Book No. 24 of 2021
A really unsettling, dark read that often feels like it’s about to tip into horror; Johnson’s manipulation of perception makes the bulk of the story feel somewhat uncomfortable, and it isn’t until near the end that clarity illuminates the entire narrative.
The all-consuming, obsessive, and at times twisted love between sisters is a theme that is wrenching and affecting despite (or maybe because of) its obviousness; another deeper thread running throughout is that of grief, and the way it manifests and alters perception.
Similar Reads
There was a surprising amount of thematic overlap with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl: the writer parent’s fictional chronicling of their child(ren)’s adventures, the unsettling feeling, the reveal that shifts the reader’s perception of all that came before.
A thing I won’t spoil reminded me of Yangsze Choo’s Night Tiger.
This also reminded me of Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise.