Book Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
A crime drama to say the least, read below to see my review for Then She Was Gone. While thrilling, the book oftentimes got too dark even for me. Be warned that this is a hard book to swallow (even if the writing and prose is amazing).
Book Information
Laurel Mack doesn’t know how to pick up the pieces. Ever since her daughter, Ellie Mack, disappeared ten years ago without a trace, Laurel hasn’t been the same. Her relationship with her two other children crumbled. She and her husband got divorced. Everything keeps falling apart for her. That is, until she meets Floyd. Floyd makes her feel alive again, and his daughter, Poppy, shares a striking resemblance to Ellie. As she gets closer to each of them, she must revisit her past and finally discover what really happened to Ellie.
Review | Heidi Dischler
So, there were a lot of things about this book that I liked, but there were also a lot of things about this book that I didn’t like. I’ll start first with what I liked. The characters were amazing. I feel like they were really developed well and had such complex emotions. Ellie especially stole my heart. I liked the premise of the novel, the plot, and how everything tied together. Although, the plot and how everything tied together is kind of a double-edged sword.
I really wasn’t sure how I felt about the alternating point-of-views. There were so many. At first it was just between then and now with Ellie and Laurel, but then it gave so many perspectives it just felt conflicting. The ending and how everything tied together really upset me. I won’t go into it until I announce the spoilers next, but it was really triggering for me and upsetting. So, if you get upset easily about kidnapping and other gruesome things, don’t read this book.
Spoilers ahead.
Okay, so here we are. Remember how I said I really loved Ellie? Well, she dies, and it isn’t a very pretty death.
Her tutor, Noel, is legit psycho. She kidnaps Ellie, artificially inseminates Ellie (yes, you heard that right), and forces Ellie to have a baby for her. Once Ellie has the baby, Noel virtually forgets about her and leaves her to starve in the basement. Like, excuse me?? I literally was rooting for Ellie the whole time and I know that they found her bones so she had to be dead, but I was holding onto this hope that those were the wrong bones and the police screwed up. I just wanted her to be able to get out. I know terrible things like this happen all the time, but I really, really didn’t like this aspect of the book even if it is well written.
Overall, though, I do think it was a good book despite the gruesome ending. I think that seeing how grief and tragedy can change a family is really important for people to understand. The plot was good even if I could’ve done without a few extra point-of-views, and it was an extremely fast read. I would recommend treading lightly, though, because of all of the potential triggers.
Source: Overdrive Audiobook from Public Library
One thought on “Book Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell”