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trin's review against another edition
3.0
I'm so torn about this. I love Lockhart's prose. I love her snappy dialogue and the way she folds social commentary into her narratives. But this book isn't just inspired by [b:The Talented Mr. Ripley|2247142|The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley, #1)|Patricia Highsmith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435426615s/2247142.jpg|1817520] (or, as Lockhart says in her author's note, "I cannot possibly name all my influences but particular debt goes to Patricia Highsmith for The Talented Mr. Ripley"): it's pretty much a modern day, genderfucked TTMR AU fanfic. Like, a lot -- a lot -- of characters and plot points match up: not just Tom and Dickie, but Dickie's parents, Dickie's unwilling to be spurned ex-lover, Dickie's overly suspicious other friend, Tom's potential love interest who he has to lose to win the game. There's even a canoe paddle.
So this was fun, but it hewed incredibly close to Highsmith without, I felt, giving me quite enough of a twist or a "take" to justify the similarities. And I'm all for lady versions of previously male narratives, but I think they should be a little more upfront that that's what they are.
So this was fun, but it hewed incredibly close to Highsmith without, I felt, giving me quite enough of a twist or a "take" to justify the similarities. And I'm all for lady versions of previously male narratives, but I think they should be a little more upfront that that's what they are.
hollidayreadswithme's review against another edition
4.0
Yes yes yes
This book was wonderfully confusing and beautiful. I commend the editors for setting it up this way. The way that the chapters were ordered did so much for the surprises and reveals. I was gasping audibly every chapter after the first half of the book.
The only thing I would recommend is not listening to the audiobook. Because The voices to me were really irritating because one was valley girl, one was east coast and the other one was just “general” American and it just sounded preppy and white and awful but the book itself I stopped listening to the audiobook about halfway through and picked up the book version and got through that in about an hour.
It was really well written. Simplicity wrapped in sociopathy. There were certain parts that felt like self aggrandizing. Odd times of her congratulating herself for just being herself, for being hot or cruel. It felt a bit excessive, even though it only happened twice. One wording was basically copy and pasted into another chapter to make it symmetrical.
The most interesting part was Jules’s belief that she’s a heroine. Underestimated by her peers, she is a little bundle of budding violence. Which makes her an antihero. But we don’t have any reason to sympathize with her. We are also so annoyed with certain characters that we root for their death but don’t realize that is part of it until it happens.
Because of the writing and the fact it is YA, I didn’t think the violence would play a part. And it really did. There was a point where she’s thinking about how hot she looks after beating up some guy. And then we met Paolo and she’s smitten. Confusing. When their first date is completely underwhelming. She was supposed to be written with complexity but instead felt like a disjointed mess.
I sympathized with Immy which is difficult because she’s rich and ungrateful, but imagine a world in which you didn’t know who was using you for what you had versus who was really your friend.
Other than Jules’s character, the book itself was very well written. I love the ordering of the chapters and the dialogue between characters.
Very well done. 3.5 stars.
2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters
2019 ATY Challenge - A book not written in traditional novel format
This book was wonderfully confusing and beautiful. I commend the editors for setting it up this way. The way that the chapters were ordered did so much for the surprises and reveals. I was gasping audibly every chapter after the first half of the book.
The only thing I would recommend is not listening to the audiobook. Because The voices to me were really irritating because one was valley girl, one was east coast and the other one was just “general” American and it just sounded preppy and white and awful but the book itself I stopped listening to the audiobook about halfway through and picked up the book version and got through that in about an hour.
It was really well written. Simplicity wrapped in sociopathy. There were certain parts that felt like self aggrandizing. Odd times of her congratulating herself for just being herself, for being hot or cruel. It felt a bit excessive, even though it only happened twice. One wording was basically copy and pasted into another chapter to make it symmetrical.
The most interesting part was Jules’s belief that she’s a heroine. Underestimated by her peers, she is a little bundle of budding violence. Which makes her an antihero. But we don’t have any reason to sympathize with her. We are also so annoyed with certain characters that we root for their death but don’t realize that is part of it until it happens.
Because of the writing and the fact it is YA, I didn’t think the violence would play a part. And it really did. There was a point where she’s thinking about how hot she looks after beating up some guy. And then we met Paolo and she’s smitten. Confusing. When their first date is completely underwhelming. She was supposed to be written with complexity but instead felt like a disjointed mess.
I sympathized with Immy which is difficult because she’s rich and ungrateful, but imagine a world in which you didn’t know who was using you for what you had versus who was really your friend.
Other than Jules’s character, the book itself was very well written. I love the ordering of the chapters and the dialogue between characters.
Very well done. 3.5 stars.
2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters
2019 ATY Challenge - A book not written in traditional novel format
guillevaldata's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, esta mujer nunca deja de asombrarme, realmente! Genuine Fraud es una historia del estilo de Éramos Mentirosos pero más oscuro y retorcido. Si bien me gustaría leerlo de vuelta para tener una mejor comprensión de que pasó me mantuvo atrapada todo el tiempo y fascinada. Como dije antes, me gusto mucho y E. Lockhart cada vez se va ganando un lugar más grande en mi corazón.