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What Has Become of You
What if a teacher’s most promising pupil is also her most dangerous? A tautly plotted psychological thriller, as intelligent as it is mesmerizing
What Has Become of You follows Vera Lundy, an aspiring crime writer and master of self-deprecation who, like many adults, has survived adolescence but hasn’t entirely overcome it. When she agrees to fill in for a private school English teacher on maternity leave, teaching The Catcher in the Rye to privileged girls, Vera feels in over her head. The students are on edge, too, due to the recent murder of a local girl close to their age.
Enter Jensen Willard. At fifteen she’s already a gifted writer but also self-destructive and eerily reminiscent of Vera’s younger self. As the two outcasts forge a tentative bond, a sense of menace enfolds their small New England town. When another student, new to the country, is imperiled by her beliefs, Vera finds herself in the vortex of danger—and suspicion.
With the threat of a killer at large, the disappearance of her increasingly worri-some pupil, and her own professional reputation at stake, Vera must thread her way among what is right by the law, by her students, and by herself. In this poignant page-turner, populated with beguiling characters and sharp social insights, coming-of-age can happen no matter how old you are.
What Has Become of You follows Vera Lundy, an aspiring crime writer and master of self-deprecation who, like many adults, has survived adolescence but hasn’t entirely overcome it. When she agrees to fill in for a private school English teacher on maternity leave, teaching The Catcher in the Rye to privileged girls, Vera feels in over her head. The students are on edge, too, due to the recent murder of a local girl close to their age.
Enter Jensen Willard. At fifteen she’s already a gifted writer but also self-destructive and eerily reminiscent of Vera’s younger self. As the two outcasts forge a tentative bond, a sense of menace enfolds their small New England town. When another student, new to the country, is imperiled by her beliefs, Vera finds herself in the vortex of danger—and suspicion.
With the threat of a killer at large, the disappearance of her increasingly worri-some pupil, and her own professional reputation at stake, Vera must thread her way among what is right by the law, by her students, and by herself. In this poignant page-turner, populated with beguiling characters and sharp social insights, coming-of-age can happen no matter how old you are.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2014
29 people are currently reading
1282 people want to read
About the author
Jan Elizabeth Watson
5 books37 followersJan Elizabeth Watson lives in Maine. ASTA IN THE WINGS is her first novel. Her widely anticipated second novel, WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU, will be published in May, 2014. For more about the author, visit: http://janelizabethwatsonwriter.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
June 29, 2014
I'm writing this review as I recently wrapped up my 9th year as an educator (and currently a middle school librarian). There were just way too many flimsy plotholes in this book to take it seriously.
The first gaping hole is when the teacher does what she does with Jensen -- ALL of it. All teachers undergo thorough training and are MANDATED REPORTERS. The fact that Vera did not immediately report Jensen's journals are ridiculous. And then...AND THEN...(spoiler alert)...this idiot woman goes to a hotel room with her student...AND THEN...drinks alcohol with her student. It gets worse. She LIES to the police, more than once. I just want to bludgeon Vera with something, anything, because it is incredibly stupid, and then I want to bludgeon myself for even taking the time to read this inane story.
That Jensen is unhinged is obvious from the very first email she sends to Vera. So, it was not a psychological thriller for me. More like an exercise in vapidity.
But hey, the really dumb teacher who is fired can become a librarian, so at least there's that. I really hated the way librarians were portrayed in this novel, first as suspicious and uptight (and NO LIBRARIAN would ever go on record and tell a newspaper what a patron checks out, that violates privacy laws--yet another hole), and then as a way for Vera to somehow redeem her idiot self.
OK, I'm done. Just DONE.
The first gaping hole is when the teacher does what she does with Jensen -- ALL of it. All teachers undergo thorough training and are MANDATED REPORTERS. The fact that Vera did not immediately report Jensen's journals are ridiculous. And then...AND THEN...(spoiler alert)...this idiot woman goes to a hotel room with her student...AND THEN...drinks alcohol with her student. It gets worse. She LIES to the police, more than once. I just want to bludgeon Vera with something, anything, because it is incredibly stupid, and then I want to bludgeon myself for even taking the time to read this inane story.
That Jensen is unhinged is obvious from the very first email she sends to Vera. So, it was not a psychological thriller for me. More like an exercise in vapidity.
But hey, the really dumb teacher who is fired can become a librarian, so at least there's that. I really hated the way librarians were portrayed in this novel, first as suspicious and uptight (and NO LIBRARIAN would ever go on record and tell a newspaper what a patron checks out, that violates privacy laws--yet another hole), and then as a way for Vera to somehow redeem her idiot self.
OK, I'm done. Just DONE.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2018
I usually enjoy thrillers, but this one didn't do much for me. I thought Watson had some great sentence structure and word choices, but the plot as a whole seemed flimsy. I'm not a teacher, but some of the things Vera chooses not to do seems so wrong that I couldn't like her as a character. Why wouldn't you tell someone about the journals Jensen is submitting? But the biggest issue for me was the "climax" which I can't actually identify. The end of the book just kind of ... trails off. very unsatisfying.
**I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**
**I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**
September 11, 2015
hooked me right away. Vera is an unconventional teacher and human being, proven by the interesting connection she has with her student Jensen. intelligent and suspenseful, although sometimes the first word doesn't quite apply to the protagonist.
May 24, 2014
Dark suspense novel featuring a teacher who knows a lot, but nothing helpful about people. Her blundering got very tiresome.
May 5, 2014
Growing up is a tricky thing. Not everyone can or wants to do it. I know I’ve clung onto many things from my youth as I’ve been ripped into the world of adult life, kicking and screaming. I think that is large part of the new novel from author Jan Elizabeth Watson. What Has Become of You features two captivating leads who both are having issues with growing up. One is Vera Lundy, a 39 year old English teacher, new to an all girls high school, and the other is 15 year old Jensen Willard, a strange girl whose writing in class reveals her as a talented, troubled young person.
Vera sees a bit of herself in the young miss Willard and takes a shine to her as she begins to teach her new students Catcher in the Rye. The class discusses the way Holden Caulfield sees the world, and how it relates to their own paths growing up and a recent tragedy in the town, which leads to more writing from Jensen, some of which is highly troubling for Vera to read. Things start to spiral out of control when a student winds up dead and Jensen goes missing, and fingers begin to point in Vera’s direction.
That’s about as much of the plot I am comfortable sharing, as anything more will delve into spoiler territory, and this is a book that should be read with the option of having it’s unspoiled pages flip through your fingers at a rapid rate. It’s the definition of a page turner, as once things really start to cook, it’s hard to put down. I picked up the book intending it to be something I’d read over the course of a week or two, and I finished it less than 48 hours.
In Vera you have a character who on the surface seems well put together, and she’s an likeable figure, especially as she warms up to her students, but as we dig deeper into her psyche we see a scared individual who wants to help this strange girl she’s met, feeling some connection to her. In Jensen, you have a mysterious girl character, not unfamiliar to those who read any sort of young adult fiction. She’s rough around the edges, rebellious, and more than a little sarcastic, but again, there is charm on the surface, a surface that is slowly eaten away as Vera (and thus the reader) gets to know her. Both are struggling to grow up in their own ways. Vera wants to be the cool relate-able teacher, and Jensen, for all her young wisdom, is confused and seeks guidance. The two of them together start a chain reaction that really changes the landscape of the small Maine town in which they live.
Watson uses her love of detective stories and noir to weave a delightfully dark mystery that will have you trying to figure out what is going on, who is behind it all, and the answers you’ll receive may shock and surprise you. Darkness creeps into the tale early on and once it takes hold, there is no getting off this wild ride. In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Ms. Watson. I did however bring as objective a viewpoint on this as I could. I was terrified I wouldn’t like the book, because it’s never fun to tell our friends we don’t like their art, but I was relieved that within the first few pages, I was sucked right in and I wasn’t let go until the story concluded and I was left gobsmacked by an ending I couldn’t possibly see coming.
What Has Become of You is at bookstores everywhere now (as well as on digital formats like Kindle) from Dutton, an arm of Penguin Books. I highly recommend you give it a read now, so you can be one of the cool kids when it takes the country’s book clubs and summer reading lists by storm.
Vera sees a bit of herself in the young miss Willard and takes a shine to her as she begins to teach her new students Catcher in the Rye. The class discusses the way Holden Caulfield sees the world, and how it relates to their own paths growing up and a recent tragedy in the town, which leads to more writing from Jensen, some of which is highly troubling for Vera to read. Things start to spiral out of control when a student winds up dead and Jensen goes missing, and fingers begin to point in Vera’s direction.
That’s about as much of the plot I am comfortable sharing, as anything more will delve into spoiler territory, and this is a book that should be read with the option of having it’s unspoiled pages flip through your fingers at a rapid rate. It’s the definition of a page turner, as once things really start to cook, it’s hard to put down. I picked up the book intending it to be something I’d read over the course of a week or two, and I finished it less than 48 hours.
In Vera you have a character who on the surface seems well put together, and she’s an likeable figure, especially as she warms up to her students, but as we dig deeper into her psyche we see a scared individual who wants to help this strange girl she’s met, feeling some connection to her. In Jensen, you have a mysterious girl character, not unfamiliar to those who read any sort of young adult fiction. She’s rough around the edges, rebellious, and more than a little sarcastic, but again, there is charm on the surface, a surface that is slowly eaten away as Vera (and thus the reader) gets to know her. Both are struggling to grow up in their own ways. Vera wants to be the cool relate-able teacher, and Jensen, for all her young wisdom, is confused and seeks guidance. The two of them together start a chain reaction that really changes the landscape of the small Maine town in which they live.
Watson uses her love of detective stories and noir to weave a delightfully dark mystery that will have you trying to figure out what is going on, who is behind it all, and the answers you’ll receive may shock and surprise you. Darkness creeps into the tale early on and once it takes hold, there is no getting off this wild ride. In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Ms. Watson. I did however bring as objective a viewpoint on this as I could. I was terrified I wouldn’t like the book, because it’s never fun to tell our friends we don’t like their art, but I was relieved that within the first few pages, I was sucked right in and I wasn’t let go until the story concluded and I was left gobsmacked by an ending I couldn’t possibly see coming.
What Has Become of You is at bookstores everywhere now (as well as on digital formats like Kindle) from Dutton, an arm of Penguin Books. I highly recommend you give it a read now, so you can be one of the cool kids when it takes the country’s book clubs and summer reading lists by storm.
March 23, 2014
High-school teacher Vera Lundy is a character you will pity. A forty-something woman, she is clearly book smart but lacking in confidence and good judgment. Having recently moved out of her mother's home, she has accepted a temporary position at a prestigious all girls school in Maine where she is to teach English literature. It is there that she first meets Jensen Willard. Somewhat of an introverted misfit, it is only when Vera assigns journal writing assignments that it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. When a series of shocking murders occur, Vera finds herself more involved than she would have ever expected.
I debated over whether to give this novel 3 or 3.5 stars. Watson does a wonderful job of portraying characters who you don't quite love, but feel invested in. The premise she sets up is intriguing, and I wish she would have done more with her characters. Part coming of age novel (oddly enough more so for Vera than anyone else), part thriller- not deciding to firmly be one of the other is where the book's biggest flaw lies. (And personally, I would have preferred the latter).
Overall, a good read for those that like novels like Kimberly McCreight's "Reconstructing Amelia" and enjoy tales of menacing, plotting private school girls.
Disclaimer: I received an advance copy for the purpose of review courtesy of the publisher.
I debated over whether to give this novel 3 or 3.5 stars. Watson does a wonderful job of portraying characters who you don't quite love, but feel invested in. The premise she sets up is intriguing, and I wish she would have done more with her characters. Part coming of age novel (oddly enough more so for Vera than anyone else), part thriller- not deciding to firmly be one of the other is where the book's biggest flaw lies. (And personally, I would have preferred the latter).
Overall, a good read for those that like novels like Kimberly McCreight's "Reconstructing Amelia" and enjoy tales of menacing, plotting private school girls.
Disclaimer: I received an advance copy for the purpose of review courtesy of the publisher.
May 26, 2014
The writing in this book was lovely. I agree with the others who stated that they wish the plot had been pushed just a little further. After all the buildup the payout was weak.
March 8, 2015
What Has Become of You is part mystery, part psychological thriller, and part character study. With this book, I stepped out of my romance genre comfort zone and into something a little different. I was drawn into the sound of this book. I am a huge fan of character studies. I love getting to really truly know a character's innermost thoughts to the point that I could predict what they would or wouldn't do even if it's not on the page.
The story centers around a semi-reclusive woman named Vera Lundy. At nearly forty years old, Vera does not have a steady job, despite being Princeton educated; She has no car and no friends. Most of the minutes on her telephone are used talking to her worried mother. As an aspiring non-fiction writer, she spends a lot of her free time researching serial killers and expanding on her fascination with a local murder that when she was a child. I found her to be a rather sad individual, almost like she hasn't found her purpose in life. After her job the local community college ends, she gets a temporary job teaching English at a local all-girls college preparatory school.
Vera is a very anxious and somewhat socially awkward person. It takes all that she has to get in front of a group of high school girls and teach. The first book she is assigned to teach is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. But before she even starts her first day of teaching, she gets an email from a student named Jensen Willard, explaining that she has already read the book but looks forward to meeting Vera. Part of the students' assignment is to write weekly journal entries in response to their assigned reading. The class is composed of several girls—most of their families are wealthy. But one student is different than the rest.
Jensen is a scholarship student. Her family is not wealthy. It doesn't take long for Vera to see just how brilliant she is. Her journal entries are reflective, incredibly detailed, and sometimes disturbing. Often times, she discusses in detail her problems with her classmates. She talks about her boyfriend and her feelings of inadequacy about dating someone so smart. She even starts to bring up pieces of Vera's personal life, revealing that she's done her own background check. Jensen's lengthy entries captivate Vera and remind her of her own high school years—a time she'd rather not remember. They remind Vera of herself.
While this is going on, one of Vera's own students is murdered causing citywide panic and an investigation to find out who did this. THis wasn't the first murder either. All of the clues begin paint a really scary picture all pointing to one person—Vera.
I found many parts of the book to be rather slow, especially in the beginning. The book is written in Vera's point-of-view but in third person and is very character focused. The more interest Vera takes in Jensen (and vice-versa), the more the story picked up for me. Once the murder investigations started and more of Jensen's journal entries were revealed, I enjoyed the story more. I was a bit unsatisfied in the ending, only because I wanted a little more closure I liked this novel, but overall it was a little too slow-paced for me.
3 stars
* I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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November 5, 2014
Short Take: Should have been much better than it was.
What Has Become Of You was not a bad book. It wasn’t a great book. It was an OK book, and interesting enough in its own way, but not necessarily one that I would want to re-read, or even think about much after I put it down.
Vera Lundy has accepted a temporary teaching position at an exclusive girls’ school in Maine. It’s the perfect opportunity for her to get back to her roots, teaching Catcher In The Rye by day, and working on her true-crime novel at night.
As she gets to know her students, she becomes closest to Jensen Willard, a talented writer whose assigned journals reveal a much darker, more desperate side than what the rest of the world sees. What starts out as simple curiosity and concern on Vera’s part becomes something more, as she sees far too much of herself in the girl. Vera begins crossing boundaries and risking her career to get closer to Jensen. It seems as though she might really be making a difference, until Jensen disappears, and all eyes turn to Vera.
Having been raised on both Dead Poets Society and Single White Female, I kinda-sorta expected the story to travel one of those paths, but I was happy to be wrong. It’s clear that the author had her own vision of where it would go, and I have to say, she followed it to its logical conclusion. There were no awkward twists, or inconsistent plotlines.
I found the names in this story interesting. The spinsterish teacher’s name is Very Lundy, which just SOUNDS frumpy. And the rebellious student is Jenson Willard, which sounds an awful lot like “jimson weed” to me. As Bell Biv Devoe helpfully pointed out, that girl is poison. And the title itself is full of meaning. It’s a question - what has become of you? - that could apply to several aspects of the book.
Vera used to be an artsy outsider type of girl, always looking at the inner circle of high school popularity, but never a part of it. She used to nurture that part of herself with prolific journaling and a standoffish attitude. But now, she’s 40, single, working on a book that will never be finished, clinging to the hope that the popular girls in school will accept her, miles and light years from who she thought she’d be. It’s a question a lot of us ask ourselves, when we look at what our dreams used to be - what has become of you?
It’s also a question that can be asked in the most literal sense when Jensen disappears.
I think that my biggest complaint is that the book just isn’t that exciting. I realize that it doesn’t necessarily take guts, gore, and car chases to make a good story (in fact, I’ve reviewed books where the opposite happened), but a story that has multiple murders, a disappearance, and a frankly uncomfortable teacher-student relationship should not be dull or tedious but somehow, it was.
I’ve tried to put my finger on what I didn’t like, why it didn’t work for me, and I’ve been coming up blank. Maybe it’s that everything was filtered through the perceptions of Vera, and she was just a boring, unlikeable person. Not interesting enough to be an anti-hero, too unimaginative to be an unreliable narrator. We didn’t get to see much of her interactions with anyone other than her students, which as I’ve already pointed out, are self-centered and inappropriate. Maybe if Vera had more of a life, this book would have as well. But maybe if she had more of a social circle, she wouldn’t be as drawn to her students, and there wouldn’t be any story at all.
Maybe it’s that the author didn’t go far enough. Vera’s “crimes” really aren’t that major. The truth about Jensen isn’t that shocking (I figured out one of the major revelations about halfway through). It could just be that I’ve read so many “thrillers” that I’ve become jaded. In any case, it just wasn’t there for me.
The Nerd’s Rating: THREE HAPPY NEURONS
What Has Become Of You was not a bad book. It wasn’t a great book. It was an OK book, and interesting enough in its own way, but not necessarily one that I would want to re-read, or even think about much after I put it down.
Vera Lundy has accepted a temporary teaching position at an exclusive girls’ school in Maine. It’s the perfect opportunity for her to get back to her roots, teaching Catcher In The Rye by day, and working on her true-crime novel at night.
As she gets to know her students, she becomes closest to Jensen Willard, a talented writer whose assigned journals reveal a much darker, more desperate side than what the rest of the world sees. What starts out as simple curiosity and concern on Vera’s part becomes something more, as she sees far too much of herself in the girl. Vera begins crossing boundaries and risking her career to get closer to Jensen. It seems as though she might really be making a difference, until Jensen disappears, and all eyes turn to Vera.
Having been raised on both Dead Poets Society and Single White Female, I kinda-sorta expected the story to travel one of those paths, but I was happy to be wrong. It’s clear that the author had her own vision of where it would go, and I have to say, she followed it to its logical conclusion. There were no awkward twists, or inconsistent plotlines.
I found the names in this story interesting. The spinsterish teacher’s name is Very Lundy, which just SOUNDS frumpy. And the rebellious student is Jenson Willard, which sounds an awful lot like “jimson weed” to me. As Bell Biv Devoe helpfully pointed out, that girl is poison. And the title itself is full of meaning. It’s a question - what has become of you? - that could apply to several aspects of the book.
Vera used to be an artsy outsider type of girl, always looking at the inner circle of high school popularity, but never a part of it. She used to nurture that part of herself with prolific journaling and a standoffish attitude. But now, she’s 40, single, working on a book that will never be finished, clinging to the hope that the popular girls in school will accept her, miles and light years from who she thought she’d be. It’s a question a lot of us ask ourselves, when we look at what our dreams used to be - what has become of you?
It’s also a question that can be asked in the most literal sense when Jensen disappears.
I think that my biggest complaint is that the book just isn’t that exciting. I realize that it doesn’t necessarily take guts, gore, and car chases to make a good story (in fact, I’ve reviewed books where the opposite happened), but a story that has multiple murders, a disappearance, and a frankly uncomfortable teacher-student relationship should not be dull or tedious but somehow, it was.
I’ve tried to put my finger on what I didn’t like, why it didn’t work for me, and I’ve been coming up blank. Maybe it’s that everything was filtered through the perceptions of Vera, and she was just a boring, unlikeable person. Not interesting enough to be an anti-hero, too unimaginative to be an unreliable narrator. We didn’t get to see much of her interactions with anyone other than her students, which as I’ve already pointed out, are self-centered and inappropriate. Maybe if Vera had more of a life, this book would have as well. But maybe if she had more of a social circle, she wouldn’t be as drawn to her students, and there wouldn’t be any story at all.
Maybe it’s that the author didn’t go far enough. Vera’s “crimes” really aren’t that major. The truth about Jensen isn’t that shocking (I figured out one of the major revelations about halfway through). It could just be that I’ve read so many “thrillers” that I’ve become jaded. In any case, it just wasn’t there for me.
The Nerd’s Rating: THREE HAPPY NEURONS
April 24, 2014
I just read an unusual new book that comes out about a week from now, on May1st. The second book by Jan Elizabeth Watson, "What Has Become Of You" is considered a psychological thriller although I'd add the word "literary" in the description somewhere. Watson is certainly a spectacular writer, painting pictures in the reader's mind with tight prose that are wonderfully easy to digest.
Watson has created a character in her newest book who is self-effacing, introverted and unassertive. Miss Vera Lundy is a substitute english teacher in a wealthy all girls school. The character Vera is intellectual but has very little good judgement. We learn a little about her awkward younger years in high school where a girl Vera knew was murdered by a serial killer. This was a defining moment in Vera's life and has become the subject of the book she intends to write but when she starts her new job at the girls school, Vera finds herself disturbed by the recent murder of a student, reminding her of her past. I found myself pitying Vera as the Jan Elizabeth Watson fleshed out her character.
On her first day teaching, Vera meets Jansen Willard, a fifteen year old scholarship student, who reminds Vera of herself, introverted, awkward and smart with strong writing skills. The book is mainly about an entwining of the relationship between these two characters and the recent murder mystery that occurred just before Vera arrived as a substitute teacher.
I have a rule about writing book reviews, NO SPOILERS! I abhors learning about a book and getting just too much information about the story. I want the reviewer to give her opinion on whether it was good or bad without ruining the read for me. It is for this reason that I stop here explaining anything else about the book and only try to give my opinion about how much I enjoyed it. I was so on the fence about what rating I'd give this book. The quandary is that the writing is extremely good and I therefore wanted to rate it higher than a three of five. Here's the problem, some of the behaviors and choices the writer makes for Vera are so annoyingly ridiculous for the education level Watson assigns the character (Vera) that I had trouble finishing the book. It's as though Watson had no real understanding about what she was writing about. Let me give you an analogy.
We would all agree that Stephen King is the penultimate writer of spooky horror. His prose make you keep the lights on at night. How would you feel, as a reader, if in the middle of a gripping story King added an alarmingly ridiculous scene reminiscent of those stupid spoofy horror films where the young cheerleader goes into the haunted house alone, unarmed at three in the morning, knowing there's a serial killer stalking her? It's so out of character for the writer. King writes so well and you don't expect inconsistencies like this.
The character that Watson creates in Vera is smart, a woman who reads true crime. Some of her behaviors are just inconsistent with that. It goes beyond just bad judgement on Vera's part. I can't imagine anyone, even a dim bulb, making such behavioral choices. This makes me question whether the writer has ever experienced being a victim at all.
Although my review is not as flattering as I wish it could be, I have real hope and energy about this writer. I think she could be one of the best. I will certainly read another of her books because although this one wasn't a knock out of the park, I am certain the writer has it in her to write a true home run.
Watson has created a character in her newest book who is self-effacing, introverted and unassertive. Miss Vera Lundy is a substitute english teacher in a wealthy all girls school. The character Vera is intellectual but has very little good judgement. We learn a little about her awkward younger years in high school where a girl Vera knew was murdered by a serial killer. This was a defining moment in Vera's life and has become the subject of the book she intends to write but when she starts her new job at the girls school, Vera finds herself disturbed by the recent murder of a student, reminding her of her past. I found myself pitying Vera as the Jan Elizabeth Watson fleshed out her character.
On her first day teaching, Vera meets Jansen Willard, a fifteen year old scholarship student, who reminds Vera of herself, introverted, awkward and smart with strong writing skills. The book is mainly about an entwining of the relationship between these two characters and the recent murder mystery that occurred just before Vera arrived as a substitute teacher.
I have a rule about writing book reviews, NO SPOILERS! I abhors learning about a book and getting just too much information about the story. I want the reviewer to give her opinion on whether it was good or bad without ruining the read for me. It is for this reason that I stop here explaining anything else about the book and only try to give my opinion about how much I enjoyed it. I was so on the fence about what rating I'd give this book. The quandary is that the writing is extremely good and I therefore wanted to rate it higher than a three of five. Here's the problem, some of the behaviors and choices the writer makes for Vera are so annoyingly ridiculous for the education level Watson assigns the character (Vera) that I had trouble finishing the book. It's as though Watson had no real understanding about what she was writing about. Let me give you an analogy.
We would all agree that Stephen King is the penultimate writer of spooky horror. His prose make you keep the lights on at night. How would you feel, as a reader, if in the middle of a gripping story King added an alarmingly ridiculous scene reminiscent of those stupid spoofy horror films where the young cheerleader goes into the haunted house alone, unarmed at three in the morning, knowing there's a serial killer stalking her? It's so out of character for the writer. King writes so well and you don't expect inconsistencies like this.
The character that Watson creates in Vera is smart, a woman who reads true crime. Some of her behaviors are just inconsistent with that. It goes beyond just bad judgement on Vera's part. I can't imagine anyone, even a dim bulb, making such behavioral choices. This makes me question whether the writer has ever experienced being a victim at all.
Although my review is not as flattering as I wish it could be, I have real hope and energy about this writer. I think she could be one of the best. I will certainly read another of her books because although this one wasn't a knock out of the park, I am certain the writer has it in her to write a true home run.
October 10, 2016
All in all this was an enjoyable read, but I wish I could say that I liked this book more than I did.
What Has Become Of You is a psychological thriller that follows Vera Lundy, a old crime writer by night and teacher by day. At the age of 40, she has just moved out of her mom’s house and accepts a new teaching job at an all girl’s prep school in Maine. Vera is very introverted and quiet. But she is also a sad woman, as she is lonely and doesn’t seem to have any courage to branch out of her comfort zone.
As she starts to teach at her new job, she instantly becomes interested in a student named Jensen. Jensen is a dangerously smart girl, as she is very manipulative and intuned to the people around her. Through her writing assignments, she confides all of her troubles into Vera and they become good friends. They instantly click and talk about very deep topics such as love, life and murder. When they become more comfortable as friends, they break rules to to see each other outside of school and at times, protect each other. Although Vera appreciates their friendship, their unorthodox relationship comes with some hazardous and deadly consequences.
This book has many charming qualities. My favorite thing that came with this book is the deep character study invested into Jensen and Vera. All in all I thought Jensen was fascinating and smart, and that at times, Vera was selfish and whiny. I love reading into characters and trying to figure out who they really are, and I am so glad that this book allowed me to do that. I also thought the use of location and setting was spot on. Being from Maine, I knew every spot Watson incorporated into her novel, and was interested to see that every location had a purpose/meaning. Also, in this novel Watson proves that she is a talented writer, as her words never faltered and were the key ingredient that got me to the end of this book. She has a talent of focusing in on what she really thinks is important, and in this story, it was the characters.
But there were also some downfalls that came with this story. It is easy to see that this book was written at a slow pace in order to create an ominous and mysterious feeling. I felt like that worked, but at times, I thought it was too slow and took away from all of the action. By the ending, I felt like I was saying “just get to the point already!” I was also expecting this book to go WAY deeper than it did. I wish Watson expanded on Vera and Jensen’s relationship little bit more and made it more sickly, or twisted. It would of added more interest to their dynamic, and it definitely would of made the plot thicker. My biggest disappointment when reading this book was the ending. There are so many ways it could of ended, but Watson made it simple and abruptly closed certain doors, leaving you with unanswered questions and ideas. I understood what she was trying to do, but I really didn’t like that. I wish she created an ending that tied everything together and left you feeling like all of the mysteries and ideas had been solved.
I give it 3/5 stars!
What Has Become Of You is a psychological thriller that follows Vera Lundy, a old crime writer by night and teacher by day. At the age of 40, she has just moved out of her mom’s house and accepts a new teaching job at an all girl’s prep school in Maine. Vera is very introverted and quiet. But she is also a sad woman, as she is lonely and doesn’t seem to have any courage to branch out of her comfort zone.
As she starts to teach at her new job, she instantly becomes interested in a student named Jensen. Jensen is a dangerously smart girl, as she is very manipulative and intuned to the people around her. Through her writing assignments, she confides all of her troubles into Vera and they become good friends. They instantly click and talk about very deep topics such as love, life and murder. When they become more comfortable as friends, they break rules to to see each other outside of school and at times, protect each other. Although Vera appreciates their friendship, their unorthodox relationship comes with some hazardous and deadly consequences.
This book has many charming qualities. My favorite thing that came with this book is the deep character study invested into Jensen and Vera. All in all I thought Jensen was fascinating and smart, and that at times, Vera was selfish and whiny. I love reading into characters and trying to figure out who they really are, and I am so glad that this book allowed me to do that. I also thought the use of location and setting was spot on. Being from Maine, I knew every spot Watson incorporated into her novel, and was interested to see that every location had a purpose/meaning. Also, in this novel Watson proves that she is a talented writer, as her words never faltered and were the key ingredient that got me to the end of this book. She has a talent of focusing in on what she really thinks is important, and in this story, it was the characters.
But there were also some downfalls that came with this story. It is easy to see that this book was written at a slow pace in order to create an ominous and mysterious feeling. I felt like that worked, but at times, I thought it was too slow and took away from all of the action. By the ending, I felt like I was saying “just get to the point already!” I was also expecting this book to go WAY deeper than it did. I wish Watson expanded on Vera and Jensen’s relationship little bit more and made it more sickly, or twisted. It would of added more interest to their dynamic, and it definitely would of made the plot thicker. My biggest disappointment when reading this book was the ending. There are so many ways it could of ended, but Watson made it simple and abruptly closed certain doors, leaving you with unanswered questions and ideas. I understood what she was trying to do, but I really didn’t like that. I wish she created an ending that tied everything together and left you feeling like all of the mysteries and ideas had been solved.
I give it 3/5 stars!
December 23, 2014
This story was about Vera Lundy, a substitute teacher/crime novelist, who discovers a budding J.D. Salinger in one of her English students, Jensen Willard, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks attending Vera’s upper crust Wallace School on scholarship. Backstory-wise, Vera was personally (kind of) involved with the murder of a girl when Vera was in high school, and Vera is now researching the killer of that high school girl and the killer of another grade school girl where Vera lives currently. Multiple dead girls and perps to keep track of, which gets more complicated when Vera, on the way home from a drunken one night stand, finds one of her students strangled to death in a park near Vera’s home. And then Jensen Willard goes missing, after Vera spends time drinking with Jensen in a hotel room. Is Vera the killer?
The police briefly entertain the possibility, so Vera sets out to clear her name by solving the disappearance of Jensen Willard. She never solves the disappearance, and the two most recent murders are pinned on an acquaintance of Jensen’s who pops up in the last twenty pages to confess and say that Jensen goaded him into the crimes. So Vera is off the hook, and Jensen is guilty of something, though I was never sure what the charge would be.
It was complicated, and muddled enough to keep me from proving it was illogical. I never knew if any of the perps had anything to do with any of the murders. Any one of them could have been lying, a fact which Vera acknowledged. I like ambiguity, even in a mystery, if I feel for how the lack of resolution affects the main character.
That was my problem with Become. I wound up with no sympathy for Vera. She was an adrift substitute teacher/crime novelist with no concept of teacher-student boundaries. Vera asked for trouble, and when she got out of trouble I felt sorrier for society than for her. Events only changed Vera’s life in that she ended up a Queens clothing store clerk instead of a substitute teacher—a horizontal, if not upward, career move.
Become had a nice element of Vera’s obsession with Jensen, as Jensen presented herself through class journals. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks might have been writing brilliant fiction or a killer’s memoir. That element kept me reading in hope of a satisfying twist one way or the other, which, unfortunately, never came. The predictable final letter from Jensen to Vera resolved nothing.
The fact I finished Become and devoted this many words to a review proves it wasn’t awful, but Watson missed the mark making Vera the main character instead of Jensen.
The police briefly entertain the possibility, so Vera sets out to clear her name by solving the disappearance of Jensen Willard. She never solves the disappearance, and the two most recent murders are pinned on an acquaintance of Jensen’s who pops up in the last twenty pages to confess and say that Jensen goaded him into the crimes. So Vera is off the hook, and Jensen is guilty of something, though I was never sure what the charge would be.
It was complicated, and muddled enough to keep me from proving it was illogical. I never knew if any of the perps had anything to do with any of the murders. Any one of them could have been lying, a fact which Vera acknowledged. I like ambiguity, even in a mystery, if I feel for how the lack of resolution affects the main character.
That was my problem with Become. I wound up with no sympathy for Vera. She was an adrift substitute teacher/crime novelist with no concept of teacher-student boundaries. Vera asked for trouble, and when she got out of trouble I felt sorrier for society than for her. Events only changed Vera’s life in that she ended up a Queens clothing store clerk instead of a substitute teacher—a horizontal, if not upward, career move.
Become had a nice element of Vera’s obsession with Jensen, as Jensen presented herself through class journals. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks might have been writing brilliant fiction or a killer’s memoir. That element kept me reading in hope of a satisfying twist one way or the other, which, unfortunately, never came. The predictable final letter from Jensen to Vera resolved nothing.
The fact I finished Become and devoted this many words to a review proves it wasn’t awful, but Watson missed the mark making Vera the main character instead of Jensen.
November 15, 2015
Spoilers, a little. Whatever. This book is so NOT thrilling, it doesn't even matter.
So, one would think I would know better than to trust reviews on the back of a book. I think I'm done with thrillers, except for the ones I stumble upon accidentally.
This book was supposed to be creepy, thrilling and chilling, disturbing. What it actually is: More women/girls in peril, because apparently people only ever kill women , but THIS TIME, the main perpetrator (although she doesn't want to get her hands dirty, I guess?) is a young girl herself! A smart girl who is apparently psychopathic.
Our main character Vera Lundy--an unbearable Mary Sue if ever there was one--leaves a job to take another job at a girls' private school teaching literature. She feels a bond with one strange girl in particular, who reminds her of herself at a young age. Young girl is actually an awful person. Teacher is also a moron. Problems and death ensue.
Seriously. The book spends the beginning over-explaining obvious things. Bu then it dumps the end on you pointlessly. The red herring is barely red at all. It's more of an off-white, an ecru, it's so non-existent.
Nothing really makes sense, because the author doesn't seem to quite have a grasp on criminals or police procedure, even though her main character is into true-crime. There are also things that happen that seem improbable, as if the author just wants things to fit her idea of her own plot, no matter how little sense it makes. Not big things. More like little, everyday things.
And Vera. Not only is she dull, she's an idiot. I don't believe she went to Princeton. I barely believe she got a grad degree at all.
This book started out all right. But it misses so many opportunities because we have to walk through the entire thing holding Vera's hand, and she's a daft character. Our erstwhile villain is far more interesting, but she disappears partway through and only toys with people in a limited way. There are potential racial issues that are pretty much dropped too. More red herrings. And by the time I got to the midway point, I was almost tempted to stop reading, because it was all getting so tedious. And it was a trifle pretentious too. That's unforgivable. Do not be pretentious about a daftly written book!
No, I do not recommend this book. It was a quick read. That's really all I can say about it.
So, one would think I would know better than to trust reviews on the back of a book. I think I'm done with thrillers, except for the ones I stumble upon accidentally.
This book was supposed to be creepy, thrilling and chilling, disturbing. What it actually is: More women/girls in peril, because apparently people only ever kill women , but THIS TIME, the main perpetrator (although she doesn't want to get her hands dirty, I guess?) is a young girl herself! A smart girl who is apparently psychopathic.
Our main character Vera Lundy--an unbearable Mary Sue if ever there was one--leaves a job to take another job at a girls' private school teaching literature. She feels a bond with one strange girl in particular, who reminds her of herself at a young age. Young girl is actually an awful person. Teacher is also a moron. Problems and death ensue.
Seriously. The book spends the beginning over-explaining obvious things. Bu then it dumps the end on you pointlessly. The red herring is barely red at all. It's more of an off-white, an ecru, it's so non-existent.
Nothing really makes sense, because the author doesn't seem to quite have a grasp on criminals or police procedure, even though her main character is into true-crime. There are also things that happen that seem improbable, as if the author just wants things to fit her idea of her own plot, no matter how little sense it makes. Not big things. More like little, everyday things.
And Vera. Not only is she dull, she's an idiot. I don't believe she went to Princeton. I barely believe she got a grad degree at all.
This book started out all right. But it misses so many opportunities because we have to walk through the entire thing holding Vera's hand, and she's a daft character. Our erstwhile villain is far more interesting, but she disappears partway through and only toys with people in a limited way. There are potential racial issues that are pretty much dropped too. More red herrings. And by the time I got to the midway point, I was almost tempted to stop reading, because it was all getting so tedious. And it was a trifle pretentious too. That's unforgivable. Do not be pretentious about a daftly written book!
No, I do not recommend this book. It was a quick read. That's really all I can say about it.
April 29, 2015
My main problem with this book is that it could have -- and SHOULD have -- gone so much darker. I would have liked to have seen Jensen and Vera have a much stronger, more twisted relationship, considering they seemed to be a complimentary pair: Jensen was forceful and thoughtful, whereas Vera was immature and submissive by nature, which would have been interesting to see, given their age gap. And then their was their shared deep fascination with serial killers and how Vera seemed so unconcerned with Jensen's discussion of how it would be "interesting" to see what happened regarding acts of violence.
But it just felt like every time we started to get into seriously dark territory, we'd pull back and the author would completely distance us from the building tension, instead of drawing us in further. In a way Vera did get taken in by Jensen, and in a way their relationship was interesting, but it just wasn't enough.
That and Vera just acted so stupid in some parts of the book in ways that seemed completely unbelievable.
But it just felt like every time we started to get into seriously dark territory, we'd pull back and the author would completely distance us from the building tension, instead of drawing us in further. In a way Vera did get taken in by Jensen, and in a way their relationship was interesting, but it just wasn't enough.
That and Vera just acted so stupid in some parts of the book in ways that seemed completely unbelievable.
August 18, 2014
Book received though First Reads in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
So it starts with a neurotic, true-crime obsessed patron in a library... and I think to myself, damn! How does goodreads now that I am a library employee with a current obsession with cannibal killers? Then I think, well because I told goodreads, that's why. Anyway, narcissistic crazy patron is working on a crime novel and teaching.
She seems like a terrible person, but only in the way that we are all terrible people, sometimes. We are seeing her in one of her sometimes: a character with self-pity cloaked in self-depreciation filled with constant mild hostility. I don't know yet if reading this will be entertaining or irritating. Probably irritating. This particular kind of unlikable character is awfully trendy these days.
Update:
Hahaha, probably irritating is correct. Alas, after getting to know the characters the plot was kinda boring.
So it starts with a neurotic, true-crime obsessed patron in a library... and I think to myself, damn! How does goodreads now that I am a library employee with a current obsession with cannibal killers? Then I think, well because I told goodreads, that's why. Anyway, narcissistic crazy patron is working on a crime novel and teaching.
She seems like a terrible person, but only in the way that we are all terrible people, sometimes. We are seeing her in one of her sometimes: a character with self-pity cloaked in self-depreciation filled with constant mild hostility. I don't know yet if reading this will be entertaining or irritating. Probably irritating. This particular kind of unlikable character is awfully trendy these days.
Update:
Hahaha, probably irritating is correct. Alas, after getting to know the characters the plot was kinda boring.
December 20, 2014
This book took me longer than I would like to finish. The story follows Vera Lundy, an aspiring crime writer who takes a long-term substitute position as an English teacher at an all-girls private high school. She develops a friendship with one of her students, Jensen, and bizarre and dangerous things start happening in their small New England community. I liked the writing, but didn't really connect with any of the characters. I thought they all were kind of odd. Not eccentrically odd, just strange. Vera made some stupid choices and I thought a lot of her actions didn't make much sense.
February 13, 2014
What I said: "A precocious teenager. A teacher who can't quite grow up. WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU is a suspenseful and tightly plotted thriller, filled with vivid and memorable characters, each with her own compelling voice."
July 4, 2015
Great book.......gave an accurate feel for Maine towns as well as the emotional climate of teenage girls (including the lack of emotional growth of the protagonist throughout her adult life).
April 25, 2021
I usually love thrillers, but this one definitely wasn’t my cup of tea. I only kept reading because I don’t quit books unless I HATE them. Horrible ending too. Overall super disappointing.
February 23, 2019
**SOFT SPOILERS**
If you have trouble understanding why an intelligent character makes extremely illogical choices then this book isn’t for you. Vera thinks she’s exceptionally smart, so smart in fact that she withholds information in a police investigation and then blatantly disregards police instruction to stay in town because she is sure she can solve the crime at hand on her own, but the truth is her total lack of common sense thwarts her time and time again. Here is a woman who is obsessed with serial killers (one in particular) and hopes to one day finish the true crime book she's writing about the man who murdered a school mate of hers during her high school years, but she doesn't see the signs that are clearly before her. She's a frustrating character, but I think that's what makes her real. Her ego is large, and I mean LARGE, and her self esteem is low. It makes sense that she would, despite her intelligence, miss every single red flag that's tossed at her, just as it makes sense why she believes herself to be more capable of detective work than the detectives themselves. I understand why Vera felt like she needed to make some of the decisions she did, especially when one of her students disappears, but after that I am stumped. I almost get it and that was enough to keep me interested, but largely I have no idea why an almost 40-year-old woman would make the decisions she does if not for ego. The narrative left me with a number of questions, but none are plot related, so it's mainly nit-picky little things. I did have issues with the author’s tone in the beginning, but this is my first literary thriller so I will contribute these issues with the fact that I am largely unfamiliar with the genre. After a slow start the narrative really picks up and moves swiftly to resolution. I'm still out of sorts with how Vera treats and thinks about the "bad guy" in the end. It seems logical that she might have learned something during this entire process, but, as the reader comes to understand, learning a lesson isn't Vera's strong suit. Ultimately, I enjoyed Watson's writing and the story, and I believe readers who enjoy literary fiction will as well. However, if you lean more toward commercial fiction you may want to leave this one alone.
If you have trouble understanding why an intelligent character makes extremely illogical choices then this book isn’t for you. Vera thinks she’s exceptionally smart, so smart in fact that she withholds information in a police investigation and then blatantly disregards police instruction to stay in town because she is sure she can solve the crime at hand on her own, but the truth is her total lack of common sense thwarts her time and time again. Here is a woman who is obsessed with serial killers (one in particular) and hopes to one day finish the true crime book she's writing about the man who murdered a school mate of hers during her high school years, but she doesn't see the signs that are clearly before her. She's a frustrating character, but I think that's what makes her real. Her ego is large, and I mean LARGE, and her self esteem is low. It makes sense that she would, despite her intelligence, miss every single red flag that's tossed at her, just as it makes sense why she believes herself to be more capable of detective work than the detectives themselves. I understand why Vera felt like she needed to make some of the decisions she did, especially when one of her students disappears, but after that I am stumped. I almost get it and that was enough to keep me interested, but largely I have no idea why an almost 40-year-old woman would make the decisions she does if not for ego. The narrative left me with a number of questions, but none are plot related, so it's mainly nit-picky little things. I did have issues with the author’s tone in the beginning, but this is my first literary thriller so I will contribute these issues with the fact that I am largely unfamiliar with the genre. After a slow start the narrative really picks up and moves swiftly to resolution. I'm still out of sorts with how Vera treats and thinks about the "bad guy" in the end. It seems logical that she might have learned something during this entire process, but, as the reader comes to understand, learning a lesson isn't Vera's strong suit. Ultimately, I enjoyed Watson's writing and the story, and I believe readers who enjoy literary fiction will as well. However, if you lean more toward commercial fiction you may want to leave this one alone.
July 2, 2019
I love books featuring English teachers because I am an English teacher. Vera Lundy is the protagonist of Jan Elizabeth’s compelling thriller What Has Become of You. She’s pushing forty and has just accepted a maternity leave position at a private school in Dorset, Maine. Although Vera is well educated – she earned her master’s degree at Princeton – she is also somewhat awkward, and although being at the front of a classroom doesn’t come naturally to her she has “come to appreciate certain aspects of teaching.”
Jensen Willard is in Vera’s first period class, Autobiographical Writing: Personal Connections. Before Vera has even begun to teach, she receives an email from the precocious Jensen, asking her if it’s okay if she uses her own personal copy of Catcher in the Rye. This first correspondence sets in motion a peculiar relationship between teacher and student. In her journal, Jensen reveals very personal things, and Vera is both flattered to be on the receiving end of such honest reflection, but also, as time goes on, troubled.
What Has Become of You mines the teacher/student dynamic to great effect. I think all teachers have had students to whom we feel a special bond. Things get tricky for Vera, though, because Jensen is not your average kid. She’s odd, doesn’t fit in with the other students, is a bit of a loner. She reminds Vera of herself.
She herself had not enjoyed being that age. On the contrary, those had easily been the worst years of her life. They had been the years of being ostracized, of being heartbroken, of being hunted down.
Vera sees something of a kindred spirit in Jensen, but then life goes off the rails for Vera. One night, walking home through the park, she stumbles upon the body of another one of her students. The ensuing investigation, and Jensen’s subsequent disappearance, puts Vera in the cross-hairs.
What Has Become of You is a well-written – I hesitate to say ‘thriller’ so I am just going to say mystery. Our narrators are wholly unreliable, the plot is intricate and, although it mines somewhat familiar territory, it still manages to be surprising.
I would definitely recommend it.
Jensen Willard is in Vera’s first period class, Autobiographical Writing: Personal Connections. Before Vera has even begun to teach, she receives an email from the precocious Jensen, asking her if it’s okay if she uses her own personal copy of Catcher in the Rye. This first correspondence sets in motion a peculiar relationship between teacher and student. In her journal, Jensen reveals very personal things, and Vera is both flattered to be on the receiving end of such honest reflection, but also, as time goes on, troubled.
What Has Become of You mines the teacher/student dynamic to great effect. I think all teachers have had students to whom we feel a special bond. Things get tricky for Vera, though, because Jensen is not your average kid. She’s odd, doesn’t fit in with the other students, is a bit of a loner. She reminds Vera of herself.
She herself had not enjoyed being that age. On the contrary, those had easily been the worst years of her life. They had been the years of being ostracized, of being heartbroken, of being hunted down.
Vera sees something of a kindred spirit in Jensen, but then life goes off the rails for Vera. One night, walking home through the park, she stumbles upon the body of another one of her students. The ensuing investigation, and Jensen’s subsequent disappearance, puts Vera in the cross-hairs.
What Has Become of You is a well-written – I hesitate to say ‘thriller’ so I am just going to say mystery. Our narrators are wholly unreliable, the plot is intricate and, although it mines somewhat familiar territory, it still manages to be surprising.
I would definitely recommend it.
June 27, 2022
This book is about as grisly as I want to go. I just wrote a really great review and then did something wrong and deleted it. Maybe I'll try again sometime. Nah, okay. I'll do it now. That's what I came here for. Okay. So I won this book via a Goodreads Giveaway, so thank you to Goodreads and the author and publisher and whoever was involved in getting it to me for free! I appreciate that treat. I read this book in my birthday this weekend while I was camping and couldn't sleep, so I read it in kind of the perfect environment. Safe but able to be kind of alone and on edge. I liked the way V. described how her lack of sleep affects her. I get that. It does the same thing to me. I don't get grouchy, I get more apt to cry, tears closer to the surface on stuff, I guess. Weird how it messes with the brain like that. Speaking of messing with the brain, wow, the revelations throughout this as you are led to the reality of it. She did a great job. I liked some of the extras that she didn't have to put in but that made it more relatable too, like the NY friend Elliott. I also liked the detective. I also liked the ending, which I believe had to be quite the feat to accomplish. I liked the close-to-the-end chapter or two better than the actual tail end, but it was probably what more readers would like (I'm not the "type" of reader who would even be reading this book; I just flippantly enter a million Goodreads giveaways and click away--but yay, I won! Thanks again!) I hadn't read any of the books mentioned in this book, and I'm pretty sure I won't, but you don't have to know things about those books to enjoy it. BUT if you do know, I'm sure it's even more lovely to read, because you know your stuff and have the background and appreciation. There was one character I didn't like the whole way through, and I'm FINE with that. There was one character I got to "meet" and I was happy I did, and another that I was very glad I did. What's the difference between happy I did and very glad I did? I guess my happy is more "YAY! Good!" and my glad is more, "Oh, that's nice!" if that helps.
October 24, 2018
I was really hooked. Vera Lundy really confused me. To be honest I am not really good at figuring out who the evil ones are in many books. I expect a twist in the end. For a little bit, I actually thought it was different than was I expected, which is good. Vera had some secrets in her past, that we never learned what they were. She was rather dull, but yet mysterious and ended up being more interesting than I thought she was at first.
She had a good heart, and weird friends and wanted to help people. She related to the underdogs more than the "in crowd." That is why she got hooked into helping Jensen Willard, a shadow of Vera's teenager self. She had previous problems because her nemesis was murdered and Vera was suspect. Vera is intrigued by serial killers and wants to write a novel about one. She is teaching at a tony girl's school and that is where she really gets way too involved in trying to help Jensen. I highly recommend the book. I don't give too many 5 stars, but this was a close one for me.
She had a good heart, and weird friends and wanted to help people. She related to the underdogs more than the "in crowd." That is why she got hooked into helping Jensen Willard, a shadow of Vera's teenager self. She had previous problems because her nemesis was murdered and Vera was suspect. Vera is intrigued by serial killers and wants to write a novel about one. She is teaching at a tony girl's school and that is where she really gets way too involved in trying to help Jensen. I highly recommend the book. I don't give too many 5 stars, but this was a close one for me.
April 25, 2019
This book was suggested to me from another book I read (I believe “Where the Crawdads Sing”) honestly... where do I begin.
There were a lot of spelling & grammar errors that honestly annoyed me. (Mostly spelling)
And honestly I hate to say it but this book didn’t do it for me. I personally found Vera very annoying and grew extremely frustrated by her lack of interest in helping her students & being a good person in general!!! Her character started out seeming like an interesting & intriguing person but then she just dropped the ball with everything and it got super annoying.
This book had a good start and a climax but it kind of just stopped there and I feel as though I’m missing satisfaction with the ending.
There were a lot of spelling & grammar errors that honestly annoyed me. (Mostly spelling)
And honestly I hate to say it but this book didn’t do it for me. I personally found Vera very annoying and grew extremely frustrated by her lack of interest in helping her students & being a good person in general!!! Her character started out seeming like an interesting & intriguing person but then she just dropped the ball with everything and it got super annoying.
This book had a good start and a climax but it kind of just stopped there and I feel as though I’m missing satisfaction with the ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2020
I'm not quite sure what I think of this book.
I like it but yet I don't know.
We have Vera Lundy a high school English teacher and she has moved to Maine. What a weird story. I felt like it was a good story but then it wasn't as though it lost its story line or something.
It wasn't awful just not as enjoyable as I would have liked. Why did it feel to me that Vera wasn't a good teacher? I felt she was stuck in her own past and just teaching was just not a good job for her. I have my thoughts about crazy, weird and who in the very beginning. The end was just so anti-climatic so disappointing I expected more.
This book did give me the desire to read The Catcher In The Rye and The Bell Jar.
I like it but yet I don't know.
We have Vera Lundy a high school English teacher and she has moved to Maine. What a weird story. I felt like it was a good story but then it wasn't as though it lost its story line or something.
It wasn't awful just not as enjoyable as I would have liked. Why did it feel to me that Vera wasn't a good teacher? I felt she was stuck in her own past and just teaching was just not a good job for her. I have my thoughts about crazy, weird and who in the very beginning. The end was just so anti-climatic so disappointing I expected more.
This book did give me the desire to read The Catcher In The Rye and The Bell Jar.
February 21, 2022
This book is for a quite narrow readership, but I quite liked it. It's about being an English teacher and having insight into student's lives through their writing and confusing that with actual insight into life. The protagonist is both less of a weirdo than she fears and more of an idiot than she realizes; all of that is deeply relatable, but is not going to appeal to all readers. Watson goes for the realistic over the sensationalistic every time, and I really respect that choice. The tension isn't in the plot but is in experiencing the events of the novel through the very odd perspective of the narrator; in that sense it was reminiscent of reading Shirley Jackson, not at all a bad thing.
January 15, 2020
Not so much a thriller, as a slowly fulminating tale of psychological terror. Written in close third-person, we follow Vera, an isolated, insecure young single English teacher haunted by her own youth, as she navigates a relationship with Jensen, a loner student, whom she mis-identifies as a younger incarnation of herself. Reminiscent of Naeem Murr's 'The Boy,' the poor judgments that grow from this mistake almost lead to the protagonist's demise, and the death of several young people.
Raymond Hutson, author of 'Topeka, ma'shuge' and 'Finding Sgt. Kent.'
Raymond Hutson, author of 'Topeka, ma'shuge' and 'Finding Sgt. Kent.'
July 3, 2022
mmmm...this was an interesting read.
I really originally liked the idea and it was full of suspense, but as the plot progressed and more characters started dying it slowly became more boring and the story slowly seemed to drag. Also some of the events seemed very unrealistic, but in my opinion that doesn't mean much in a book. It just seemed liked the way Vera handled Jensen would never ever happen in a real school setting (especially like when she met her in the hotel and purposefully didn't report journal entries).
I really originally liked the idea and it was full of suspense, but as the plot progressed and more characters started dying it slowly became more boring and the story slowly seemed to drag. Also some of the events seemed very unrealistic, but in my opinion that doesn't mean much in a book. It just seemed liked the way Vera handled Jensen would never ever happen in a real school setting (especially like when she met her in the hotel and purposefully didn't report journal entries).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2020
This book was bizarre. The stupidest, most nonsensical choices were made throughout by pretty much every character and when it got to the big reveal it was sort of like "Yeah, okay, that's no surprise". I don't know, woefully simplistic and somewhat insulting analysis of J.D. Salinger aside (thought it took up a sort of ridiculous amount of space in this novel), if was totally benign in all fronts. I didn't mind finishing it but it wasn't great.
April 18, 2020
I never thought I would read this type of book, thriller but I enjoyed it very much such a page-turner! The end twist was great. I would have liked to have read a better ending but other than that I like it a lot!
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