Never before have I felt less motivated to finish a book than reading ‘Into The Water’!
Never before have I felt less motivated to finish a book than reading ‘Into The Water’! ?
17 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
Hats Off to Val McDermid
Her Guardian review of Paula Hawkins’ new thriller pulls off an unusual feat – – a critical analysis of the book without summarizing the plot. Even better, she makes the point that successful thrillers are rare because the trick of withholding and releasing information is so tough to get right. The device of the unreliable narrator (Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, and Before I Go to Sleep) can only be used once in a while and spreading the story across multiple points-of-view (Into the Water has 11) can leave the reader confused. It can also damage the book’s style and credibility. Information in the successful thriller is released without showing the clockwork and the scenes fly past without jarring the reader’s consciousness.
Val McDermid gives us a good example of this. People don’t say “seeing the moon behind clouds reminds me of the night when that terrible thing happened that has haunted my life ever since,” – – it’s clumsy and suspiciously contrived and we know we’d just say, “I remember the night Johnny died.” It’s not clear if this example is taken directly from Into the Water but Val McDermid’s point is nonetheless well made. It explains how thrillers work and where Into the Water falls short for her – – leaving us to make up our own minds.
I was the same i struggled through it.
Ive still not bought it as the reviews are so mixed x
I couldn’t finish it for ages. And now it’s put me off reading!
I didn’t end up finishing it,in the end gave up.
I loved it and and definitely in a minority it would seem after reading lots of comments on this page and many others. ?
I read it last week. It went on and on without really going anywhere and then it just ended. Not a thriller for me.
I struggled with Girl on The Train , Took me five attempts to finish it . I tried ” Into The Water ” and I’m sorry to say that I completely gave up on it , which is rare as I hate giving up on a book not finishing it x
I DNF The Girl on the Train. Lost interest.
Struggled with Girl on the Train. I was going to give Into The Water a try but have decided not to.
Maybe i’m being cynical but one day I decided i’d give it a go and download the kindle version. I though it a bit greedy to charge £7.99 tbh.so didn’t bother
I have not picked up either of her books as the hype is high and I don’t think it could live up to it
Don’t think I’ll even bother, thought GOTT was rubbish also…
You should have all read The Girl on the bus by N.M.Brown..it’s Brilliant ..Loved loved loved ..
I saw that earlier. My tbr pile is filling up nicely.
Me neither Susan ?
I slogged through Girl on a Train. Am about 950 in the library queue for this one. I may as well give it a go as I’ll have waited months….