Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Whatever You Love

Book: Whatever You Love
Author: Louise Doughty

After the death of Laura's nine-year-old daughter, Betty, is ruled an accident in a hit-and-run, Laura decides to take revenge into her own hands, determined to track down the man responsible. All the while, her inner turmoil is reopening the old wounds of her passionate love affair with Betty's father, David, and his abandonment of the family for another woman.

Haunted by her past and driven to a breaking point by her thirst for retribution, Laura discovers the unforeseen lengths she is willing to go to for love and vengeance.-Goodreads

Review: Laura's 9 year old daughter Betty and her best friend are allowed to walk from school to dance by themselves for the first time ever. Disaster strikes when the girls are hit by a car and Betty is killed instantly. Laura, separated from her husband, is overwhelmed with grief and eventually finds the man responsible and seeks revenge. Or...at least that is what I thought I would read based on the book's jacket. In actuality, this book is a nicely written story about Laura's marriage to David-how they started dating, fall in love and eventually separate. When the narrative does finally follow Laura seeking revenge, her actions are so wacky, I could no imagine any mother, regardless of their grief, doing what she did. That really made me shake my head at the direction the author decided to take. 

Overall, I like the author's writing style but this was just an okay read. 

Grade: 2/5

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