down methodically, and she pulls it off in such a fashion that there is no solid evidence that she is the murderer, though she is the prime suspect and is arrested. From the narrative trajectory, it appears that Alice will go to trial and likely be acquitted due to insufficient evidence, but before that happens, Alice successfully escapes from a hospital after faking a suicide attempt and flees from her home in upstate New York to start a new life in California.
lystlyss's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Gun violence
amandae129's review against another edition
2.0
While I like the idea of what the author was trying to say, i.e. the social commentary of the book, the implementation was a problem. Between constantly switching narrators, years and points of view (is there a point to switching "narrators" if most of the chapters are in 3rd person? Was this just so you could have random 1st person narration by Alice?), it was confusing to follow along. For a contemporary American novel, I do not feel I should have to make a timeline and character list to understand a book. If you want something of comparable social commentary, but better written, I recommend "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo".
meme_too2's review against another edition
1.0
This book ran like a court case, witnesses telling what they saw, step by step reveal of the murder. I didn't particularly like that style of writing. Besides that it was pretty disturbing.
jmj697mn's review against another edition
1.0
This book was too f***ing weird. I didn't understand half of the political garbage & the ending didn't even seem plausible. I almost quit reading after the first 50 pages and I SO should have. I only finished it because I wanted to know what happened to Wendy & you never even really find out. Yikes.
acacia_happy_hour's review against another edition
5.0
This was manic, engaging, and well worth the read, but prepare to be disturbed.
liketheday's review against another edition
4.0
Basically, the reader knows absolutely nothing about this something bad that happened for, oh, the first half of the book. And then? Well, then the reader knows what the bad thing is that has happened, but not why or how it relates to all these other narrators' story lines that have been woven in and these weird police evidence report things and strange interviews with people that make no sense until they start making sense and then the reader sees what's coming and is like, "Oh, hell," but there's no stopping it now. Well, that's how I saw it, anyway.
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