In Ghosted by Rosie Walsh, Sarah and Eddie meet and spend "seven perfect days" together. Eddie then leaves for vacation and Sarah doesn't hear from him again. We spend the rest of the book as Sarah tries to figure out what happened to him and how to move on with her life.
Hmm...look, this book was not for me. We hear a lot about these "seven perfect days," but there is very little time of that shown to us, so it just ends up seeming like Sarah is an obsessed stalker. Sure, they meet and there's a connection, but she goes through some extreme lengths to find/contact him that seems inappropriate (and, honestly, if it had been a man doing it to a woman, he would have been arrested).
And then there are the "twists" that just keep happening towards the end of the book. I felt a little bit like the author had misled the reader in an unfair way. I don't know. Maybe this will be the book for someone else, but it didn't work for me. 2/5 stars
Lines of note:
Did anyone ever lose the desire to impress their favorite teacher? I wondered. More than nineteen years had passed since I’d been in her A-level English class, and yet here I was, trying to make clever gags about revenge tragedies. (location 840)
Ha ha ha. I saw my band teacher from high school (I was in a class with him every school day from sixth grade through graduation in high school) and he didn't remember who I was and I'm not going to lie, friends, my feelings were hurt.
I rest a hand on the trunk, saddened to imagine this magnificent beast felled by a snarling chain saw. “Sorry,” I tell it, because it feels wrong to say nothing. “And thank you. For the oxygen. And everything.” (location 3593)
I have done this! We had a lot of ash trees taken down because of the emerald ash borer and when I'd see the big orange X on the trunk, I'd take time to touch the trunk and thank the tree. I don't know. Maybe it's weird?
Things I looked up:
King’s Cross fire of 1987 (location 1033) - Sheesh! I was even alive during this time. Someone threw a lit match on a wooden escalator and it caught fire and then there was a flashover and it spread to the ticket hall. It led to thirty-one fatalities.
Later he had challenged me to a game of shithead and didn’t mind in the slightest when I thrashed him.(italics added) (location 3384) - Shithead (also called China Hand, Ten-Two Slide, Karma, Palace or Shed) is a card game, the object of which is to lose all of one's playing cards. Huh. I've never heard of it before.
Hat mentions:
An actual clown, with boxes of red noses and ukuleles and silly hats. (location 475)
Why didn’t I take a a hat, or some gloves? (location 4121)
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Did you know about this King's Cross fire? Have you ever played shithead?
I had heard of the King's Cross fire -- such a horrific tragedy. Never heard of shithead though! And despite your incredibly valid explanations for why you didn't like this book, I feel a pull to check it out! The premise interests me, and I am a bit curious about how the author justifies the stalking behavior.
ReplyDeleteI mean, the premise is so good. I am reading ANOTHER book with multiple perspectives because I think it sounds fascinating. Guess what? I am not enjoying it! When will I ever learn from my mistakes?!
DeleteI read this book and I definitely liked it more than you did, although I don't think I loved it. I was lured into reading it by Liane Moriarty's quote on the front. I'm trying to remember the twists, and it's slowly coming back to me- yeah, I guess it is a little unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear other people enjoyed this more than I did. I wanted to like it, but I want more time of the couple together and less time spent moping around.
DeleteI'm intrigued. And although I always say I'm adding something to my list, I think today might be the day I actually put stuff on hold. Hope things are more normal on your end.
ReplyDeleteToday is going to be a (mostly) normal day and tomorrow will be a 100% normal day, if all goes as planned! Yay!!
DeleteHa ha ha ha, I accosted my daughter's seventh grade band and music teacher in the parking lot of one of my schools - he was there for instrument testing. He gave enough relevant details to convince me that he did remember her, which is nice because she adored him - he even remembered my son, who was definitely more memorable for his athletics than his flute prowess.
ReplyDeleteYay for that music teacher! Boo for my band director! I was CRUSHED. Oh, well. I guess it's time to move beyond high school.
DeleteI've read Walsh's The Love Of My Life and it's pretty much what I want in an audiobook - good narration, plot that's twisty, but not so twisty that I couldn't follow it, and a satisfying ending that made me think a little. I like a good plot twist, but not one that leaves me feeling betrayed. I'm looking at you, Gone Girl.
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't feel betrayed so much as incredibly annoyed by this book. It was just...a lot. Maybe I would have liked it better as an audiobook, to be honest.
DeleteI've never heard of the shithead card game. I've heard of plain ole shitheads. Of course. Met a few, too.
ReplyDeleteThis book does sound like she was a stalker. What a strange sounding book. I don't think it's for me. Maybe if they had a great time, and then he went missing, and then she found out a really interesting reason why? I don't know. I like the cover of the book, for what that's worth.
I mean, the reason why is the big mystery and it wasn't very satisfying. I feel like "open up your mouth and say something" is the answer!
DeleteThe things you looked up are new to me, too. Don't you adore it when you learn some facts from reading a fiction book? It's like a BOGO free event.
ReplyDeleteI feel like whenever I read an author who is not US-based, I learn things. I just don't know that much about the rest of the world, I guess.
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