Reviewed by girlinthepages on
I have to say that I loved Essie. A Slytherin to her core, she's someone who has grown up in a very stressful environment what with everything in her life being subject to being filmed and manipulated but instead of becoming a victim, she's quietly studied her parents and producers for years and has learned how to scheme, manipulate, and pull the strings behind the curtain just like the rest of them. While this may not make her the most "likeable" protagonist, it certainly makes her one with agency and determination even with in horrible situations and she exudes a different kind of strength than most protagonists. I enjoyed watching her "play the game" and slowly guiding her parents, producers and audience into the narrative she wants to create around her pregnancy as a means to finally escaping to freedom.
While the novel is heavy on family politics and small town drama, it also takes a much darker turn toward the end (which I was expecting but admittedly still horrified by). The plot twist was revealed in such a dramatic fashion that had me completely immersed in the story, but then the book pretty much ended! There were a few pages that jumped ahead in time to a few years after to see how Essie was doing, but I really didn't feel I received very much closure as a reader or got to see the aftermath of such a huge bomb dropping so late in the book, which is the reason I rated the story 4 stars instead of 5.
Overall: An extremely compelling read about the sinister secrets behind reality tv and the devastating power of ignorance in both religion and family, The Book of Essie is an intense yet addictive story. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 17 January, 2019: Finished reading
- 17 January, 2019: Reviewed