francesmthompson's Reviews (976)

Considerably better than Gone Girl, in my opinion. Dark and tragic, yes, but made completely readable and page-turner-y through excellent writing, fascinatingly extreme characterisations and that all-important want for much put upon MC to somehow find light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

One of the few books this year to have me turning the pages eagerly... maybe I'm more into post-apocalyptic fiction than I thought.

I'm kind of angry that this book was published. It feels very wrong to market a book like this to young women who are struggling with the exact same issues the author deals with - personal insecurities, low self-esteem, the consequences of poor choices - and yet it offers no insight or solace to the reader. I understand why many would find it funny and frivolous - and based on several years of singledom in London I did relate to several of the places the author was coming from (and going to) in her "decade of chaos" - but it left me feeling sad and strangely serious about how the book felt very, very irresponsible.

I was torn between giving this a 3 and 4 star rating because Part One of this book was just brilliant - think Bloodline with mostly only female protagonists - but the remaining three parts (all of which made up the second half of the book) really didn't muster up the same impact or intrigue. All that said, this is one author who can write brilliantly. So much of the language made me feel gooey inside. So, yep, that's why it gets 4 stars in the end.