Scan barcode
emcdevitt's review against another edition
1.0
Terrible book. I couldn’t get past pg 100. And even that was a struggle.
seref's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
tiffsbooktime's review against another edition
4.0
"The memory that I had apologized to my own rapist, and he had laughed at me."
-I will never get this quote out of my head
I read this book after watching the movie starring Mila Kunis on Netflix ❤️
I have never encountered a more verbatim and perfect movie rendition from a book...ever!
Please note that this book has so many trigger warnings and difficult topics...rape, school shooting, murder, suicide, age gap etc but it is such a well written story that it is done so beautifully by Jessica Knoll.
Read paperback
-I will never get this quote out of my head
I read this book after watching the movie starring Mila Kunis on Netflix ❤️
I have never encountered a more verbatim and perfect movie rendition from a book...ever!
Please note that this book has so many trigger warnings and difficult topics...rape, school shooting, murder, suicide, age gap etc but it is such a well written story that it is done so beautifully by Jessica Knoll.
Read paperback
dontstopreadin's review against another edition
4.0
When this book first came out, it got a lot of praise and love. Then shortly after, it got a lot of hate, likely due to the hype vacuum it had found itself in. I found this book to be really entertaining and enjoyable and it keep me interested to the very end. These are huge traits I look for in thrillers. This book follows Tiff, who is annoying and stuck-up and you kind of hate her, but that's the point. Tiff has a weird, tragic past that is slowly unveiled through the course of flashbacks, and you start to understand how she became this person we are annoyed by, and why she would want to be this person. Yeah, she's unlikable. Yeah, that's the point. I love that.
Trigger warnings: rape, assault, gun use, gun violence, violence in general
Trigger warnings: rape, assault, gun use, gun violence, violence in general
lauraborkpower's review against another edition
3.0
This story starts out strong but I felt that ultimately Knoll told a story that was a bit too complicated for the length of this book.
If you're going to tell the story of a school shooting that is as complicated as the Columbine massacre (and Knoll thanks Dave Cullen in her acknowledgements), then it deserves a bigger piece of your story. But Knoll includes it among other plot points and it doesn't get the time and space that a conflict of that magnitude really deserves.
And there were too many smaller pieces of Ani's story that were left untouched. I wanted this to be more focused to get a stronger sense of her change from beginning to end. It just wasn't strong enough for me.
Knoll is a strong writer, though, and this is definitely a page turner. I compared her to Megan Abbott and Liane Moriarty as I read, and those are authors I really like, so that's a good thing.
If you're going to tell the story of a school shooting that is as complicated as the Columbine massacre (and Knoll thanks Dave Cullen in her acknowledgements), then it deserves a bigger piece of your story. But Knoll includes it among other plot points and it doesn't get the time and space that a conflict of that magnitude really deserves.
And there were too many smaller pieces of Ani's story that were left untouched. I wanted this to be more focused to get a stronger sense of her change from beginning to end. It just wasn't strong enough for me.
Knoll is a strong writer, though, and this is definitely a page turner. I compared her to Megan Abbott and Liane Moriarty as I read, and those are authors I really like, so that's a good thing.
emilypendleton's review against another edition
3.0
…moving on doesn’t mean never talking about it, never crying about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a main character so deeply insecure that all of their inner dialogue focuses on weight and viciously tearing other women down. The second half of the book was much better than the first, but the first half was so bent on writing a cold-hearted protagonist that it was difficult to move past it during the moments that talked about such heavy topics.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a main character so deeply insecure that all of their inner dialogue focuses on weight and viciously tearing other women down. The second half of the book was much better than the first, but the first half was so bent on writing a cold-hearted protagonist that it was difficult to move past it during the moments that talked about such heavy topics.
breese's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
curiousfox's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I resort to murder or crime thrillers as palate cleansers in between readings since they're easy to digest and are usually fun - for me, at least - no-stakes stories. They seldom leave an impression but you can't reinvent the wheel nor should you expect it.
The Luckiest Girl Alive fits in those molds and, yet, leaves an aftertaste. Maybe it's because it is based on the author's own life, or because it is actually realistic in some plot points - more than can be said about plenty of crime novels. It's the story of a girl, now a woman, who went through hell and is desperate to prove to everyone that it only changed her for the better. She is not likeable, which is an interesting aspect of the plot, since she could be seen as the author's insert and I wonder how well the audience would react if the author painted herself as the perfect character. And she doesn't try to be or to sugarcoat her behavior. She doesn't expect you to endear to her as so many people haven't before and it is almost a wall break how we are treated like one of her classmates, ready to despise her (I'm sure I'm reading too much into it). And yet, while you read and discover what happened in her past, you can't help but understand why she behaves like this. I've seen plenty of reviews mention her as shallow, deceitful, or elitist and she is all that, she's not the perfect victim and that was interesting to me.
Again, this is not a reinvention of the wheel but it's a somewhat smooth drive.
The Luckiest Girl Alive fits in those molds and, yet, leaves an aftertaste. Maybe it's because it is based on the author's own life, or because it is actually realistic in some plot points - more than can be said about plenty of crime novels. It's the story of a girl, now a woman, who went through hell and is desperate to prove to everyone that it only changed her for the better. She is not likeable, which is an interesting aspect of the plot, since she could be seen as the author's insert and I wonder how well the audience would react if the author painted herself as the perfect character. And she doesn't try to be or to sugarcoat her behavior. She doesn't expect you to endear to her as so many people haven't before and it is almost a wall break how we are treated like one of her classmates, ready to despise her (I'm sure I'm reading too much into it). And yet, while you read and discover what happened in her past, you can't help but understand why she behaves like this. I've seen plenty of reviews mention her as shallow, deceitful, or elitist and she is all that, she's not the perfect victim and that was interesting to me.
Again, this is not a reinvention of the wheel but it's a somewhat smooth drive.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Gun violence