Laurel
It is rare that I don't finish a book. Very rare. I usually force myself through. I can't force myself any longer wth this book. I made it halfway through before giving up. The main character is annoying and shallow (no growth). The story is tedious and going nowhere. It reads like a D&D game in all the worst ways. Please don't waste your time. I wish I hadn't. I'm just glad that when I downloaded it years ago, it was free.
I actually chose to read this because of how inspiring I found the movie. I wanted more of that, I wanted to delve deeper into the characters that the movie had given me. Big mistake. This has been added to my very, very short list of books that are worse than the movie (it holds the number 3 slot). That may be harsh, the book was well-written. It's characters and plot well developed. But it what it should say is don't ever read this book while single. Ever.
This was one of the more depressing views I've ever read on relationships, men, and dating in-general. This is an entire book about how women just let ourselves be walked on and how men are -everywhere in the world- cheating, lying, scum that women must simply accept. Frankly, this book was not a fair or accurate portrayal of either sex. Every woman in the book was desperate for that one love or wanting so bad to be married she'd settle for less. The one good guy in the book was depicted as boring and was being settled for.
Then, at the end of the book, the author seems to realize that the whole book was rather depressing. So her solution? Remind the now very disheartened reader that it's all okay because they have their friends; their woman friends, who can be trusted to look after their hearts after the numerous times they've been broken by scummy men. She shoved that message in in the last two chapters of the book, so it felt forced and out of place.
I like the concept of this book. I like the characters. I don't like the message. The underlying message felt like it was written by someone who is bitter. It is a message that no matter what- your heart will be broken over and over, even once you think you've found the one. Is this, in a way, true? Yes. Is it always the case? No. Some relationships simply don't work- it isn't because one of the parties involved is a bad person. Some relationships work splendidly. There are people who fall hopelessly in love and last until death does them part. In no world is any relationship perfect. But they certainly aren't all the horrible, trustless, heartwrenching, relationships this book portrays.
For the 3rd time in my life, I say this. Stick to the movie. Avoid this book, unless you want to read how terrible mankind is on a global scale.
It has been a very long time since I first read this story in high school. I enjoyed it as much as I did then, though I think I understand it better now. Poe is truly wonderful at writing a scary story. Though it now occurs to me that he has a strange fixation on entombing people alive in the walls.
I have to be honest, I didn't read this book in it's entirety. I skimmed and skipped as things seemed relevant to me or not. I was really hoping the book would deal with grief in a more general sense, not only connecting it to death. Loss can be felt in many ways that don't necessarily mean death. Some of the chapters could be generalized to apply to grief outside of death, but this book is almost entirely centered on that specific type of grief.
