Review : Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Pages : 352
Genre : Mystery
Stand alone
My Rating : 2.5/5
About the Book :
But Ani has a secret.
There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.
My Thoughts :
Heh.
I actually really hesitated about writing and posting this review. Two things have become clear over the years I’ve spent reading and blogging : one, I don’t really care about finishing books I don’t like anymore, and two, I don’t really care about reviewing books I dislike either. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading detailed critical reviews, even the negative ones (sometimes, especially the negative ones, which can be more telling than adoring praise!) ; but I just have more fun writing about the books I enjoy a little, love a lot or completely adore.
But Luckiest Girl Alive falls into that in-between category where I don’t really know what to make of it. I didn’t really like it, yet I kept reading. The style was engaging, I guess, but all along I felt as though I was waiting. Waiting for a big revelation, a huge twist, something life changing to happen. I desperately wanted to enjoy the book; I guess you could say that bookish optimism kept me reading.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Because of the way the story was paced, every twist or revelation fell flat. Plus, there was just so much being piled on poor Ani that I had a hard time getting invested in the story; her horrible past, her busy present, all of it didn’t really come together, some of it didn’t really contribute anything to the story, and it went past believable for me.
I’m not surprised this book was marketed to fans of Gone Girl; it definitely tried to play on some similar themes, but it lacked Gillian Flynn’s nuance and cleverness. Or maybe I’m just too much of a Gillian Flynn fan to see clearly. In any case, I think the comparison is doing the book a disservice, and that readers going in expecting something similar will be disappointed.
All in all, there isn’t much I can say that others haven’t said with better words. For me, Luckiest Girl Alive didn’t work. It tried to be too many things, and in doing so, it lost the opportunity to tell what I think could have been a really good story. I did read to the end though, so there was definitely something in there for me. For that, I may be willing to try something else by the author if/when she publishes another book.
I personally hate it when they compare a book to a past bestseller but I’ve been hearing great things about this one so my expectations have been set really high. After reading your review, I wonder if I’ll like it.