 |
| Review by Coll 3 Stars |
Paige’s life has turned into a living nightmare. After losing her daughter ten years ago, her only closure being her daughter’s severed arm that was found in the river, her life began to fall apart. Now her husband has committed suicide and she is utterly alone and lost. Paige spirals into a deep depression, almost giving up on life. Then strange things start happening in her house that can’t be explained, and she finds something in her late husband’s desk drawer that makes her question a part of his life that she did not know about. As she tries to decipher the mystery of her husband, and of her daughter’s murder, she gets closer to danger and starts learning things that terrify her and make her question everything.
My Girl is written in three sections, breaking up the story into two pieces and then bringing it together as a whole in the third section. The first part of the book instantly sucked me in. It was intriguing, interesting, and began to get very creepy, which I loved. Paige’s unraveling is described incredibly well and you get a real sense of a woman on the brink of just giving up completely. Jordan made you feel so many emotions towards her, from sympathy for what she has been through to frustration and anger at her reckless actions. You really get a sense of how destroyed Paige has become and how the tragedies in her life have affected her.
The downfall for me, when reading My Girl, came about halfway through the book. There was an incredible twist in the story which I did not see coming, but then things got a little, unbelievable I guess. I felt like things were being written for shock value, and it got to a point where I had a hard time seeing the story as being realistic. There is a subtlety that can be used to impact people and My Girl went beyond that at points, into the realm of overly done. I remember getting to a moment where I was no longer shocked by the twists because I just expected crazy things to keep happening. That being said, the book always remained exciting. I just wish it stuck more to the creepy thriller/mystery that began the book instead of getting so outrageous.
I will say that the book was compulsively readable. I did not want to put it down and I finished it within one day. I never felt bored reading it, and that is always a plus. Unfortunately several elements of the story were left unexplained or vague, and I feel like My Girl would have benefitted from being a longer novel. There were so many good ideas that, if expanded upon, really would have added to the whole story. I also found myself questioning some very odd behaviors by several characters that were not explained or just very unrealistic, and the motives behind the antagonist could have really been expanded upon. I believe these things could have been remedied by a lengthier story with more detail and backgrounds to all the main players in the book.
All in all I enjoyed reading the book and it kept my interest, although maybe not always for the right reasons. Sometimes I was interested in the story and the mystery behind it, and other times at what crazy thing would be thrown into the mix next. My Girl had the makings for a really great psychological thriller/mystery but unfortunately it went overboard at points. However I did find myself picking it back up easily, wanting to find out what happens, and I was satisfied with the ending. If you are looking for a quick and enjoyable read that is out of the box then I think you might enjoy My Girl.
Interested in My Girl? Check it out on Goodreads.
No comments:
Post a Comment