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lisaaah's review
5.0
This book was so easy to read, no boring "descriptive" paragraphs. It's the hottest summer in the lake district and Meriel uses this to her advantage when it comes to her mentally abusive husband...
emilyreadddss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
alice94's review
2.0
Although this book looked very interesting I must admit it took me 4 months to read because I kept putting it down. It almost seemed realistic until you sat down and read around 140 pages at which point the book completely lost me. To be honest I don't remember much after that because all I wanted was to get to the end.
The female character was one I found particularly difficult to identify with, especially since she is suppose to be a very submissive woman who only cares about her image yet we are suppose to be believe that she writes a diary in which she says exactly how she is going to hurt her husband and describes is great detail but leaves it in the house, anyone who would be that careful with how they are seen would hide it in some other way or somewhere else which was clearly an option because she was allowed to leave the house on a regular basis. For example, she could leave it in a safety deposit box or in one of million other places where her husband couldn't find it.
The husband being that abusive I do believe, but then considering he was trying to make sure people saw him as a loving husband he was way to obvious and public with his humiliation of her and treatment, so that was a bit of a stretch as well.
The female character was one I found particularly difficult to identify with, especially since she is suppose to be a very submissive woman who only cares about her image yet we are suppose to be believe that she writes a diary in which she says exactly how she is going to hurt her husband and describes is great detail but leaves it in the house, anyone who would be that careful with how they are seen would hide it in some other way or somewhere else which was clearly an option because she was allowed to leave the house on a regular basis. For example, she could leave it in a safety deposit box or in one of million other places where her husband couldn't find it.
The husband being that abusive I do believe, but then considering he was trying to make sure people saw him as a loving husband he was way to obvious and public with his humiliation of her and treatment, so that was a bit of a stretch as well.
alieshahd's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
munchkim's review against another edition
2.0
The storyline was interesting but the characterisation of the lead character shows the author to have no real understanding of what 11 years of mental and financial abuse would have done to a person in my opinion as a survivor of many years of this type of abuse.
I found her rebellions against her husbands controlling ways to be unrealistic for the length of the abuse and had the author simply reduced the number of years the degradations were suffered for the story would have worked much better and I believe I would have given it at least 2 more stars.
As it stands, I struggled to decide between 1 or 2 stars for this review but decided on 2 since it is my personal experiences in life that makes me feel this book is poorly written and not the storyline itself.
I found her rebellions against her husbands controlling ways to be unrealistic for the length of the abuse and had the author simply reduced the number of years the degradations were suffered for the story would have worked much better and I believe I would have given it at least 2 more stars.
As it stands, I struggled to decide between 1 or 2 stars for this review but decided on 2 since it is my personal experiences in life that makes me feel this book is poorly written and not the storyline itself.
kath61's review against another edition
3.0
This was ok but I didn't enjoy it as much as his last book and I was rather disappointed by the lack of ideas that would have made it a more thrilling read.
sharongrigg's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As a woman who has escaped a relationship with a narcissist, I can completely relate to Meriel (what an unusual name). This read more like a true tale than fiction, which is what makes it so good.
susssu's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars
A promising plot, shit execution.
The characters were ridiculously flat. What came to mind was someone describing characters to an amateur theater production and them portraying said characters in a over the top and see through manner.
The "romance" was absolutely fucking ridiculous, unbelievable, poorly described and uninspiring. The plot might have worked if Meriel's point of view had been completely axed and there had been at least some mystery to the story, but this was basically just boring, predictable diarrhea soup that I regret wasting my time on.
The only reason I kept reading was the fact that the one thing the author actually knew how to do (at times) was structure his chapters in a way that kept me waiting for something interesting to actually, finally happen.
I will most certainly not be reading anything else of Madeley's, and the main thing I'm taking away from this is that I will never take recommendations from anyone who five-starred this crap.
A promising plot, shit execution.
The characters were ridiculously flat. What came to mind was someone describing characters to an amateur theater production and them portraying said characters in a over the top and see through manner.
The "romance" was absolutely fucking ridiculous, unbelievable, poorly described and uninspiring. The plot might have worked if Meriel's point of view had been completely axed and there had been at least some mystery to the story, but this was basically just boring, predictable diarrhea soup that I regret wasting my time on.
The only reason I kept reading was the fact that the one thing the author actually knew how to do (at times) was structure his chapters in a way that kept me waiting for something interesting to actually, finally happen.
I will most certainly not be reading anything else of Madeley's, and the main thing I'm taking away from this is that I will never take recommendations from anyone who five-starred this crap.
reading_on_the_road's review against another edition
4.0
I'm always a little wary when reading anything written by a well-known figure, as their path to publication can be less rigorous than it would be for mere commoners. However, this was a pleasant surprise, it's a tightly-written and enjoyable thriller with a sound sense of character and place. This really wouldn't be out of place at all in the Richard & Judy book club.
I shouldn't have been too surprised really - Madeley is a very experienced journalist - but bringing a self-created work into being is a different discipline. I read this ahead of an author event to promote the book and look forward to hearing him talk.
The setting of the Lake District and the long hot summer of '76 makes this, just as the blurb says(!), a great summer read.
I shouldn't have been too surprised really - Madeley is a very experienced journalist - but bringing a self-created work into being is a different discipline. I read this ahead of an author event to promote the book and look forward to hearing him talk.
The setting of the Lake District and the long hot summer of '76 makes this, just as the blurb says(!), a great summer read.