A review by sanmeow
The Secret Talker by Geling Yan
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the secret talker is a story that follows hongmei, a woman living an uneventful life with her husband. she suddenly starts getting strange emails from a stalker who seems to know everything about her daily life. to protect herself, hongmei starts trying to find out the secrets of her stalker.
i think hongmei is a great lead for this specific story. she's pretty quiet and doesn't draw attention to herself throughout her everyday life. so it is definitely interesting to see how someone who isn't used to the spotlight (of any kind) reacts when faced with a stalker. hongmei is forced to dive deeper into her own past and she gets to know herself better in a bizarre way.
she also forms a peculiar sort of relationship with her stalker - she starts telling them more about herself because it feels freeing to do it when you're emailing someone like that. what hongmei does with her stalker is kind of the opposite of her life with her husband so it's understandable that she struggles with her identity. she's wondering whether she wants things to change and be more exciting or not, and that can be terrifying for sure.
the scary part of this novel isn't as much the stalker as it is hongmei's internal struggle. that's why i think the summary of this book as you can see on many websites can be misleading - it's not a typical stalker 'game of cat and mouse' thriller.
i still enjoyed it, though i think the pacing could've been way better. it did get a little repetitive at times. the writing style was quite good, nothing impressive, but i liked it.
i think hongmei is a great lead for this specific story. she's pretty quiet and doesn't draw attention to herself throughout her everyday life. so it is definitely interesting to see how someone who isn't used to the spotlight (of any kind) reacts when faced with a stalker. hongmei is forced to dive deeper into her own past and she gets to know herself better in a bizarre way.
she also forms a peculiar sort of relationship with her stalker - she starts telling them more about herself because it feels freeing to do it when you're emailing someone like that. what hongmei does with her stalker is kind of the opposite of her life with her husband so it's understandable that she struggles with her identity. she's wondering whether she wants things to change and be more exciting or not, and that can be terrifying for sure.
the scary part of this novel isn't as much the stalker as it is hongmei's internal struggle. that's why i think the summary of this book as you can see on many websites can be misleading - it's not a typical stalker 'game of cat and mouse' thriller.
i still enjoyed it, though i think the pacing could've been way better. it did get a little repetitive at times. the writing style was quite good, nothing impressive, but i liked it.