Synopsis

In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgment, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her…

Review

I hated everything about this book. It was self-indulgent, poorly written and the ending provided no resolution whatsoever.

While I can relate to the protagonist and how she ended up in her predicament, as no doubt many of us will do, she was just awful. In fact all of the characters were. There was no character development or plot and the book just made me really angry. The main character’s initial neediness was irritating and once she was trapped in the abusive relationship she reacted in the most appalling ways. The men’s actions were equally as repulsive, but the author didn’t write them in a way that made us feel empathy with the female character. By the end of the book I disliked her even more. Considering how many of us have been in abusive relationships, I do not think that the subject was handled well at all.

This book provides nothing new or ground-breaking. It could be the diary of any number of angst-ridden millennials. Perhaps we should all write about our 20s and how awful they were: the men and women we felt obliged to sleep with, the nights where we remember nothing about how we got home – not to mention the bitter taste of regret and lack of hope.

But how many books can we read about women talking about how they spent so many years pretending to be happy by doing what they thought they were supposed to be doing, but now realising that was in fact what really made them miserable?

I received a copy of this book from Grazia for their February book club. Opinions my own.