I finished Behind Her Eyes on a flight to California this week and after I shut the book, I couldn't quite get the final images out of my head, the bad bad thoughts, the worry about future events (helllllo! the characters aren't real, their fates end with the last page - but man I was really worried about them). This book is filled with a lot of cool twists and turns and comes at the reader from two points of view. Louise, a part time secretary at a psychiatry office is out at a bar after work and meets a handsome man who she chats with and ends up kissing. They have great chemistry and she's really into him. But, when he shows up to the office the next day as her new boss, with his WIFE, she's mortified and hides in the bathroom. Knowing she needs to confront him she eventually does and agrees it meant nothing and that she can remain professional at work, but oh the chemistry is still there. So as she's thinking all this through she literally runs into another woman outside her child's school. Well this other woman happens to be the boss (David)'s wife, Adele. A shockingly beautiful woman, Adele invites Louise to coffee and they strike up a friendship which is super awkward for Louise. Then we switch to Adele's voice and we realize she KNOWS! How she knows, we don't know yet, but she KNOWS. And therein lies the mystery as we try to figure out what game Adele is playing at. Because she is planning something. And as we get more of her backstory, we realize there is something very off about Adele.But listen, David and Adele have a crazy marriage and Louise is content to put herself right in the middle and try to be a hero all the while not recognizing this may put her SIX YEAR OLD son in danger. So, no girl, this is just bad bad. And I got a little judge-y of Louise about this. I got a lot judge-y actually. In the end, this book has a lot of twists and turns and there's an element of supernatural (reminiscent of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger). But it's well written and moves well. I enjoyed reading it and didn't think too hard about who did it so I could maintain surprise for the end. A good summer read.
I can't say much else without ruining all the surprises, but it's getting a 3.5/5 rating because it went to a place that always makes me feel some things I don't like feeling, but I can't really say much about that because it's part of the ending.
3.5/5 Stars.
On a recent work trip to Portland, OR, I found myself at Powell's Books. I've you've ever been to Portland, you've probably visited here. It takes up an entire city block. It's shelves are filled of new and used books. There are helpful tags everywhere regarding staff picks and recommendations. Good God, I could have spent hours here. And so ironically, I'm Thinking of Ending Things was a book I picked up on the first pass through the first room I entered. It's one of NPR's 2016 Books of the Year. So I figured I couldn't go wrong.
For all the hype, I guess the book was a bit of a let down. Although it does some things very well for what it is. I should probably stress that horror is not my go-to genre. I don't seek out opportunities to be scared. But if you're into that thing, this book sets up very nicely. We start with driving in the car with Jake and his girlfriend. It took me a few chapters to realize she doesn't have a name, even though the narration is from her point of view. She's thinking of ending her relationship with Jake, but then she describes all the things she finds wonderful about him. So the premise feels off. I was wary. And then after a while and they were still in the car, I was bored.
This is a 210 page book and the first 100 pages of the book are of Jake and the GF in the car driving to his parent's house. Who decides to break up with a guy but still agrees to meet his parents? The GF is also keeping a secret from Jake in that she is getting threatening phone calls from someone she refers to as "The Caller", someone who calls from her own number and then leaves cryptic voicemails.
So there is this overarching uneasiness that starts to develop in the drive out to his parents that then evolves into a more menacing feeling as the meeting with the parents is predictably awkward. Jake's mom is a bit off and the house seems empty and old. There is a building of menace and it's very well done.
Getting you even further into the plot would ruin a lot of things and the final twist, but I admit I didn't see it coming, although I did have a feeling that something was definitely off. The plot twist seems a little gimmicky and overall is like a push to have you read the book again from the perspective of knowing the ending (almost like wanting to go back and watch The Sixth Sense from the beginning once you find out Bruce Willis has been dead the entire time).
3/5 Stars.
