Take a photo of a barcode or cover
pinesandpages 's review for:
Counterfeit
by Kirstin Chen
Huh.
I was really excited for this one based on the premise and because Reese Witherspoon chose it for her book club, and I think she usually has quite good picks.
HOWEVER, I did not enjoy this.
It’s the story of two protagonists, Ava and Winnie, who start an international counterfeit luxury hand bags scheme, and all the hijinks that go along with that. Ava is the classic high achieving Stanford lawyer with a young child and surgeon husband. Winnie abruptly left Stanford under mysterious circumstances after a national fake SAT scandal. Years later they reconnect and start this business.
It’s split into Part 1 and Part 2.
Part 1 is about 40% of the book, and is told entirely from Ava’s POV, told in the past, because she’s speaking to a detective. Thus, from the very first page we know the scheme didn’t go successfully. It immediately loses all of the excitement and intrigue because you know the police are involved. The amount of times Ava says, “Now, detective, I know what you’re thinking” and then would lay out a potential flaw in their plan, only to immediately explain how they worked around it. Very annoying. Again, literally no intrigue because it’s all told in the past and you know the outcome (at least you think you do).
One of my pet peeves is entire plots in past tense. Even though there’s usually a reason why that plot device is used, I’m still annoyed by it. (Yes, I am looking at you here, Song of Achilles.)
I’m kinda bored the whole time, but thinking there must be something else to have intrigued the Hello Sunshine book club, so I keep going.
Part 2 is told from Winnie’s POV, and we find out all is not as it seems. Yet I’ve been bored the whole time up until now so I wasn’t even shocked by the twist. I was like “ok.”
So then more plot happens and it’s ok at best.
Then we get to the end. THE ENDING???? I can’t believe it. There’s not really a twist at the end, it kinda just ends and you’re like “?????” It feels like there’s supposed to be a moral, and the moral is that Winnie is the American dream?? What a baffling end.
Also I want to know what happens to both Henri the toddler and Maria the nanny at the end.
I was really excited for this one based on the premise and because Reese Witherspoon chose it for her book club, and I think she usually has quite good picks.
HOWEVER, I did not enjoy this.
It’s the story of two protagonists, Ava and Winnie, who start an international counterfeit luxury hand bags scheme, and all the hijinks that go along with that. Ava is the classic high achieving Stanford lawyer with a young child and surgeon husband. Winnie abruptly left Stanford under mysterious circumstances after a national fake SAT scandal. Years later they reconnect and start this business.
It’s split into Part 1 and Part 2.
Part 1 is about 40% of the book, and is told entirely from Ava’s POV, told in the past, because she’s speaking to a detective. Thus, from the very first page we know the scheme didn’t go successfully. It immediately loses all of the excitement and intrigue because you know the police are involved. The amount of times Ava says, “Now, detective, I know what you’re thinking” and then would lay out a potential flaw in their plan, only to immediately explain how they worked around it. Very annoying. Again, literally no intrigue because it’s all told in the past and you know the outcome (at least you think you do).
One of my pet peeves is entire plots in past tense. Even though there’s usually a reason why that plot device is used, I’m still annoyed by it. (Yes, I am looking at you here, Song of Achilles.)
I’m kinda bored the whole time, but thinking there must be something else to have intrigued the Hello Sunshine book club, so I keep going.
Part 2 is told from Winnie’s POV, and we find out all is not as it seems. Yet I’ve been bored the whole time up until now so I wasn’t even shocked by the twist. I was like “ok.”
So then more plot happens and it’s ok at best.
Then we get to the end. THE ENDING???? I can’t believe it. There’s not really a twist at the end, it kinda just ends and you’re like “?????” It feels like there’s supposed to be a moral, and the moral is that Winnie is the American dream?? What a baffling end.
Also I want to know what happens to both Henri the toddler and Maria the nanny at the end.