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Ice Out
Francesca Bodin has a near-perfect life as an accomplished music teacher and professional flutist living in the Vermont countryside with her husband Ben, and their four-year old daughter, Addie. This ends suddenly when a snowmobiling accident traps the three of them in a frozen lake. Ben, after escaping onto the ice, leaves her and Addie to die.
Francesca believes she sees their dog pull Addie from the lake and drag her into the nearby woods. Desperate to help her daughter, she crawls from the icy waters and follows them. Once she enters the forest, however, she finds herself trapped in a sinister, dream-like world where night never ends, where Addie’s whereabouts remain hidden from her, and where she encounters a group of women who, like Francesca, have been left to die and now seek to unleash their revenge on those who have harmed them. When they have Ben in their sights, Francesca realizes that if she is ever to escape this nightmare and save her daughter, she must first save the husband who abandoned them.
Francesca believes she sees their dog pull Addie from the lake and drag her into the nearby woods. Desperate to help her daughter, she crawls from the icy waters and follows them. Once she enters the forest, however, she finds herself trapped in a sinister, dream-like world where night never ends, where Addie’s whereabouts remain hidden from her, and where she encounters a group of women who, like Francesca, have been left to die and now seek to unleash their revenge on those who have harmed them. When they have Ben in their sights, Francesca realizes that if she is ever to escape this nightmare and save her daughter, she must first save the husband who abandoned them.
248 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2022
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3102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
June 12, 2022
HALF A STAR.
where and how do i even begin to describe how ludicrously silly and astoundingly bad this book is? how is this book getting 5 start reviews? are they from the author’s friends bc i cannot fathom how any reader with even a modicum of discernment could legit give this book 5 stars. everything about this book has me questioning how it even managed to get published. was it self-published bc if someone got paid to write this tripe, then we could all be authors.
based on the description, i had actually been really looking forward to reading ice out—and had even requested my library purchase it. it quickly became apparent that i should DNF the book, but i hate-read my way to the end for the sole purpose of rage writing this review. i can say without hesitation that this is the worst book i've read since i got on goodreads, maybe even ever in the history of my life—and I’ve read a fucking lot of books. it's even managed to squeak past last year's worst book, the maidens by alex michaelides.
the book begins with music teacher francesca, her husband, ben, and their daughter addie, falling through a frozen winter lake while on their snowmobile. ben scrambles out and leaves his wife and daughter in the lake. about 80% of this book is about the evolution of francesca and ben’s long boring meeting, courtship, and marriage from both their POVs, interspersed with francesca repeatedly trying and failing to emerge from the lake.
francesca finally scrambles out of the lake and is miraculously mostly dry thanks to her waterproof boots, jacket, bib, and gloves. wtf? the woman had been fully submerged in a lake for who knows how long (80% of the book) and she emerges almost damn near dry? she then removes her jacket and gloves and wanders into the woods in search of her daughter who had apparently been dragged out of the lake by their dog. "the frigid december air immediately turned her long tresses white with frost." just frosty. not frozen. bc hypothermia isn't actually a thing. in the middle of winter. in vermont. but oh wait, she’s actually dead.
if the last 20% of the book was a movie, it would be some bad supernatural B-movie from the 1960s. it is so fucking weird that i don't even know what to say about it: she encounters a large group of undead women led by a caricature called the "white widow" who encourages embittered women who've been purposefully or accidentally killed by their once-wonderful-but-then-suddenly-evil-husbands to join their vengeful sisterhood and the killing of said men in some pseudo tarantella dance of death to—inexplicably—francesca’s music. oh and in a separate incident, let’s throw in an undead gypsy (whom we’re informed is “fat” disproportionately to the amount of time she is actually in the story) who’s lost her power to see the future bc why the hell not.
but wait, there's more. as if a hot mess of a plot wasn’t enough to elicit your rage, there’s the writing. omg the writing. about halfway through the book I started to suspect that it wasn’t just straight up bad but that the author seemed to be attempting—and failing incredibly badly—a modern fairy tale, using a storybook like style of narrative, with her uneven use of flowery, antiquated language sounding especially silly in speech. what she actually ended up with was the novel equivalent of a bipolar whiplashing. from super happy, glorious heights to the deepest hell of despair—even from one paragraph to the next. "there was a time, not long ago [but really, literally a couple hours ago before the accident] when her world was full and happy and safe. it was filled with the sounds of music and laughter and all that was good and joyous in life…was bathed in color and light. blessed, life-giving light. but in an instant, everything vanished. as if it never was. now she wandered long where stillness reigned, through a world so steeped in shadows she felt buried alive, entombed in this dark, cold world of endless night." ad infinitum.
when the author describes francesca’s beauty and perfection—bc of course, francesca is beautiful and perfect—it is in glowing and reverent language which is puzzling bc she actually comes off as a dumb, controlling, delusional, and unlikeable cow in the story:
"indeed fate has blessed her with a loveliness that has only deepened with age." [that “age” being in her early twenties at this point in the story.]
"she doesn't really move, though, but rather glides through her world, confident and full of life—as only one can who has never known disappointment or misfortune."
"as if by a spell, the children are lured in by her lilting voice and rhythmic speech, for she talks to them, not *at* them."
"the other teachers and the principal are astounded. the same little savages who insist on dancing around the room, shouting and hitting one another, [etc, etc]…willingly settle themselves…in front of her."
"for this is the effect she has on people, young and old. a beauty and warmth, a passion and grace that attracts and captivates, but never overwhelms or frightens."
"she understand her power and uses it intuitively for the one thing she wants—an abiding love."
excuse me while i VOMIT. again.
so then she meets ben and before you can say BARF, and BEFORE THEY EXCHANGE ONE WORD, she's already decided that "he isn’t like so many of the others whose eyes hover over seductively, vehicles of a conqueror's game…rather, his look leaves her whole and unbroken."
but for all francesca's perfections, she can’t math the math bc, when ben takes her to his family's vacation home in vermont for some snowmobiling and hands her a helmet, "she looks at it, frowns, and turns it over and over in her hands. it seems alien and complicated." not only can SHE NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO PUT ON A HELMET she also has to TRY "TWICE BEFORE SHE IS ABLE TO MOUNT" A DAMN SNOWMOBILE.
later, "he takes her in his arms and kisses her, wrapping himself around her and her heart, so she can no longer tell where she ends and where he begins. from that moment of abandon, two souls merge. she understands then that he is her fate, her destiny. and their separate stories now become one."
🤮🤮🤮
ben is also gorgeous and perfect (except for that part later about cowardly abandoning his wife and child to drown in the lake), their parents are beautiful and perfect, their child and dog are beautiful and perfect, and their life together is beautiful and perfect. they decide to move from long island to vermont on the land where his parents’ vacation home is and of course, francesca immediately finds a job bc obvs there are so many openings for music teachers in rural vermont AND her chamber group conveniently regularly travels up from long island so she can continue to play with them, NBD.
the hyperbole doesn't stop there. everything is the absolute mostest, maximum extreme all the time. even ben's high school, where "the rivalry between [these] two teams is legendary, dating back half a century. it is such a profound and enduring conflict where students of one school refuse to date or befriend students of the other. on those rare occasions when such friendships or romance arises, the offending parties are considered traitors by both schools and are ostracized ever after in their respective communities." LOL WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK?
finally, the author has some bizarre fixation with characters "throwing their heads back and laughing" bc there were at least a dozen instances where someone threw their head back and laughed bc, again, too much is never enough in this story—and despite the fact that none of these boring characters actually SAID OR DID ANYTHING REMOTELY FUNNY ENOUGH to warrant that dramatic a reaction other than that every description in this book must be the emotional equivalent of shooting up 100% pure heroin or the inevitable crash from that high. the whole book is written like this, i shit you not.
where and how do i even begin to describe how ludicrously silly and astoundingly bad this book is? how is this book getting 5 start reviews? are they from the author’s friends bc i cannot fathom how any reader with even a modicum of discernment could legit give this book 5 stars. everything about this book has me questioning how it even managed to get published. was it self-published bc if someone got paid to write this tripe, then we could all be authors.
based on the description, i had actually been really looking forward to reading ice out—and had even requested my library purchase it. it quickly became apparent that i should DNF the book, but i hate-read my way to the end for the sole purpose of rage writing this review. i can say without hesitation that this is the worst book i've read since i got on goodreads, maybe even ever in the history of my life—and I’ve read a fucking lot of books. it's even managed to squeak past last year's worst book, the maidens by alex michaelides.
the book begins with music teacher francesca, her husband, ben, and their daughter addie, falling through a frozen winter lake while on their snowmobile. ben scrambles out and leaves his wife and daughter in the lake. about 80% of this book is about the evolution of francesca and ben’s long boring meeting, courtship, and marriage from both their POVs, interspersed with francesca repeatedly trying and failing to emerge from the lake.
francesca finally scrambles out of the lake and is miraculously mostly dry thanks to her waterproof boots, jacket, bib, and gloves. wtf? the woman had been fully submerged in a lake for who knows how long (80% of the book) and she emerges almost damn near dry? she then removes her jacket and gloves and wanders into the woods in search of her daughter who had apparently been dragged out of the lake by their dog. "the frigid december air immediately turned her long tresses white with frost." just frosty. not frozen. bc hypothermia isn't actually a thing. in the middle of winter. in vermont. but oh wait, she’s actually dead.
if the last 20% of the book was a movie, it would be some bad supernatural B-movie from the 1960s. it is so fucking weird that i don't even know what to say about it: she encounters a large group of undead women led by a caricature called the "white widow" who encourages embittered women who've been purposefully or accidentally killed by their once-wonderful-but-then-suddenly-evil-husbands to join their vengeful sisterhood and the killing of said men in some pseudo tarantella dance of death to—inexplicably—francesca’s music. oh and in a separate incident, let’s throw in an undead gypsy (whom we’re informed is “fat” disproportionately to the amount of time she is actually in the story) who’s lost her power to see the future bc why the hell not.
but wait, there's more. as if a hot mess of a plot wasn’t enough to elicit your rage, there’s the writing. omg the writing. about halfway through the book I started to suspect that it wasn’t just straight up bad but that the author seemed to be attempting—and failing incredibly badly—a modern fairy tale, using a storybook like style of narrative, with her uneven use of flowery, antiquated language sounding especially silly in speech. what she actually ended up with was the novel equivalent of a bipolar whiplashing. from super happy, glorious heights to the deepest hell of despair—even from one paragraph to the next. "there was a time, not long ago [but really, literally a couple hours ago before the accident] when her world was full and happy and safe. it was filled with the sounds of music and laughter and all that was good and joyous in life…was bathed in color and light. blessed, life-giving light. but in an instant, everything vanished. as if it never was. now she wandered long where stillness reigned, through a world so steeped in shadows she felt buried alive, entombed in this dark, cold world of endless night." ad infinitum.
when the author describes francesca’s beauty and perfection—bc of course, francesca is beautiful and perfect—it is in glowing and reverent language which is puzzling bc she actually comes off as a dumb, controlling, delusional, and unlikeable cow in the story:
"indeed fate has blessed her with a loveliness that has only deepened with age." [that “age” being in her early twenties at this point in the story.]
"she doesn't really move, though, but rather glides through her world, confident and full of life—as only one can who has never known disappointment or misfortune."
"as if by a spell, the children are lured in by her lilting voice and rhythmic speech, for she talks to them, not *at* them."
"the other teachers and the principal are astounded. the same little savages who insist on dancing around the room, shouting and hitting one another, [etc, etc]…willingly settle themselves…in front of her."
"for this is the effect she has on people, young and old. a beauty and warmth, a passion and grace that attracts and captivates, but never overwhelms or frightens."
"she understand her power and uses it intuitively for the one thing she wants—an abiding love."
excuse me while i VOMIT. again.
so then she meets ben and before you can say BARF, and BEFORE THEY EXCHANGE ONE WORD, she's already decided that "he isn’t like so many of the others whose eyes hover over seductively, vehicles of a conqueror's game…rather, his look leaves her whole and unbroken."
but for all francesca's perfections, she can’t math the math bc, when ben takes her to his family's vacation home in vermont for some snowmobiling and hands her a helmet, "she looks at it, frowns, and turns it over and over in her hands. it seems alien and complicated." not only can SHE NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO PUT ON A HELMET she also has to TRY "TWICE BEFORE SHE IS ABLE TO MOUNT" A DAMN SNOWMOBILE.
later, "he takes her in his arms and kisses her, wrapping himself around her and her heart, so she can no longer tell where she ends and where he begins. from that moment of abandon, two souls merge. she understands then that he is her fate, her destiny. and their separate stories now become one."
🤮🤮🤮
ben is also gorgeous and perfect (except for that part later about cowardly abandoning his wife and child to drown in the lake), their parents are beautiful and perfect, their child and dog are beautiful and perfect, and their life together is beautiful and perfect. they decide to move from long island to vermont on the land where his parents’ vacation home is and of course, francesca immediately finds a job bc obvs there are so many openings for music teachers in rural vermont AND her chamber group conveniently regularly travels up from long island so she can continue to play with them, NBD.
the hyperbole doesn't stop there. everything is the absolute mostest, maximum extreme all the time. even ben's high school, where "the rivalry between [these] two teams is legendary, dating back half a century. it is such a profound and enduring conflict where students of one school refuse to date or befriend students of the other. on those rare occasions when such friendships or romance arises, the offending parties are considered traitors by both schools and are ostracized ever after in their respective communities." LOL WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK?
finally, the author has some bizarre fixation with characters "throwing their heads back and laughing" bc there were at least a dozen instances where someone threw their head back and laughed bc, again, too much is never enough in this story—and despite the fact that none of these boring characters actually SAID OR DID ANYTHING REMOTELY FUNNY ENOUGH to warrant that dramatic a reaction other than that every description in this book must be the emotional equivalent of shooting up 100% pure heroin or the inevitable crash from that high. the whole book is written like this, i shit you not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2022
WTF did I just read???
December 22, 2021
This is an amazing well written story of a young woman who forms a new life far from her family only to realize too late that she had been adjusting her reality to fit her narrative. The lyrical prose allows the reader to understand the main character's perception of reality, which leads to a brutal awakening at the end.
This book explores the nature of perception, and how our experience can mask reality forming it into something more pleasing and acceptable. It delves into the mythos we form and the nature of forgiveness & acceptance. This is a story that will stay with the reader for a long time.
This book explores the nature of perception, and how our experience can mask reality forming it into something more pleasing and acceptable. It delves into the mythos we form and the nature of forgiveness & acceptance. This is a story that will stay with the reader for a long time.
June 18, 2022
I don't often give two stars but this was really not very good. It went from mediocre to extremely tedious to batshit crazy at the end.
The premise sounded alright: a snowmobile accident has left a wife and daughter under the ice struggling to get out while the husband cowardly saves himself and runs off. Then there are flashbacks of what happened up to that point.
It could have worked...earlier this year I read Conchita de Gregorio's incredible 'The Missing Word' which also deals with a monster of a husband, but in such a powerful, lucid and moving way. Ice Out was none of those things.
Many thanks nevertheless to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley.
The premise sounded alright: a snowmobile accident has left a wife and daughter under the ice struggling to get out while the husband cowardly saves himself and runs off. Then there are flashbacks of what happened up to that point.
It could have worked...earlier this year I read Conchita de Gregorio's incredible 'The Missing Word' which also deals with a monster of a husband, but in such a powerful, lucid and moving way. Ice Out was none of those things.
Many thanks nevertheless to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley.
January 28, 2022
Different and engaging
December 13, 2021
Ice Out is the story of an almost idyllic life for Francesca and Ben in his preferred remote Vermont lakeside property. While Francesca is a city person and loves her chamber music group and her close family in the city, she adjusts and is soon so in thrall with the natural wonder of their home that she minimizes some signs that all is not quite right with Ben, who seems to freeze emotionally in situations that call for action. When their daughter Addie comes along, Francesca feels complete—her family and her music surrounding her; however, a tragic snowmobile accident leaves Francesca and 4-year-old Addie underwater after they fall off the machine, too heavy for the thin ice.
In a surreal twist, Francesca must choose to save her husband to raise Addie, or fall prey to the more common choice of revenge and allow the circle of betrayed women to kill him. The author deftly crafts the emotional tug-of-war within Francesca to keep the reader turning the pages to a satisfying conclusion.
In a surreal twist, Francesca must choose to save her husband to raise Addie, or fall prey to the more common choice of revenge and allow the circle of betrayed women to kill him. The author deftly crafts the emotional tug-of-war within Francesca to keep the reader turning the pages to a satisfying conclusion.
January 21, 2022
Francesca is a music teacher and professional flutist living the dream life in Vermont. She lives with her husband Ben, their four-year-old daughter Addie and their dog Cruz. Francesca starts from the present and goes back to the past, telling her story. Her narration takes place during a dramatic and challenging moment. Still, her flashbacks accentuate the happy and joyful moments she spent with her family, from childhood all the way to adulthood. The memories of meeting Ben, their marriage, and the birth of Addie all fade in and out in pieces. The lessons Francesca learned as a child from her parents about never breaking a promise radiating inside her. As she struggles in the ice-cold water, she finds the will to fight, believing Ben broke his promise to love and cherish her always. Her focus is finding Addie that she thinks she saw pulled from the ice by her ever-present companion Cruz.
Ice Out, by Susan Speranza, is a captivating metaphysical fiction novel. Life, death, and the question of what happens after death are insightful themes of this suspenseful and thrilling novel. Speranza writes in a detailed manner, giving the reader both moments of tension and action and moments of drama and detailed descriptions of the characters’ feelings.
This gripping novel starts with Francesca struggling to climb out of an icy lake with no information on how she ended up there. Then, the author takes readers on a winding path of flashbacks and present moments. Readers will find flashbacks build the anticipation as every one of them progresses the story and links the character’s thoughts in the present moment to critical moments in their past. A thought-provoking story of both hope and betrayal, readers will be left to consider is their life after death, what is the meaning of life, and differentiating dreams from reality.
Ice Out is an emotional rollercoaster with an intricate psychological plot. Readers who enjoy metaphysical fiction, thriller, or psychological fiction novels will be drawn into this riveting story.
I would like to end this review with an inspirational quote from the book itself: “From that moment of abandon, two souls merge. She understands then that he is her fate, her destiny. And their separate stories now become one”.
Ice Out, by Susan Speranza, is a captivating metaphysical fiction novel. Life, death, and the question of what happens after death are insightful themes of this suspenseful and thrilling novel. Speranza writes in a detailed manner, giving the reader both moments of tension and action and moments of drama and detailed descriptions of the characters’ feelings.
This gripping novel starts with Francesca struggling to climb out of an icy lake with no information on how she ended up there. Then, the author takes readers on a winding path of flashbacks and present moments. Readers will find flashbacks build the anticipation as every one of them progresses the story and links the character’s thoughts in the present moment to critical moments in their past. A thought-provoking story of both hope and betrayal, readers will be left to consider is their life after death, what is the meaning of life, and differentiating dreams from reality.
Ice Out is an emotional rollercoaster with an intricate psychological plot. Readers who enjoy metaphysical fiction, thriller, or psychological fiction novels will be drawn into this riveting story.
I would like to end this review with an inspirational quote from the book itself: “From that moment of abandon, two souls merge. She understands then that he is her fate, her destiny. And their separate stories now become one”.
April 12, 2022
In Ice Out by Susan Speranza, Vermont is a winter wonderland. Francesca's life in the Vermont countryside with her husband and daughter is a dream until it becomes a nightmare.
Francesca is a music teacher and professional flutist. She and her husband moved to Vermont from Eastern Long Island. They had a daughter, Addie, and a dog, Cruz. Everything was perfect.
While on a snowmobile ride, there is an accident, which traps the three of them under water. Ben escapes and runs away, leaving his wife and child in the frozen lake. He may not have meant to have an accident but his actions could've led to their death. Francesca struggles to get out of the water so that she can save her child. She thinks that the dog might have pulled Addie out of the water but she wasn't sure.
Francesca was probably suffering from hypothermia but in her mind she met a group of women who have also been left to die. The women have ill intentions toward Ben. Are they wrong? He left his loved ones behind for reasons that no one understands. However, Francesca doesn't want the group to punish him. She thinks that he will come back to save Addie.
If you like books with both mystery and a paranormal twist, then Ice Out could be the book for you. If you are looking for vengeance for innocent victims, then it's hard to say if you will be totally satisfied with the end. It's worth reading anyway.
Francesca is a music teacher and professional flutist. She and her husband moved to Vermont from Eastern Long Island. They had a daughter, Addie, and a dog, Cruz. Everything was perfect.
While on a snowmobile ride, there is an accident, which traps the three of them under water. Ben escapes and runs away, leaving his wife and child in the frozen lake. He may not have meant to have an accident but his actions could've led to their death. Francesca struggles to get out of the water so that she can save her child. She thinks that the dog might have pulled Addie out of the water but she wasn't sure.
Francesca was probably suffering from hypothermia but in her mind she met a group of women who have also been left to die. The women have ill intentions toward Ben. Are they wrong? He left his loved ones behind for reasons that no one understands. However, Francesca doesn't want the group to punish him. She thinks that he will come back to save Addie.
If you like books with both mystery and a paranormal twist, then Ice Out could be the book for you. If you are looking for vengeance for innocent victims, then it's hard to say if you will be totally satisfied with the end. It's worth reading anyway.
January 23, 2022
What would you do if you got into an accident with your family and your husband left you to die? Would you want revenge or would you forgive? This novel explores one woman's path when forced to do just that. Haunting and heartbreaking, this story will stay with you long after it ends.
February 27, 2022
Do we ever really know anyone--parent, spouse, child? In this tense drama, Speranza holds the reader in a life and death grip as she examines the complexity of being in a relationship. Blinded by love, Francesca Bodin has ignored all the clues--and that just may cost her her life. With each page, Speranza weaves a tapestry that, when completed, stuns the reader.
Read
June 5, 2022A beautifully told tale, one that unravels slowly, maintaining interest until the unpredictable end. It's a story of a marriage that didn't really go wrong and we wonder, after the accident, what could have caused things to fall apart. The author skillfully interweaves scenes in the icy lake with back flashes so that in the end we understand the characters, their motives, and the sense they make of their lives.
January 7, 2022
An engaging story that unites characters' study, suspense and magical realism to dissect the undercurrent of problems in a seemingly perfect marriage. A good read!
March 20, 2022
This book was incredibly touching. The story is split between the couples past and present which helps provide a lot of insight into who they are as people. Even though the magical realism aspect of the book doesn’t really begin until you’re about 80% through the book the author fit a lot into the last 20% of the story. I wish the plot had ended differently but this was still a great read and a good story for anyone looking for a book about grief, forgiveness and moving forward. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
May 23, 2022
This is a well-written book but I am sorry. This book was not for me. Either that or the time for me to read it was not now.
I did not enjoy it.
I did not enjoy it.
May 14, 2022
Nope. Nope. Nope.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t whatever the heck I just read.
This was slow and boring, then depressing and heartbreaking and finally just bizarre.
I don’t think I was the right audience for this book. I wish it had been marketed more as a book on grief and life/death than something suspenseful.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t whatever the heck I just read.
This was slow and boring, then depressing and heartbreaking and finally just bizarre.
I don’t think I was the right audience for this book. I wish it had been marketed more as a book on grief and life/death than something suspenseful.
May 6, 2022
I received an advance review copy of this eBook for free from the author and BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily as a courtesy.
Francesca, Ben, and Addie are living an idyllic family life on their property in the beautiful woods of Vermont when a sudden, horrible snowmobile accident changes everything. Francesca and Ben are forced to face who they truly are and Francesca must find a way to forgive rather than seek revenge.
Overall, I felt that the story was well written and I enjoyed the interesting ending. I had trouble relating to the characters and their upper-class European-American life. Francesca seemed a bit self-involved and vapid, and Ben was distant and annoyed by his wife. The bulk of the story (about 3/4) was focused on the history of their relationship and how they came to be in Vermont. It was relayed in flashbacks and was mixed in with bits and pieces of Francesca's fight to get out of the water. I found that I just didn't like either of them and struggled to invest in the story because of this. The short blurb about the book made me think that more of the focus would have been on this sinister dream-like world full of women who want to hurt the men who hurt them, however, that only constituted a very small part of the book. I was left wanting more, but of what, I cannot say for sure.
Francesca, Ben, and Addie are living an idyllic family life on their property in the beautiful woods of Vermont when a sudden, horrible snowmobile accident changes everything. Francesca and Ben are forced to face who they truly are and Francesca must find a way to forgive rather than seek revenge.
Overall, I felt that the story was well written and I enjoyed the interesting ending. I had trouble relating to the characters and their upper-class European-American life. Francesca seemed a bit self-involved and vapid, and Ben was distant and annoyed by his wife. The bulk of the story (about 3/4) was focused on the history of their relationship and how they came to be in Vermont. It was relayed in flashbacks and was mixed in with bits and pieces of Francesca's fight to get out of the water. I found that I just didn't like either of them and struggled to invest in the story because of this. The short blurb about the book made me think that more of the focus would have been on this sinister dream-like world full of women who want to hurt the men who hurt them, however, that only constituted a very small part of the book. I was left wanting more, but of what, I cannot say for sure.
May 29, 2022
Alchemical Gold
Ice Out is a timeless story that explores humanity's darkest fears of abandonment and separation. With soulful lyricism, Speranza creates a preternatural landscape of emotions that her character, Francesca, must navigate to understand true love and forgiveness. Weaving the elements of time through a liminal space, Speranza transports the reader into Francesca's alchemical journey, using transformation to achieve a golden victory.
Ice Out is a timeless story that explores humanity's darkest fears of abandonment and separation. With soulful lyricism, Speranza creates a preternatural landscape of emotions that her character, Francesca, must navigate to understand true love and forgiveness. Weaving the elements of time through a liminal space, Speranza transports the reader into Francesca's alchemical journey, using transformation to achieve a golden victory.
May 26, 2022
A must summer read. An emotional roller Coaster:
Experience all the emotions, the isolation, and metaphors Susan conjures up in this fast read. I dare you to put this book down after the first page.
Mix the ideal couple with loving parents, a beautiful precocious child, and a dog to die for; add the perfect, tree-surrounded idyllic lake home and you have the ingredients that can secretly strike fear in the mind of every woman
May 27, 2022
Redemption, perception, reality, revenge, and forgiveness are vibrant threads that come into play as the author meticulously weaves a hauntingly beautiful tale of heartbreak that lingers with the reader long after the turn of the last page.
January 23, 2022
2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 on Goodreads).
I was very intrigued by the plot description, but I was disappointed that I had to read almost 400 pages of other information first. I felt like this other information didn’t really change/add anything to the overall story. I think the beginning parts (Francesca and Ben's POVS) could have been edited down a lot without feeling like I was missing out on parts of the story. I enjoyed the last 20% of the story (my jaw dropped a couple of times). However, I would have liked the book a lot more if the beginning was cut down significantly.
I was very intrigued by the plot description, but I was disappointed that I had to read almost 400 pages of other information first. I felt like this other information didn’t really change/add anything to the overall story. I think the beginning parts (Francesca and Ben's POVS) could have been edited down a lot without feeling like I was missing out on parts of the story. I enjoyed the last 20% of the story (my jaw dropped a couple of times). However, I would have liked the book a lot more if the beginning was cut down significantly.
September 4, 2022
Thank you for NetGalley, Susan Speranza and She Writes Press for a pre-publishing copy of this novel.
I'm afraid this one just wasn't for me. So much so that I couldn't finish it. I gave what I read a good shot and made it 60% of the way through before giving up.
A tragedy has put our protagonist Francesca in the water of a frozen lake. A terrible situation to be in, she had been with her husband and daughter just moments before, but now, she is in the water and it is bitingly cold and terrifying. A great start to the story, but unfortunately the author chose from this point on to keep flashing back to Francesca's life before this event. So much so that whenever we return to her in the lake, I just kept thinking, ugh... get out of the water already. So much time flashing back whilst she is busy freezing to death that I genuinely got very bored.
The flashbacks themselves are enjoyable and I think if put together as one long section I may have enjoyed it more. After the third or fourth time we see Francesca in the water calling out for her toddler daughter rather than actually removing herself from the water I had decided she was doomed to die and I was annoyed with her. It does no good to make the reader irritated by the same character they are supposed to be empathising with in a life or death situation.
As I couldn't finish I hunted down other reviews and spoilers and I'm glad I stopped, this novel just wasn't going in a direction that I would have enjoyed.
I'm afraid this one just wasn't for me. So much so that I couldn't finish it. I gave what I read a good shot and made it 60% of the way through before giving up.
A tragedy has put our protagonist Francesca in the water of a frozen lake. A terrible situation to be in, she had been with her husband and daughter just moments before, but now, she is in the water and it is bitingly cold and terrifying. A great start to the story, but unfortunately the author chose from this point on to keep flashing back to Francesca's life before this event. So much so that whenever we return to her in the lake, I just kept thinking, ugh... get out of the water already. So much time flashing back whilst she is busy freezing to death that I genuinely got very bored.
The flashbacks themselves are enjoyable and I think if put together as one long section I may have enjoyed it more. After the third or fourth time we see Francesca in the water calling out for her toddler daughter rather than actually removing herself from the water I had decided she was doomed to die and I was annoyed with her. It does no good to make the reader irritated by the same character they are supposed to be empathising with in a life or death situation.
As I couldn't finish I hunted down other reviews and spoilers and I'm glad I stopped, this novel just wasn't going in a direction that I would have enjoyed.
January 30, 2022
If I had to sum up my initial reaction to this book, it would be one phrase - What the…..?
I must have missed the point of this. Francesca falls through the ice at the beginning of the book. Then it takes most of the book for her to get out of the ice all the while reliving her life in flashbacks. A very normal, ordinary life. This takes so long by the time I got to the end of her part, I was a little muffed to discover that we now had to read Ben’s side of the story.
Thankfully, Ben’s side doesn’t take as long.
But then, it goes into this weird other worldliness that makes no sense about these group of women led by a White Witch who encourages this group of women to some sort of strange afterlife (I guess) killing of the men who killed them.
Or something like it.
Then the story comes into read time where we learn Ben left her on the ice because he was scared (what a guy!) and the book ends not really on a great note?
I really didn’t understand the point of this book. What story was being told? I couldn’t really grasp a theme or reason and couldn’t really relate to any of it.
I must have missed the point of this. Francesca falls through the ice at the beginning of the book. Then it takes most of the book for her to get out of the ice all the while reliving her life in flashbacks. A very normal, ordinary life. This takes so long by the time I got to the end of her part, I was a little muffed to discover that we now had to read Ben’s side of the story.
Thankfully, Ben’s side doesn’t take as long.
But then, it goes into this weird other worldliness that makes no sense about these group of women led by a White Witch who encourages this group of women to some sort of strange afterlife (I guess) killing of the men who killed them.
Or something like it.
Then the story comes into read time where we learn Ben left her on the ice because he was scared (what a guy!) and the book ends not really on a great note?
I really didn’t understand the point of this book. What story was being told? I couldn’t really grasp a theme or reason and couldn’t really relate to any of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2022
Ice out is a well-written and engaging story which begins with Francesca, her husband Ben and their daughter Addie being trapped in a frozen lake after they have a snowmobiling accident. The first half of the story is told by Francesca who has flashbacks of their idyllic life together from the moment they met, and moved to beautiful Vermont, bought a dog Cruz and had a little daughter named Addie. In the second half we hear more of Ben's point of view visiting moments in his life, which all builds the anticipation of what is going to happen and keeps the reader engaged and interested.
I found the first half of the book quite slow in places, there was not much happening but it gave you an insight of Francesca's supposedly idyllic lifestyle. I thought the second half of the book was much better and was really drawn in by it and wanted to keep turning the pages to find out what was going on. I liked the writing style. It was easy to read and follow with a good plot. I would definitely read another book by this author again.
Many thanks to Booksirens for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I found the first half of the book quite slow in places, there was not much happening but it gave you an insight of Francesca's supposedly idyllic lifestyle. I thought the second half of the book was much better and was really drawn in by it and wanted to keep turning the pages to find out what was going on. I liked the writing style. It was easy to read and follow with a good plot. I would definitely read another book by this author again.
Many thanks to Booksirens for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 21, 2022
Ice Out by Susan Speranza. Thanks to @booksparks and @shewritespress for the gifted copy #springpopup ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Francesca loves her peaceful family Vermont life. Until a snowmobile accident leaves her and her daughter in the ice. Her husband flees the scene without helping them. Francesca deals with his abandonment as she tries to save her daughter.
I liked how this one started. It was hard to go to the flashbacks when you knew a life and death situation was going on but it was important to fully understand the backstory. I would recommend not reading the back of the book because some of the stuff mentioned doesn’t even happen until the final chapters. The final chapters take a strange twist, which wasn’t really my taste but if you enjoy a bit of sudden magical realism, you’ll like it.
“He knew, then, that all was lost. For his fear of death was greater than his love for his wife and his daughter.”
Ice Out comes out 5/24.
Francesca loves her peaceful family Vermont life. Until a snowmobile accident leaves her and her daughter in the ice. Her husband flees the scene without helping them. Francesca deals with his abandonment as she tries to save her daughter.
I liked how this one started. It was hard to go to the flashbacks when you knew a life and death situation was going on but it was important to fully understand the backstory. I would recommend not reading the back of the book because some of the stuff mentioned doesn’t even happen until the final chapters. The final chapters take a strange twist, which wasn’t really my taste but if you enjoy a bit of sudden magical realism, you’ll like it.
“He knew, then, that all was lost. For his fear of death was greater than his love for his wife and his daughter.”
Ice Out comes out 5/24.
October 27, 2021
I highly recommend this beautifully written book. The story was so engaging I could not put it down. Great suspense, wonderful character development, fantastic story. Looking forward to more from this author.
April 5, 2022
This is an intriguing story that challenges the reader's sense of what is real and what is dreamed. It affirms the power of a mother's love and every human's desire to understand the past.
August 16, 2022
Author Susan Speranza says her novel Ice Out was inspired by her experiences seeing "people’s lives turn on a dime. What was a perfect, happy, fulfilling life changed in an instant, and those people found themselves in circumstances they never dreamed of. They then acted in ways they never anticipated. I have always been interested in such events, how they change people, how people react." That's one of the things she wanted to explore in Ice Out, along with the themes of grief and forgiveness, in a metaphysical manner. Additionally, she was aware of an accident involving an underwater ferry in the English Channel some years ago. Because of the physical strength required to escape, many of the men made it to safety, but the women did not. "I wondered why many of these men, in their rush to the surface, didn’t help the others. Did they leave behind friends, partners, spouses?" she recalls. She thought about that incident as she was writing Ice Out, pondering if it would be possible to forgive "a significant other for leaving you behind in a life-or-death situation." She set the story in a familiar location -- Vermont, where she resides and, like her characters, enjoys snowmobiling.
Ice Out begins on a December afternoon with Francesca enveloped in murky, icy waters. "One moment, one unanticipated moment, and everything changed. Swept away. Gone. Forever." Readers are immediately informed that Francesca loved Ben deeply and fully. She trusted him and depended on him to be steadfast, dependable, generous, and caring. But now, in one "senseless moment" he has betrayed Francesca and Addie, their four-year-old daughter. "Abandoned them when they needed him most. Why?"
As Francesca tries to convince herself that she is merely trapped in a bad dream and struggles to push herself to the water's surface, Speranza's narrative careens back eight years. Francesca is a talented musician -- a professional flutist who also teaches. "Music itself is so intertwined with her being that the desire for it boils up from her soul . . . " On what will prove to be a fateful morning, she looks up to find two strangers standing in her classroom doorway -- the architects who will be working on the school's renovation. Dan Bodin introduces himself, and his son and partner, Ben.
The narrative advances from the day Francesca met Ben, detailing how they fell in love, their professional endeavors, and the reasons why Francesca agreed to move from New York City, where she enjoyed a satisfying and lucrative career as a musician, to Central Vermont. Her parents were vehemently opposed to Francesca moving to a place that is, ironically, coated all winter in the thing she hates and fears most: ice. During a long weekend there with Ben's family, she learns more about the area where Ben grew up, as well as his family's dynamics and history. Ben is a talented photographer whose twin sister, Lucy, died when they were seventeen years old. His family does not speak about her, and as the years pass, Francesca never even sees a photograph of the girl. It is not until Addie is born that Laura, Ben's mother, confesses that Lucy "was the glue which held us all together. . . . Since then, we've broken apart, we've become more scattered. More separate." But, happily, Addie seems to be the bright light reuniting the family. Still, Laura will only reveal that Lucy died in a "stupid accident. One meaningless moment, wrong place, wrong time." Speranza emphasizes that “the concept of time in Ice Out is very important,” so she adopted a nonlinear approach to telling it. She intersperses short interludes describing Francesca's horrific struggle in the icy water, effectively pulling readers back to the currently unfolding drama and reminding them that the love story playing out in the dualing narrative eventually leads to the young family's tragic descent into icy cold water.
Speranza incorporates into the story a deeply disturbing incident that foreshadows Ben's deep, untreated trauma. When he and Francesca happen upon a vehicle accident, Francesca quickly proceeds to help in whatever way she can, while Ben remains in the driver's seat of their car. As he clutches the steering wheel and stares ahead vacantly, Francesca confirms that one of the victims is indeed deceased, but they need to move quickly to get medical assistance for the survivor. She has to physically pull Ben out of the driver's seat and force him into the passenger side of their vehicle so that she can drive. For some time, Ben remains withdrawn, having retreated "to a dark place beyond anyone's grasp" into his memories of Lucy and losing her. The next day, he appears to have recovered and their happy life continues . . . until the day Ben convinces Francesca it is safe to take a ride on the new snowmobile he has purchased.
In a separate narrative, Speranza sets out Ben's story, again commencing with the aftermath of the snowmobile mishap. Having hauled himself out of the water, Ben lies face down in the snow and puts his hands to his ears to block out his wife's desperate screams, some dark force tethering him to the earth. He insists his wife and daughter are his world, but his world is now gone. "Just like Lucy." From there, Speranza employs the same technique to tell Ben's story, veering from a briefer account of how close Ben and Lucy were, and how she died, back to the ice and a man whose fear of death turns out to be greater than his love for his wife and child.
In a subsequent section of the book, Speranza utilizes allegory to depict Francesca's emotional journey from shock, disappointment, and intense pain to acceptance and forgiveness. Francesca manages to escape the water and wanders into the forest where she encounters a group of women led by a White Widow. At first, she does not remember the accident, and the Widow assures her it might be better to forget. "All of us at one time or another have wanted to drown ourselves in the river of forgetfulness. It's easier that way." She explains that she and the other women "are those who have been betrayed. We gather here nightly to mourn for what has so grievously been taken from us," and she and some of the others relate their stories of deception and betrayal. The Widow assures Francesca that Addie is alive, but Francesca's bitterness and sorrow are what have brought her to the forest, so she is no different from the other women. She is one of them, but Francesca considers whether she has wandered into hell. She runs away, attempting to escape from the group, but soon realizes she is just running in circles and again finds herself face to face with the White Widow. As the night drags on, Francesca struggles to free herself from the forest and the powerful women, even as the Widow attempts to convince her that she is there because her spirit is irredeemably poisoned. When morning comes, Francesca sees the White Widow and the other women as they really are, and understands that she has the power to choose how she will move forward. Will she choose an eternity of revenge . . . or forgiveness?
The success of Ice Out as a story of an unimaginable betrayal, acceptance of one's fate, and forgiveness lies in Speranza's compassionate depiction of her characters. Francesca is a pleasant young woman with whom readers can readily empathize. She loves and is close to her parents, and has worked hard and established herself in a career that fulfills her. But she is open to the love she believes she finds with Ben, a man who is also likable, but clearly damaged as a result of childhood trauma. Sadly, his parents never sought help for him, mired in their own grief, despair, and inability to communicate. They failed him by not recognizing the ways in which his grief and guilt paralyzed him. When Francesca observes Ben's shockingly troubled reaction to life events, she believes that if she just loves him enough and their happy life in Vermont continues unabated, he will be fine. Sadly, his inability to face and respond appropriately to exigent circumstances results in tragedy. Speranza's commentary about perception, and how, caught up by passion and haste, we fail to see and appreciate what is real, seeing instead what we want to see and recognizing only too late a beloved's flaws and shortcomings.
"Ice out" is a term used to describe a natural phenomenon. When spring arrives and temperatures begin to rise, sunshine penetrates the ice that has covered lakes during the winter. It begins to thin, crack, and melt, leaving open water behind. Spring rains contribute to the melting process, and as the ice begins to weaken, it becomes dangerous. It is transformed into "white ice" or "snow ice," and so degraded that it can no longer support much, if any, weight. Which explains, in part, why people who fall through white ice have an extremely difficult time pulling themselves out. Additionally, of course, the water below the melting ice is still frigid and the ice itself extremely slippery. To "ice out" a person can also refer, literaly, to a murder or the metaphoric killing of a relationship by removing oneself from it without taking into consideration the other person's feelings or communicating directly with them.
All definitions apply to Speranza's tragic, but ultimately hopeful, mediation on the tenuousness of relationships and the human tendency to ignore warning signs before plunging into them. She also explores the power of forgiveness, illustrating through Francesca’s fate that its purpose has nothing to do with the person to whom it is extended, but offers freedom and peace to the person who has the strength and resilience to forgive.
Thanks to BookSparks for a paperback copy of the book.
Ice Out begins on a December afternoon with Francesca enveloped in murky, icy waters. "One moment, one unanticipated moment, and everything changed. Swept away. Gone. Forever." Readers are immediately informed that Francesca loved Ben deeply and fully. She trusted him and depended on him to be steadfast, dependable, generous, and caring. But now, in one "senseless moment" he has betrayed Francesca and Addie, their four-year-old daughter. "Abandoned them when they needed him most. Why?"
As Francesca tries to convince herself that she is merely trapped in a bad dream and struggles to push herself to the water's surface, Speranza's narrative careens back eight years. Francesca is a talented musician -- a professional flutist who also teaches. "Music itself is so intertwined with her being that the desire for it boils up from her soul . . . " On what will prove to be a fateful morning, she looks up to find two strangers standing in her classroom doorway -- the architects who will be working on the school's renovation. Dan Bodin introduces himself, and his son and partner, Ben.
The narrative advances from the day Francesca met Ben, detailing how they fell in love, their professional endeavors, and the reasons why Francesca agreed to move from New York City, where she enjoyed a satisfying and lucrative career as a musician, to Central Vermont. Her parents were vehemently opposed to Francesca moving to a place that is, ironically, coated all winter in the thing she hates and fears most: ice. During a long weekend there with Ben's family, she learns more about the area where Ben grew up, as well as his family's dynamics and history. Ben is a talented photographer whose twin sister, Lucy, died when they were seventeen years old. His family does not speak about her, and as the years pass, Francesca never even sees a photograph of the girl. It is not until Addie is born that Laura, Ben's mother, confesses that Lucy "was the glue which held us all together. . . . Since then, we've broken apart, we've become more scattered. More separate." But, happily, Addie seems to be the bright light reuniting the family. Still, Laura will only reveal that Lucy died in a "stupid accident. One meaningless moment, wrong place, wrong time." Speranza emphasizes that “the concept of time in Ice Out is very important,” so she adopted a nonlinear approach to telling it. She intersperses short interludes describing Francesca's horrific struggle in the icy water, effectively pulling readers back to the currently unfolding drama and reminding them that the love story playing out in the dualing narrative eventually leads to the young family's tragic descent into icy cold water.
Speranza incorporates into the story a deeply disturbing incident that foreshadows Ben's deep, untreated trauma. When he and Francesca happen upon a vehicle accident, Francesca quickly proceeds to help in whatever way she can, while Ben remains in the driver's seat of their car. As he clutches the steering wheel and stares ahead vacantly, Francesca confirms that one of the victims is indeed deceased, but they need to move quickly to get medical assistance for the survivor. She has to physically pull Ben out of the driver's seat and force him into the passenger side of their vehicle so that she can drive. For some time, Ben remains withdrawn, having retreated "to a dark place beyond anyone's grasp" into his memories of Lucy and losing her. The next day, he appears to have recovered and their happy life continues . . . until the day Ben convinces Francesca it is safe to take a ride on the new snowmobile he has purchased.
In a separate narrative, Speranza sets out Ben's story, again commencing with the aftermath of the snowmobile mishap. Having hauled himself out of the water, Ben lies face down in the snow and puts his hands to his ears to block out his wife's desperate screams, some dark force tethering him to the earth. He insists his wife and daughter are his world, but his world is now gone. "Just like Lucy." From there, Speranza employs the same technique to tell Ben's story, veering from a briefer account of how close Ben and Lucy were, and how she died, back to the ice and a man whose fear of death turns out to be greater than his love for his wife and child.
In a subsequent section of the book, Speranza utilizes allegory to depict Francesca's emotional journey from shock, disappointment, and intense pain to acceptance and forgiveness. Francesca manages to escape the water and wanders into the forest where she encounters a group of women led by a White Widow. At first, she does not remember the accident, and the Widow assures her it might be better to forget. "All of us at one time or another have wanted to drown ourselves in the river of forgetfulness. It's easier that way." She explains that she and the other women "are those who have been betrayed. We gather here nightly to mourn for what has so grievously been taken from us," and she and some of the others relate their stories of deception and betrayal. The Widow assures Francesca that Addie is alive, but Francesca's bitterness and sorrow are what have brought her to the forest, so she is no different from the other women. She is one of them, but Francesca considers whether she has wandered into hell. She runs away, attempting to escape from the group, but soon realizes she is just running in circles and again finds herself face to face with the White Widow. As the night drags on, Francesca struggles to free herself from the forest and the powerful women, even as the Widow attempts to convince her that she is there because her spirit is irredeemably poisoned. When morning comes, Francesca sees the White Widow and the other women as they really are, and understands that she has the power to choose how she will move forward. Will she choose an eternity of revenge . . . or forgiveness?
The success of Ice Out as a story of an unimaginable betrayal, acceptance of one's fate, and forgiveness lies in Speranza's compassionate depiction of her characters. Francesca is a pleasant young woman with whom readers can readily empathize. She loves and is close to her parents, and has worked hard and established herself in a career that fulfills her. But she is open to the love she believes she finds with Ben, a man who is also likable, but clearly damaged as a result of childhood trauma. Sadly, his parents never sought help for him, mired in their own grief, despair, and inability to communicate. They failed him by not recognizing the ways in which his grief and guilt paralyzed him. When Francesca observes Ben's shockingly troubled reaction to life events, she believes that if she just loves him enough and their happy life in Vermont continues unabated, he will be fine. Sadly, his inability to face and respond appropriately to exigent circumstances results in tragedy. Speranza's commentary about perception, and how, caught up by passion and haste, we fail to see and appreciate what is real, seeing instead what we want to see and recognizing only too late a beloved's flaws and shortcomings.
"Ice out" is a term used to describe a natural phenomenon. When spring arrives and temperatures begin to rise, sunshine penetrates the ice that has covered lakes during the winter. It begins to thin, crack, and melt, leaving open water behind. Spring rains contribute to the melting process, and as the ice begins to weaken, it becomes dangerous. It is transformed into "white ice" or "snow ice," and so degraded that it can no longer support much, if any, weight. Which explains, in part, why people who fall through white ice have an extremely difficult time pulling themselves out. Additionally, of course, the water below the melting ice is still frigid and the ice itself extremely slippery. To "ice out" a person can also refer, literaly, to a murder or the metaphoric killing of a relationship by removing oneself from it without taking into consideration the other person's feelings or communicating directly with them.
All definitions apply to Speranza's tragic, but ultimately hopeful, mediation on the tenuousness of relationships and the human tendency to ignore warning signs before plunging into them. She also explores the power of forgiveness, illustrating through Francesca’s fate that its purpose has nothing to do with the person to whom it is extended, but offers freedom and peace to the person who has the strength and resilience to forgive.
Thanks to BookSparks for a paperback copy of the book.
January 23, 2024
My primary complaint about this book is disconnection. I didn’t connect with the protagonist, I wasn’t interested in her life, and it took me until the very end to understand the novel’s objective. The most interesting thing about this book, to me, was Ben. The husband who left his wife (the protagonist) and their daughter to die. His trauma and grief, and how they influenced his response to catastrophe was both horrifying and tragic, and I wish the book had focused more on that. His terror and shame at the incident and his dissociation and internalization throughout his life were genuinely so fascinating to me. I never thought of him as a bad person, despite the awful choice he made. More like a cautionary tale about the horrible consequences of fear born out of neglected trauma. Francesca just didn’t matter to me.
This is not to say, of course, that I didn’t feel for Francesca. But her life was (I hate to use this word in reviews, but it really was) boring. I don’t feel like I learned much of value during all that time spent looking back on her life, and this made it difficult to engage with the book. But it was especially difficult because I was so curious about Ben. He was the focus of Francesca’s flashbacks most of the time. So much of her time was spent just on the periphery of his emotional depths, wishing she could get in, but unable. So I don’t feel like I, as a reader, can be blamed for caring more about figuring out Ben’s trauma than about what happens to Francesca, when she herself was so concerned about figuring out Ben's trauma.
The pacing was weird. A disproportionate amount of time was spent on Francesca’s highly ordinary day-to-day life until the book was nearly over and we finally found out a bit of what was going on in Ben’s mind. And then at the very end, we were suddenly introduced to a trippy storyline about BETRAYAL in which Francesca’s situation was strangely compared with women whose husbands tried to kill them. I worried here that the book was about to take a complete 180 on all the development of Francesca trying to understand Ben, but thankfully the book came out thematically consistent. The message about grief, trauma, instinct, and regret was one I really appreciated, but the way it was executed was so strange. Perhaps the finale would have had the emotional impact I assume the author intended had less time been spent watching Francesca talking to her parents and hanging out with her dog, and more time spent exploring Ben.
And yes, I obviously wanted to know more about Ben, but if that wasn’t the story the author wanted to tell, I still think she could have leaned harder into what Francesca did NOT know about Ben and have her deliberate more at the end about how Ben’s reaction to the accident might be related to his sister’s death. And dropped the brief section from Ben’s POV. Adding that in felt like the good stuff was being dangled in front of me and then snatched away in favor of a heavy-handed fever dream. If the fever dream was what the book was building to, I think it would have been better off as a novella. Maybe then it wouldn’t have felt so disproportionate.
This is not to say, of course, that I didn’t feel for Francesca. But her life was (I hate to use this word in reviews, but it really was) boring. I don’t feel like I learned much of value during all that time spent looking back on her life, and this made it difficult to engage with the book. But it was especially difficult because I was so curious about Ben. He was the focus of Francesca’s flashbacks most of the time. So much of her time was spent just on the periphery of his emotional depths, wishing she could get in, but unable. So I don’t feel like I, as a reader, can be blamed for caring more about figuring out Ben’s trauma than about what happens to Francesca, when she herself was so concerned about figuring out Ben's trauma.
The pacing was weird. A disproportionate amount of time was spent on Francesca’s highly ordinary day-to-day life until the book was nearly over and we finally found out a bit of what was going on in Ben’s mind. And then at the very end, we were suddenly introduced to a trippy storyline about BETRAYAL in which Francesca’s situation was strangely compared with women whose husbands tried to kill them. I worried here that the book was about to take a complete 180 on all the development of Francesca trying to understand Ben, but thankfully the book came out thematically consistent. The message about grief, trauma, instinct, and regret was one I really appreciated, but the way it was executed was so strange. Perhaps the finale would have had the emotional impact I assume the author intended had less time been spent watching Francesca talking to her parents and hanging out with her dog, and more time spent exploring Ben.
And yes, I obviously wanted to know more about Ben, but if that wasn’t the story the author wanted to tell, I still think she could have leaned harder into what Francesca did NOT know about Ben and have her deliberate more at the end about how Ben’s reaction to the accident might be related to his sister’s death. And dropped the brief section from Ben’s POV. Adding that in felt like the good stuff was being dangled in front of me and then snatched away in favor of a heavy-handed fever dream. If the fever dream was what the book was building to, I think it would have been better off as a novella. Maybe then it wouldn’t have felt so disproportionate.
April 12, 2023
Okay let's go. I listened to the audiobook for the history, and my initial thought on it was that the first two acts of the book are pretty complex. The time shift, the flashbacks, are somewhat difficult to distinguish from the current time period. Both Francesca's part and Ben's part. I don't know if in the physical book these time changes are better marked so that they are easier to understand. I can only say that this greatly hindered my enjoyment of the story. The part where Francesca is trying to save herself and her daughter is the most interesting part of the first acts, I don't know if her past and things from her childhood are so relevant to the story. In the case of Ben's section, his past is somehow more relevant to try to understand why he had a certain attitude, however it didn't make me like him as a person, even knowing his reasons. The third act, came out of nowhere. Which was a nice surprise, but it was also very fast. That moment in the forest, the search for the daughter, the fear and the regret for the situation, happened very quickly, and could have been worked on a lot more. There was a lot missing in that last act to really make you want to understand the characters in the forest, to understand what was happening in that situation. The suspense and mystery of the opening scene was good, but it went by so fast that it was a bit incomprehensible. Who are these characters? Who is the white widow? Who is the second oldest character Francesca meets near the house? What is her reason for appearing? What is the point of these characters existing? So that last part of the story should have been two-thirds of the story instead of a quarter. The time the author spent explaining and going back in Francesca's past and childhood could have been cut in half and expanded the forest scene. My final thoughts regarding the book are: The concept is good, but the practice is not very good. Three-quarters of the story was spent developing something that I thought was unnecessary, and what could have been the best part of the story was left out and passed too quickly.
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