Rating: 3/5
Review:
Decently written bu overdone
I'm afraid I struggled with this book. It has some good aspects in that it deals
with important issues and is decently written, but it tries to do too much and
as a result is very overblown.
The bulk of the book is narrated by Kate, a war reporter
suffering from PTSD who has recurring nightmares and hallucinations,
who has returned to her childhood home to sort out her mother's estate. We get the unreliable narrative, fragmented
into three time frames, in which a tale of unmitigated misery and trauma
emerges: a violent father, sibling hatred, a tragic death, alcoholism…and of
course, PTSD. It's all a bit much,
frankly, giving the whole book a feeling of trying too hard and hence a
slightly false air. The story takes (via
a convenient coincidence) a different turn about two-thirds of the way through;
its development from then on felt very familiar and the denouement seemed
contrived and rather silly to me.
It's a shame, because Nuala Ellwood writes well and I
applaud her desire to portray PTSD and its effect on war reporters. In the end, though, this felt to me like a
rather contrived thriller whose overcooked tone detracted from any
psychological insight. It's not dreadful
by any means, but personally I can't really recommend it.
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