A review by katie_lacour
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
3.25
A sapphic thriller/horror.
The beginning and middle were the best. The end felt too rushed and not well flushed out.
I think the author wanted us to dislike Alex as a morally grey and weak character, but her (sort of?) change to a strong and empowered character at the end felt false and unbelievable. While Alex supposedly acts heroically, at the end it still seems like she is hung up on Roza. She thinks she is choosing herself, but at the end, it seems like she cannot continue her writing without Roza. If Alex is partially crazy too and goes off with Roza at the end, that would make more sense. Alex being weak and ending up with Wren also makes sense. But Alex being “strong” on her own but not being able to write without the validation of Roza just isn’t believable to me. I think the author, as a practicing therapists, was trying to display the complexities of human nature through Alex, but it fell a little flat.
I also thought it was weird how Alex finally realized she is queer after realizing her inter course in the basement wasn’t imagined, but for someone who is in her head so much and overthinks a lot, she never once readdresses it or talks to Taylor about it.
Roza getting away and just lurking behind the scenes was somewhat of a boring ending. I would have preferred her to have some sort of involvement with Alex, gone to jail/escaped, or escaped only to target women in other ways, even if not through writing. I feel like Roza’s tendencies wouldn’t just end, and her urge to act the way she does would still have consequences. While perhaps the author just chose not to show or hint about this, I think it would have made the book better if she had.
Some of the deaths felt unnecessary, and other reveals felt half-hearted or rushed through. I think the premise was good, and the sapphic thriller really kept me on my toes, but it should have been more developed. There were definitely some unhinged parts, but from what I’ve read some people thing the whole books is unhinged which so would disagree with. Some parts shocked me but for the most part it felt in line with other media I’ve consumed such as criminal minds or Lucy foley’s books. I felt like the author wanted to address too many themes: racism, lesbophobia, sadomasochism, self confidence, the supernatural, non-consensual drugging, and more that she ultimately spread herself too thin to fully address any one like she should have. There were so many “doors” she opened without pursuing that I spent some parts of my time reading just wondering if she was going to go down one path or a next or if she just wanted to sweep it under the rug after using it for a shock factor. Also as a therapist I feel like the author really failed to acknowledge that the main character was sexually assaulted due to her inability to consent to a sexual interaction while being drugged. Not only should this have been addressed, but the lack of a trigger warning in a book WRITTEN BY A THERAPIST is WILD!!!
The beginning and middle were the best. The end felt too rushed and not well flushed out.
I think the author wanted us to dislike Alex as a morally grey and weak character, but her (sort of?) change to a strong and empowered character at the end felt false and unbelievable. While Alex supposedly acts heroically, at the end it still seems like she is hung up on Roza. She thinks she is choosing herself, but at the end, it seems like she cannot continue her writing without Roza. If Alex is partially crazy too and goes off with Roza at the end, that would make more sense. Alex being weak and ending up with Wren also makes sense. But Alex being “strong” on her own but not being able to write without the validation of Roza just isn’t believable to me. I think the author, as a practicing therapists, was trying to display the complexities of human nature through Alex, but it fell a little flat.
I also thought it was weird how Alex finally realized she is queer after realizing her inter course in the basement wasn’t imagined, but for someone who is in her head so much and overthinks a lot, she never once readdresses it or talks to Taylor about it.
Roza getting away and just lurking behind the scenes was somewhat of a boring ending. I would have preferred her to have some sort of involvement with Alex, gone to jail/escaped, or escaped only to target women in other ways, even if not through writing. I feel like Roza’s tendencies wouldn’t just end, and her urge to act the way she does would still have consequences. While perhaps the author just chose not to show or hint about this, I think it would have made the book better if she had.
Some of the deaths felt unnecessary, and other reveals felt half-hearted or rushed through. I think the premise was good, and the sapphic thriller really kept me on my toes, but it should have been more developed. There were definitely some unhinged parts, but from what I’ve read some people thing the whole books is unhinged which so would disagree with. Some parts shocked me but for the most part it felt in line with other media I’ve consumed such as criminal minds or Lucy foley’s books. I felt like the author wanted to address too many themes: racism, lesbophobia, sadomasochism, self confidence, the supernatural, non-consensual drugging, and more that she ultimately spread herself too thin to fully address any one like she should have. There were so many “doors” she opened without pursuing that I spent some parts of my time reading just wondering if she was going to go down one path or a next or if she just wanted to sweep it under the rug after using it for a shock factor. Also as a therapist I feel like the author really failed to acknowledge that the main character was sexually assaulted due to her inability to consent to a sexual interaction while being drugged. Not only should this have been addressed, but the lack of a trigger warning in a book WRITTEN BY A THERAPIST is WILD!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Confinement, Racism, Drug use, Blood, and Murder