Scan barcode
A review by brooke_review
Tell Me You're Mine by Elisabeth Norebäck
3.0
Psychotherapist Stella Widstrand's one year old daughter Alice was stolen from her stroller while the family was on vacation over 20 years ago. Or at least that is what Stella believes. In fact, she is the only person who is convinced this is what happened to Alice. Everyone else has accepted that Alice likely drowned in the ocean that fateful day. Her body was never found and the family even held a burial for her. But Stella is not convinced. She knows her baby is out there somewhere.
Stella's entire world is turned upside down one day when a patient named Isabelle walks into her office. Stella is convinced that Isabelle is her long-lost daughter, and she is determined to prove it all costs. But as Stella begins to behave more erratically in her efforts to convince the world that Isabelle is in fact her daughter, she gains a reputation as being someone whose perception of the world cannot be trusted. Is Isabelle really Stella's daughter, or has she just lost her mind?
Translated from its original Swedish, Elisabeth Noreback's Tell Me You're Mine is a long-winded psychological suspense novel told from the POVs of three women - that of Stella, Isabelle, and Isabelle's mother Kerstin. Noreback creates a tense atmosphere In Tell Me You're Mine as she showcases a woman spiraling out of control in an effort to prove that she is not crazy. Throughout the novel, Noreback makes it difficult to determine just who is telling the truth as the novel unravels. Is Isabelle really Stella's daughter, or is Kerstin being accused of a kidnapping that she didn't commit? And just why is Isabelle so angry and seeking therapy? What is really going on here?
Perhaps it is due to Tell Me You're Mine originally being written in Swedish, but much of the first two-thirds of the novel was lost in translation for me. I found the story line difficult to follow with much of it taking place in the characters' heads and constantly jumping around. The novel would have benefited from a tighter plotline, as it goes on and on without much development. There are also numerous Swedish locations mentioned throughout the novel, and being an American with no frame of reference, I was easily confused by the number of unfamiliar place names.
Overall, Tell Me You're Mine is not a bad novel, but it isn't an easy one either. The pace and development pick up in the last third of the book, making me wish that the rest of the novel had been similarly thrilling and consequential.
Stella's entire world is turned upside down one day when a patient named Isabelle walks into her office. Stella is convinced that Isabelle is her long-lost daughter, and she is determined to prove it all costs. But as Stella begins to behave more erratically in her efforts to convince the world that Isabelle is in fact her daughter, she gains a reputation as being someone whose perception of the world cannot be trusted. Is Isabelle really Stella's daughter, or has she just lost her mind?
Translated from its original Swedish, Elisabeth Noreback's Tell Me You're Mine is a long-winded psychological suspense novel told from the POVs of three women - that of Stella, Isabelle, and Isabelle's mother Kerstin. Noreback creates a tense atmosphere In Tell Me You're Mine as she showcases a woman spiraling out of control in an effort to prove that she is not crazy. Throughout the novel, Noreback makes it difficult to determine just who is telling the truth as the novel unravels. Is Isabelle really Stella's daughter, or is Kerstin being accused of a kidnapping that she didn't commit? And just why is Isabelle so angry and seeking therapy? What is really going on here?
Perhaps it is due to Tell Me You're Mine originally being written in Swedish, but much of the first two-thirds of the novel was lost in translation for me. I found the story line difficult to follow with much of it taking place in the characters' heads and constantly jumping around. The novel would have benefited from a tighter plotline, as it goes on and on without much development. There are also numerous Swedish locations mentioned throughout the novel, and being an American with no frame of reference, I was easily confused by the number of unfamiliar place names.
Overall, Tell Me You're Mine is not a bad novel, but it isn't an easy one either. The pace and development pick up in the last third of the book, making me wish that the rest of the novel had been similarly thrilling and consequential.