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A review by auroara
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
3.0
2,5 ★
I have very mixed feelings about this book.
I was so close to dnf-ing it during the first half because of:
- bad writing (The sentences are short and simple. All characters sound the same. In the audio book they had a different narrator for each perspective, yet I was struggling to distinguish between the characters...)
- flat and stereotyped characters
- the overuse of additional problems as background story/characterisation (we have alcoholism, bipolar disorder, drugs, cheating, toxic family situaions and relationships, divorce, manipulation, lgbt, homophobia, racism, social pressure, depression, anxiety, class conflict, cancer, immigrants)
- sexualisation and slut shaming of female characters
- the secrets were predictable, many things were obvious
- the inability of the police, which leads to my biggest problem of all: the foundation of the whole plot () makes NO SENSE AT ALL because
- the motive is the blog post about the secrets, right? why would the murder not delete it? or delete the thing about themselves?
- why would anybody be so stupid and then MAKE POSTS IN THE INTERNET ABOUT BEING THE CULPIT??? especially because all four of them were already SUSPECTS at the time like... this is not suspicious at all to anyone???
- why would they then PROCEED TO PUBLISH THEIR SECRETS?? like.. what's the point of the murder??????? hello???
- WHAT ABOUT THE FUCKING PHONES
- omg they are getting framed in such an obvious way I screamed at my phone multiple times out of frustration, how can you write all of this and think "yes, this makes sense, this is realistic" NO IT'S NOT
- seriously this whole investigation was so irritating to me. I went into this thinking it was a murder mystery and got this mess
- overall this felt like a Wattpad story published 10 years ago by a teenager (I mean... Tumblr, Rihanna's "Only Girl", Divergent...)
Surprisingly, it got a little better in the second half. After, they try to figure out who did it. I liked the changes they went through (especially Addy) and the relationships/friendships that came out of it. The dynamics among themselves was probably the most interesting thing in this book and the reason I kept reading. I was rooting for and really wanted them to end up happy together.
Although it wasn't perfect (and I was still annoyed by the things I mentioned before), it was somewhat enjoyable. The end was alright too. I'm not so sure what to think about the revelation, though. It makes sense but it's a weird portrayal of mental health issues.
I have very mixed feelings about this book.
I was so close to dnf-ing it during the first half because of:
- bad writing (The sentences are short and simple. All characters sound the same. In the audio book they had a different narrator for each perspective, yet I was struggling to distinguish between the characters...)
- flat and stereotyped characters
- the overuse of additional problems as background story/characterisation (we have alcoholism, bipolar disorder, drugs, cheating, toxic family situaions and relationships, divorce, manipulation, lgbt, homophobia, racism, social pressure, depression, anxiety, class conflict, cancer, immigrants)
- sexualisation and slut shaming of female characters
- the secrets were predictable, many things were obvious
- the inability of the police, which leads to my biggest problem of all: the foundation of the whole plot (
Spoiler
all four of them - and ONLY THEM - being suspected for murderSpoiler
- why would someone create such a plan and then insert themselves in the situation and making themselves a witness and possible suspect?- the motive is the blog post about the secrets, right? why would the murder not delete it? or delete the thing about themselves?
- why would anybody be so stupid and then MAKE POSTS IN THE INTERNET ABOUT BEING THE CULPIT??? especially because all four of them were already SUSPECTS at the time like... this is not suspicious at all to anyone???
- why would they then PROCEED TO PUBLISH THEIR SECRETS?? like.. what's the point of the murder??????? hello???
- WHAT ABOUT THE FUCKING PHONES
- omg they are getting framed in such an obvious way I screamed at my phone multiple times out of frustration, how can you write all of this and think "yes, this makes sense, this is realistic" NO IT'S NOT
- seriously this whole investigation was so irritating to me. I went into this thinking it was a murder mystery and got this mess
- overall this felt like a Wattpad story published 10 years ago by a teenager (I mean... Tumblr, Rihanna's "Only Girl", Divergent...)
Surprisingly, it got a little better in the second half. After
Spoiler
their secrets are revealedSpoiler
Bronwyn and NateAlthough it wasn't perfect (and I was still annoyed by the things I mentioned before), it was somewhat enjoyable. The end was alright too. I'm not so sure what to think about the revelation, though. It makes sense but it's a weird portrayal of mental health issues.