The story itself has an incredible amount of potential, which is why I think adapting it into a movie was a great play. Things like the setting, certain aspects of the character, and the plot itself fell flat to me, but that may not be entirely the fault of the author. I want to emphasize "entirely" here, because ultimately, it is up to the author to write a well rounded and engaging story. That being said, when I think psychological thriller, my mind instantly goes to how much of an impact music, sound cues, or camera work feed into the experience. But, my experience with psychological thrillers is pretty limited in general, so maybe this just isn't the genre for me.
On top of that, Freida McFadden is a pretty direct writer. I prefer reading a "show, don't tell" approach and believe that it's an important skill to have as a writer when you're trying to transport your readers. The change in Andrew's entire persona for example (page 205), could have translated better without such a direct play by play. I was missing the description of Nina's stomach dropping or her breath quickening, something to physically put me in the moment. Instead, the plot kept moving on with some internal monologue happening along the way. But even that felt lacking. If we're going to rely on internal monologues to put us in the character's head space, slow down and let's sit in that for a moment. Nothing about the writing style felt personal enough for me to feel connected to these characters. I had to rely on my own imagination for that. I even, I kid you not, wrote an entire page worth of notes analyzing Nina's fertility issues, trying to connect to her before I knew why she was acting this way. The heart break, the affects it has on your relationship (intentional or not), the expectations... and it was all for nothing. And of course it was for nothing, because it didn't serve the story to dive into that; but that was how desperate I felt to grab onto something that emotionally connected me.
Ultimately, I guess that's what the entirety of this review could be summed up as... not feeling connected. I do not think you need to be great at every aspect of writing to write a great book. Let's look at A Court of Thorns and Roses by SJM, because it was a LOT of people's gateway book back into reading as an adult and is widely adored. If we're really analyzing the books, there are more than a few plot holes, but I'm definitely not thinking about that when I read them. I'm thinking about how I want to live in Velaris. The first thing I did after reading ACOTAR, was read it again. You feel like you know these characters, like you've lived the story with them and it makes it difficult to let go.
I think I should leave it here. I'm sad that I don't have a more positive review to write (probably why I procrastinated on posting this), but I'm feeling much more hopeful about the February read.
Catch you in the next one!
