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A review by shirley098
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Gratingly slow in the beginning, before picking up and getting interesting near the middle, before falling again a bit to shambles near the end. Cast of characters was overly large (three different POV characters; Tallulah teen, Kim mum, Sophie detective novel writer) most of them present to just move the plot, and no real development or sympathy for the key players. All in all, probably a skip in terms of Lisa Jewell's works. Does have the occasional interesting thought on young motherhood however, and was entertaining enough to keep me reading till the end.
Some memorable quotes:
'Things are happening. Painfully slowly, in some cases, I'll grant you that. But it just takes so long to get anything done these days with all the government cuts, and when it's a cold case, it takes even longer...'
When the bones are already icy cold, Kim thinks. When the blood is dried hard. When it's too late to save anyone.
Kim closes her eyes and nods. Men don't know, she thinks, they don't know how having a baby makes you protective of your skin, your body, your space. When you spend all day giving yourself to a baby in every way that it's possible to give yourself to another human being, the last thing you want at the end of the day is a grown man wanting you to give him things too. Men don't know how the touch of a hand against the back of your neck can feel like a request, not a gesture of love, how emotional issues become too cumbersome to deal with, how their love for you is too much sometimes, just too much. Kim sometimes thinks that women practice being mothers on men until they become actual mothers, leaving behind a kind of vacancy.
Some memorable quotes:
'Things are happening. Painfully slowly, in some cases, I'll grant you that. But it just takes so long to get anything done these days with all the government cuts, and when it's a cold case, it takes even longer...'
When the bones are already icy cold, Kim thinks. When the blood is dried hard. When it's too late to save anyone.
Kim closes her eyes and nods. Men don't know, she thinks, they don't know how having a baby makes you protective of your skin, your body, your space. When you spend all day giving yourself to a baby in every way that it's possible to give yourself to another human being, the last thing you want at the end of the day is a grown man wanting you to give him things too. Men don't know how the touch of a hand against the back of your neck can feel like a request, not a gesture of love, how emotional issues become too cumbersome to deal with, how their love for you is too much sometimes, just too much. Kim sometimes thinks that women practice being mothers on men until they become actual mothers, leaving behind a kind of vacancy.