"I was happy, I think, but I wonder now if my memory is playing tricks on me. If it is giving me the gift of an illusion. We all layer them over our remembrances; the filters through which we want to see our lives."
Compared to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train; in regards to subject matter, the novel is closer to The Girl on the Train and far from the complexity of Gone Girl. A thriller with compelling premise and twists at the end of each part but with weak storyline that makes the novel an average work of fiction.
PLOT
The plot for this novel will be divided in parts due to the twists each of them involves.
Part I
Nellie is getting ready to marry Richard, but she feels intimidated because of Richard's economical position. That is not the only thing that is bothering her, it seems that somebody is harassing her or so she believes. It is implied she has many secrets that she has tried to shut down. Beside this, she is a very lively girl who has two jobs, as a primary school and a waitress. She fears she will not be able to fulfill the standards of her soon-to-be husband.
On the other hand, we get to meet Vanessa, Richard's ex wife who is still hurt for the way the marriage ended. She appears to be damaged beyond repair. She is an alcoholic and appears to be the one that is harassing Nellie.
By the end of the first part, we discover that Nellie and Vanessa are the same person. Honestly, this plot-twist left me speechless and I was more than amazed on the writers' abilities to pull out such a compelling move which was definitely unexpected.
Part II
New questions arise as Vanessa (who Richard only called Nellie) meets intentionally Emma, Richard's new fiancée. As she is decided to warn her about Richard's duplicity, she narrates the story of how she became so insecure and many of the events between her life as Nellie and Vanessa are told through flashbacks. This part also covers Vanessa's past before she even met Richard.
Vanessa is currently living with her aunt who takes care of her. However, Vanessa's determination to expose Richard gives her strength to move on.
In this chapter, it is analyzed if Vanessa was truly a paranoid or if Richard was actually abusive to her. Slowly, dark parts of their marriage are finally dissected and a new shocking revelation is made (which is not as shocking as the ending twist for Part I): Vanessa had set Emma up to become Richard's lover so she could get away from him.
Part III
Remorse starts to take over Vanessa and she is decided to stop Emma's wedding. Vanessa gets close to Emma as she collects proof to finally expose Richard as an abusive man. Vanessa and Emma plot against him, and Emma discovers Richard is not perfect as he seemed and everything was a facade. Maureen (Richard's sister) explains to Vanessa the nature of his rage and violence as Richard is institutionalized.
STRUCTURE
Part I is divided in two voices to confuse the readers. One chapter is narrated by a third person narrator (the one that details Nellie's life) while a first person narrator (Vanessa) talks about her current situation. This is a clear trap to make the reader believe he is reading about two different people. It was an audacious move.
Part II and III are narrated by Vanessa and I found it a wise decision because her voice resonated strongly with me, sadly, the structure of the plot was not equally compelling.
THEMES
Domestic violence and mental illness are the main topics in which this book thrives. There are different nuances to what constitutes abuse as well as the analysis and stigma of people with mental illness (Vanessa believed that possibly she was mentally ill when she had thoughts that Richard might be hurting her instead of protecting her).
ABOUT THE ENDING:
A final twist reveals that Emma was actually the girl whose father Vanessa dated in college. I consider the writers believed this would be a huge final reveal but served no purpose to conclude the story, and made it end in a cheesy tone.
CHARACTER: 5/10 (it was very difficult to engage with Nellie's narration and at the beginning, Vanessa seemed to me too similar to Rachel, the character from The Girl on the Train [who I didn't really like])
PLOT DEVELOPMENT: 7/10 (mostly thanks to plot twists)
THEMES: 8/10
GRADE: Average but not memorable
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario