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A review by maseface
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Second time reading this book. I reread it because the first time I read it I wasn't on Storygraph and I wanted to log it on this site.
Firstly this isn't a bad mystery. I remember reading it the first time not knowing where it was going. Reading it back the 2nd time most things still make sense and there's only a couple of things that are weird once you know the ending.
My main problems with this book are some issues. For one thing this book has a serious Madonna/Whore complex. All women in this book are either saintly mothers who only care about their children, or evil sexually promiscuous witches who hate children. The way how they talk about the latter is incredibly malicious. It's sad that this is written by a woman because these depictions are seriously outdated and need to change. Women characters should be so much more.
Speaking of outdated depictions this book's portrayal of mental health is pretty problematic. I'm not an expert on mental health and I only suffer from depression and anxiety. But I can tell this is terrible representation portraying mentally ill people as violent and dangerous.
This might be something I noticed on only my second readthrough but I despise Marco. What he puts his wife through is unforgivable? He knew his wife had depression and subjects to an absolutely nightmarish situation.
I'm going to be reading another Shari Lapena book soon. I hope the next one is better. It's more recent so maybe her depictions are slightly more empathetic.
Firstly this isn't a bad mystery. I remember reading it the first time not knowing where it was going. Reading it back the 2nd time most things still make sense and there's only a couple of things that are weird once you know the ending.
My main problems with this book are some issues. For one thing this book has a serious Madonna/Whore complex. All women in this book are either saintly mothers who only care about their children, or evil sexually promiscuous witches who hate children. The way how they talk about the latter is incredibly malicious. It's sad that this is written by a woman because these depictions are seriously outdated and need to change. Women characters should be so much more.
Speaking of outdated depictions this book's portrayal of mental health is pretty problematic. I'm not an expert on mental health and I only suffer from depression and anxiety. But I can tell this is terrible representation portraying mentally ill people as violent and dangerous.
I'm going to be reading another Shari Lapena book soon. I hope the next one is better. It's more recent so maybe her depictions are slightly more empathetic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Mental illness