A Simple Favor
I must confess that I grabbed a copy of A Simple Favor from my public library because I thought that the preview for the upcoming movie looked entertaining. While I found it to be a quick, enjoyable read it is a book that I can't help but think that the plot of the book may work better as a movie script.
I am going to give away some major spoilers in the rest of this review.
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The main character Stephanie keeps a mommy blog. Her approach to it is generic. I found myself rolling my eyes when she stated after her friend Emily disappears something to the effect of needing to appreciate people when they are around because you never know how long they are going to be around. The real catch with phrasing like that for me is that while it does espouse a lot of emotional truisms to real life, that is such a cliche statement.
It was not surprising that after Emily was thought to be dead Stephanie winds up getting really close to Sean, Emily's husband because their sons are good friends. And then (gasp) she winds up sleeping with him which evolves into a romantic relationship. I feel like if the author delved a little deeper into the complexities of the feelings that Stephanie had it may have felt like she was breathing a new voice into this story but it felt rather weak.
I wound up laughing hysterically when it turns out that Stephanie's big secret was that she had a scandalous affair with her half brother that she did not know existed until after her father's death. And (gasp) her son was not her deceased husband's son, it was her half brother's son. However it turned out that that both her half brother and her husband were killed in the same car accident.
Emily's big reveal was that she had a twin sister, Evelyn, who committed suicide who everyone mistook for Emily. Apparently Emily never even told her husband that she had a twin sister because their relationship was rather strained. I know it was not supposed to be a comic moment. However it felt so ridiculous and over the top that that I found myself bursting out laughing.
I felt like I had entered the day time TV version of books when Stephanie went to gather information from Emily's mother. But of course Emily's mother also has altzheimer's disease.
Then the real clincher at the very end was that Emily and Sean had talked about faking her death to get the insurance money so they could step away from their emotionally exhausting careers. But wait, it turns out that Sean had been physically abusive to Emily. So Emily needs to forge a life on her own after everyone has believed her to be dead.
This is where I do have to say that domestic abuse is a real issue that many women silently suffer with. I feel like stories are a really powerful way for women to communicate about these types of issues they have been silenced on. However as this particular book seems to cover every soap opera cliche possible, it felt like it was trying to cram everything possible in the story line without any real depth. There was no exploration of this as a serious issue as much as it was something that was a very quick reveal towards the end.
Even though I found the novel to be so shallow and cliche, I have to admit that I enjoyed reading it. It was short enough for me to breeze through it in a weekend which helped. I may have been laughing at points that were meant to be more serious but it read as a comic book version of a domestic thriller for me. While the plot was predictable I found myself entertained enough to keep reading. This is not an author that I would want to emulate, but it is an author who kept me amused. As it is not the type of book I will return to or help me build my horror collection I am so glad that I got an electronic copy of this book from my library. I probably would be disappointed if I spent any money on the book. But I am glad that I read it quickly.
I could not help but wonder with the novel's fast pace if it would work better as a movie...so it is a movie that I want to make sure to see.
I am going to give away some major spoilers in the rest of this review.
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
The main character Stephanie keeps a mommy blog. Her approach to it is generic. I found myself rolling my eyes when she stated after her friend Emily disappears something to the effect of needing to appreciate people when they are around because you never know how long they are going to be around. The real catch with phrasing like that for me is that while it does espouse a lot of emotional truisms to real life, that is such a cliche statement.
It was not surprising that after Emily was thought to be dead Stephanie winds up getting really close to Sean, Emily's husband because their sons are good friends. And then (gasp) she winds up sleeping with him which evolves into a romantic relationship. I feel like if the author delved a little deeper into the complexities of the feelings that Stephanie had it may have felt like she was breathing a new voice into this story but it felt rather weak.
I wound up laughing hysterically when it turns out that Stephanie's big secret was that she had a scandalous affair with her half brother that she did not know existed until after her father's death. And (gasp) her son was not her deceased husband's son, it was her half brother's son. However it turned out that that both her half brother and her husband were killed in the same car accident.
Emily's big reveal was that she had a twin sister, Evelyn, who committed suicide who everyone mistook for Emily. Apparently Emily never even told her husband that she had a twin sister because their relationship was rather strained. I know it was not supposed to be a comic moment. However it felt so ridiculous and over the top that that I found myself bursting out laughing.
I felt like I had entered the day time TV version of books when Stephanie went to gather information from Emily's mother. But of course Emily's mother also has altzheimer's disease.
Then the real clincher at the very end was that Emily and Sean had talked about faking her death to get the insurance money so they could step away from their emotionally exhausting careers. But wait, it turns out that Sean had been physically abusive to Emily. So Emily needs to forge a life on her own after everyone has believed her to be dead.
This is where I do have to say that domestic abuse is a real issue that many women silently suffer with. I feel like stories are a really powerful way for women to communicate about these types of issues they have been silenced on. However as this particular book seems to cover every soap opera cliche possible, it felt like it was trying to cram everything possible in the story line without any real depth. There was no exploration of this as a serious issue as much as it was something that was a very quick reveal towards the end.
Even though I found the novel to be so shallow and cliche, I have to admit that I enjoyed reading it. It was short enough for me to breeze through it in a weekend which helped. I may have been laughing at points that were meant to be more serious but it read as a comic book version of a domestic thriller for me. While the plot was predictable I found myself entertained enough to keep reading. This is not an author that I would want to emulate, but it is an author who kept me amused. As it is not the type of book I will return to or help me build my horror collection I am so glad that I got an electronic copy of this book from my library. I probably would be disappointed if I spent any money on the book. But I am glad that I read it quickly.
I could not help but wonder with the novel's fast pace if it would work better as a movie...so it is a movie that I want to make sure to see.
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