Book 18/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**teeny tiny spoilers below**
3.5 stars.
For the first three chapters I was so damn sure this would be my fourth 2 star read in a row because I was not feeling the author’s writing style AT ALL!!! On the back cover the prose is described as “vibrantly alive and original”, but to me it was nothing but purple prose on steroids.
But something happened somehow, coz in the fourth chapter the book started to get really interesting. Maybe I started getting used to the author’s ridiculously purple prose. Or maybe the prose changed from a garish purple to a subtle one like lavender or lilac. 🤷♀️. All I know is that I started enjoying the book from chapter four.
This book has been compared to Gillian Flynn‘s Gone Girl and once I got to Furies I could see why. Similar to Gone Girl, this is the story of a marriage being told with changing perspectives; the titular Fates is mostly Lotto’s perspective while Furies is mostly Mathilde’s. Fates was interesting enough but fucking hell the book turned on its head and became fascinating AF once I got to Furies. Mathilde’s POV had me longing to return to the book whenever I wasn’t reading it. Furies was so fascinating that if the book was written in “normal” prose I’d have gobbled it up in 2 – 3 days, but that fucking purple prose man! That fucking purple prose!
Nyhu, I understand the comparisons between Amy and Mathilde as well, but I quite liked Amy, unlike Mathilde who was, long story short, batshit crazy. In my review of Gone Girl this is what I wrote about Amy:
Amy is quite the fascinating character. I love how the book really explored her character, as opposed to the movie. I really got to see inside her head. And what an interesting “head” she has. Her perspective was the more interesting one; Nick was such a dick. I really really really liked Amy, understood and identified with her in a lot of instances. Does that make me a sociopathic murderess too? Lol.
I understood the motives behind Amy’s madness even though I hardly ever agreed with her actions. As for Mathilde, I really did not understand her motives. It cannot be just for the love of Lotto. Coz fucking hell Mathilde is so cruel. The author tells Mathilde’s backstory in the most fascinating way (and quite a fascinating backstory it is) but it just doesn’t justify how cruel she was and is.
I hardly ever give half stars in my ratings coz I do not believe in them (lol, fr though), but 3.5 stars to this one. If it weren’t for the purple prose this would have been an easy 4 star read coz of how good Furies was. I may not have understood Mathilde, but her POV made for an absolutely fascinating read.
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 