No two people read the same book, or so they say. Our lenses, preferences, and schedules mean that books can be received very differently. What is fresh to one may seem trite to another. While some might enjoy the devilish antics of the protagonist, others may find nothing to root for.
And, yet, there is often a critical consensus: people as a collective like or dislike the same things. Most books will only get a handful of reactions in any camp.
Every once in a while, the consensus and I do not agree. Next week I will look at the critical darlings that I thought were overrated. Today, here is a list of books I appreciated much more than others did.
I love that moment in books where a character says something you have thought privately but never heard articulated. It happened for me when Jodie, the long-married protagonist, says that her life has peaked and she doesn’t expect it to get better. Her husband has been cheating on her for years and she decides to face it in a macabre way. I found the whole thing very entertaining.
A lot of the negative reviewers had been pulled in by the Gone Girl comparison and felt it didn’t live up to it. I actually read this book first, so I couldn’t compare. Others wanted at least one likeable character. I prefer relatable characters, so that didn’t bother me.
My score: 5.0. Goodreads score: 3.32
2.
I can never resist this premise. Imagine if someone befriended you and you slowly began to suspect that you had met before. You can’t remember her, but she seems eerily familiar. I find the idea terrifying. In this novel, a depressed new mother meets an urbane neighbor who initially shows her kindness. It seems strange, though: why is an older woman seeking a friendship with someone in a vastly different stage of life? The tension pulls at you until you realize just how far some people will go for revenge.
The negative reviews couldn’t forgive the cliffhanger ending and what it implied. Given how awful it was, I liked not knowing for sure what the outcome was.
My rating: 5.0. Goodreads score: 2.83
3.
This is a beautifully written novel about a quirky Wisconsin family, the Glides. When the adult daughter, Gretchen, gets pregnant, she and her husband decide not to reveal the baby’s gender. The twist is that they plan to raise the child without ever revealing the gender.
It’s funny that so many of the negative reviews thought the gender-neutral concept was foreign. It isn’t in the West Coast communities I have lived in. That’s not why I liked it, though. It is a well-written story.
My score: 4.0. Goodreads rating: 2.92
4.
An estranged mother and daughter compete on a reality show where they travel in teams of two around the world. (Phil Keoghan doesn’t make an appearance.) Of course the producers exploit the girl’s secret and the mother’s same-sex curiosity. There are other characters, too, whose lives are revealed amidst the heart-pounding race.
I loved every minute of this book. Others compared it unfavorably to the author’s previous works and some didn’t like the “liberal” values. I can see how the soft-focus cover might have been misleading.
My score: 5.0. Goodreads score: 3.27
5.
A mystery set in an Arizona bordertown? Yes, please. I loved the setting of this novel, a hilly town full of artists and bohemians. A private investigator, Chloe, is hired after a human body turns up in a backyard. A skull ring leads her to a local band who may know the killer.
This is the fifth in a series. Maybe readers were getting tired of Chloe and her love interest. (Those were my least favorite scenes.) How else to explain the middling reaction?
My rating: 5.0. Goodreads: 3.29
Books Smitten 