kalauandromeda's reviews
60 reviews

I loved the first few chapters, but it went downhill ever since. I thought this would be a book with more focus on the character development of a kind-hearted kid named oliver twist in a twisted society of England in the 1830s. Now I feel that it's like a Disney story in a dark setting where the story develops around the protagonist instead of him actually developing. Hated how most of the characters are shallow and felt more like abstract ideas rather than real people. I would get it if it's done for a town person B type of character, but it's done with many important characters and hated that very much. Also, some characters come and go just like that in the book, where Oliver Twist himself is no exception. Really hated when a character who was briefly introduced in chapter 11 shows up again in chapter 55. Sometimes, the only motivation for reading this book is finishing it, so that I can finally end the misery. Apart from these disappointing things, few good things are, it clearly depicted the corrupt and cruel society of England in the 1830s, some characters like Nancy and Fagin are decently done. I was disappointed with this book honestly, but maybe I am to blame for my expectations ;(

As with all of Agatha Christie's books, I'm really late to enjoy them unspoiled T^T . Many of them were subtly(or not) adapted into some sort of television programmes or movies that you would always have the actually clever answer to the riddle planted in the back of your mind and I myself felt intrigued by that while reading the book. I was always subconsciously drawn towards the true culprit without actually having a real reason for it.

Then as the book progressed, in the initial phases, when I placed things objectively in order, my suspicions skyrocketed and at this point, I felt maybe I was over fitting things to that person. Upon trying to leave that idea and proceed with the book, I genuinely did not observe many things from the clues like Poirot did ;) . I guess it's true when he said, "I merely present the facts, but it is up to us what the interpretation of those is". Just like my first sentence suggests, the killer is the one who I first had my eyes on. Upon reading the post script , I just realised that the killer never exactly confessed to their own perspective of what they have done the eventful night.

I've also observed that I've not caught all the subtle hints dropped even after having one eye on the killer all the time. And some of the fanfic theories are wild too. I could see this to be a potentially enjoyable re-read. Would love to, some time in the future :)

The number of parallels in this book makes me feel unsure if that's a good thing. Really enjoyed Eliza's fairy tales which are not so bubbly and happily ever after stories. I sincerely hope that Kate Morton didn't intend for the reveal of Nell's parentage to be that sort of twist that blows the mind of readers when it's revealed. Loved Cass, Eliza partly but hated Nell throughout the book. Never really understood why that woman went through mid-life crisis at just 18(or 21, I don't exactly remember). Change in the affection toward her sisters is one thing, but breaking up her marriage is taking a page straight out of the guide for being insane. The author failed in making me connect to Nell as a character, I never sympathized with her, never felt bad for her when things were going bad. Would've been a 4.25/5 if Nell was not in the book and Eliza's story didn't start abruptly in the middle. It's a 3.75/5 for me. Using Eliza to depict that thinking of doing a wrong thing for a right cause often doesn't end well was really good. Also just like the characters in her stories, although Eliza's life might seem all so comfortable and happy to outsiders, it was really different and even her ending was so ironic. 

 Really enjoyed this book a lot. I don't think this is a book that appeals to everyone as it did to me, and the reason I say this is it's kind of a slow burn thriller and I always liked a show of that genre that involved a police or detective investigation. Well the premise being really interesting goes without saying. A patient who killed her husband and refuses to speak to anyone even after 6 years. We get introduced to Theo Faber, a guy who really wants to help her come to her senses and is a psychotherapist.

At the initial phases of the book, when Theo was getting a lot of focus, especially on the parts where we dig into his screwed up past, I became aware that this is not a book that focuses solely on the demons of Alicia Berenson. I thought that helping Alicia might somehow help him face his demons and overcome his struggles with himself. Later on when Alicia's diary entries were presented to us, it somehow felt that the both of them are eerily similar in a lot of things like their disturbed upbringing, shady behaviour and losing their way until they found the love of their lives and thus thrusting all their past behind and entering a toxic kind of relationship with them, thinking they desperately need their counterparts in their life and do anything to keep them in their lives. I then thought it might be something like Shutter Island kind of thing, where Theo and Alicia are indeed the same person and it is all Theo creating an Alicia and thinking himself as a doctor. Then we are shown that Theo goes and does an investigation!!! I knew at that moment that it's not normal for someone to do this just because he was curious and wanted to help. It was like he was trying to help her because her life was so much like him, but unlike us he didn't know that then, so why? Meanwhile we were shown that Theo's wife Kathy cheats on him and somehow left the mail open and left it for him to stumble upon it. It was here that I was almost sure that Gabriel cheated on Alicia, because I was always of the thought that both their lives are very similar. We see him having a nervous breakdown in the nights and re visiting his old therapist in the middle of the night and in the morning he's not at all shown vulnerable in the office and not at all distracted. I initially thought that a good psychotherapist needs to keep his work and personal life seperate and he might be good at it, but at the end of the day, even he's just another human. For some reason it always bugged me. At this stage, I was not sure if Kathy really was having an affair and if that mystery person was real. Then after a lot of thorough investigation into her state of mind and allowing her to paint and almost losing their therapy sessions together, she finally starts to talk with him and in their sessions implies that everything changed when he entered the picture either directly or indirectly. Sometime before this moment, we were shown that Theo follows Kathy and finally confirms that there is a guy she was having an affair and it was this moment I connected most of the dots. I went back to the chapters of Kathy and saw that the pieces I have been holding at the back of mind fell together like a jigsaw puzzle. I quickly realised that never was there a mention or any indication that this was the present and I knew in my gut that this was Gabriel. It blew my mind, there were not many instances where I felt this kind of thrill and amazement at the same time. So, this changed my perspective of reading the book from this point and coming back to the present I knew that Theo should be this stalker that Alicia was talking about. I think Theo really didn't mean for her to kill him, but rather make their marriage fall apart and trust being broken as this was what manning up would be, and he did this unconsciously wanting to please his father.

The connection with Alcestis and Theo being right about most of our impulses are not really actions taken at the spur of the moment, rather they always have their roots buried deep in our past are really cool. 

That said , I think the climax or the ending of the book is not quite what I expected. There are a lot of things that did not sit with me well, for example, Alicia refused to speak after the incident because, there was nothing to get out of doing it, there was nothing to accomplish, the worst has happened. Then I don't get why she put that much effort to holding on to her diary and that too with no one else ever knowing about it's existence. Like how on earth did you smuggle that in girl? Even at the end, where Theo injected her with drugs strong enough to put her to coma for the rest of the life, where did she get the energy and time to write it on a diary and hide the book in the back of the painting, she could have literally called and cried for help and told someone while making herself a coffee with the time she did the other things. Theo feeling that so this is how it comes to an end and making the discovery of a needle hole near her veins also doesn't make sense and I consider it a poor writing choice as this was in the first person and as Theo was the culprit, there is no sense in him not knowing the act. There are still some small issues, but I think this is a great book overall. 

I don't know if I'm the only one, but the chapters with Lewis and his mother were oddly uncomfortable, it's like the author was very much interested in Freudian theories in psychology, I don't know, but they were real uncomfortable. And most of the characters in the story are too bad, it's not like being in the grey zone, they're bad bad. They treat our main leads in a real horrible way and somehow keep thinking that it's alright. I didn't like there being too many of those too bad characters. Would have loved more of the characters in the middle ground between good and bad. Keeping that in mind, the writing was terrific and pacing was good. The way she depicted Lewis losing himself and becoming the outcast without realising was good. Well, the chapters with his depression were not so easy to read, but still they're acceptable as the story was building to be that way. Even liked the not so perfect ending, would have hated it if it was a happily ever after ending with the kind of book it has been. It's a book good to be more than a 3.5 stars but not that good to be 4 star, but if someone wants to read it, I would very much recommend them to pick it up and go ahead. The way it depicts that abuse from toxic parents is not just physical, but can also be psychological, by showing our main leads each facing one form of the abuse and both turning out to be pretty much broken is excellent. I really think one must not be too proud to accept help, thinking that by denying it makes them brave, it just makes them stupid.