How many were genuinely surprised when, about 80 pages into the book, you discovered what it was really about?

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5 years ago
12 answers

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Marcy I was confused until the revelation, and it just knocked me out! I've long heard that writers "shouldn't" trick readers this way, but I was totally glad I hadn't known beforehand, it was such a mind twist; in fact I had to stop reading for a few hours to digest the new information. Superbly done, IMO.

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Sigrid Up to that point I thought the story was not sooo interesting, but from that page on I really got interested...

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Wendy I was surprised. I keep looking at the picture of the sisters on the cover now with a different pair of eyes

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Say I saw the clues on the way but was glad I did no know before I started what the book was really about.

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Julia I was surprised. I was wondering what had happened to Fern. I thought she was a much older sister. I liked the surprise.

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Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins I was genuinely bowled over. My jaw literally dropped open. I didn't see it coming AT ALL, and I'm so sad for all the readers here that had it spoiled for them beforehand - it's a true testament to Fowler's skill how she revealed that twist.

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Laura Bulawski Not having looked at the cover, I thought Fern might be a twin sister that met with a bad end.

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Collaroy Absolutely. And I'm really glad I read this one as an ebook because the print editions' covers give such a heavy clue. It'd be so sad to miss out on this surprise IMO.

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Cathy Not really, I'd seen a chimp on the front cover, and once I opened the book and read the info on the fold of the cover, I was kinda thinking this book was about a family of chimps, who led human lives, spoke etc. So I was a bit confused until the truth was revealed.

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Cory Gaskins I was pretty surprised. I knew something was on because her grandmothers didn't want Fern to be named after them. There were clues but I decided to read on without trying to figure it out. It was really surprising!!!

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