Literally Dead Book Club discussion
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty
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final thoughts
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Mar 04, 2020 09:13PM
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I was not a fan at all. I tried really hard to think of something I liked in this, and there just wasn’t anything. It was slow and, quite frankly, really stinking boring. I wish he would have at least suffered. Why couldn’t her ghost do things and haunt the shit out of him? That would have made this at least a little interesting I think.
For me there was lots to like about this book, the setting, the atmosphere. I also enjoyed the complexity of the characters and that it was written in both the past and the present at the same time. I also think it approached some hard hitting topics well. But it was still only a 3/5 for me the pacing was just too slow, reveals predictable, and it felt like it jumped from one serious topic to another with going more in-depth.
Do you guys think it would be a spoiler to warn people about the abuse? I wasn’t expecting it and there were sections that were incredibly uncomfortable to read. I want to warn others who may have been in that situation but don’t want to spoil anyone.
Oh my godWent into this knowing nothing more then the synopsis, not even specific genre. Listened to the audiobook in less than four days, would have been quicker but lack of free time. It was interesting, thrilling, scary, held my attention all the way, good character development and writing, I will look up other books by this author. Sad situation nobody wants to end up in, yet happens often still. Wrapped up in a nice way. Definitely not what I expected but this will be my first 5 star read in 2020. Thanks
I don’t think a trigger warning is a spoiler so if you want to warn people of abuse I think that’s ok!
The marketing of this story was incredibly misleading. It is, in no way, a horror/thriller. If anything, I would say this is a contemporary domestic drama with a speculative element as the perspective is told through that of a ghost. While that fact could have potentially given this a spooky vibe, it did not.Additionally, the synopsis provided, is almost completely unrelated to what this story proves to be about. While there is another suicide in this book, the storyline of that man and his past are very much secondary and completely unrelated to the main character herself. In fact, I have no idea why it was even included. I think it was simply meant as a plot device for Doughty to further the story for Lisa.
Because the style and tone of this read was markedly different from my initial expectations, I found the first section to be fairly dull. The majority of the main character's narrative included observing people and events around her, and commenting on them. So rather then getting a haunting vibe, it was more ordinary and studious.
Additionally, the perspective, though first person, gives the same feeling as third-person as it is fairly disconnected. As she is a ghost, no one can see her or speak to her, so we are in her head only.
Progressing through the story, I found myself moving from bored to confused as Lisa spots a passenger in the train station, someone she has never met before but feels a connection with, and suddenly she is in love and free to leave the train station at will? I found that to be an extremely convenient plot device. As is the fact that, once she does leave, she finally regains all of her memories from when she was alive!
Holy Meandering Plotline, Batman! We were all over the place in this story
Once we were following Lisa's personal story, I found myself more invested and interested. Although, I must say, I am tired of the "guy seems perfect on the outside, but really he is a manupulative and abusive bastard" plot line. It is extremely overdone and predictable and we practically never see the oppositie occur within stories. I mean, can we not take inspiration from the recent Johnny Depp/Amber Heard revelation and include a story where the woman is the abuser? .
So I did find the overarching story to be fairly unoriginal.
Overall, I found this book to be a mess. I personally ended up enjoying the slow, character-drivent aspect of the story as I find people interesting, and so I enjoy learning their stories. However, I still can't quite understand why this was marketed as a thriller. And the fact that not much at all happens in the story, leaves it to be quite senseless as well. That, coupled with the unoriginal plot, made this book very "meh" for me.
I gave it 2/5 stars. It was very disappointing, especially since I was so excited to read it as I voted for it. The jump into the abusive domestic narrative completely lost me as I have zero patience for those sorts of storylines. I found myself impatiently waiting for Lisa to return to the present and give us a reason for reading.Brittany wrote: "The marketing of this story was incredibly misleading. It is, in no way, a horror/thriller. If anything, I would say this is a contemporary domestic drama with a speculative element as the perspect..."
I agree with Brittany, in that a whole lot of nothing happened and this book felt so pointless. I was relieved when I finished it.
Brittany wrote: "The marketing of this story was incredibly misleading. It is, in no way, a horror/thriller. If anything, I would say this is a contemporary domestic drama with a speculative element as the perspect..."I completely agree. The synopsis was so misleading. I understand not hating on a book because it wasn't what you expected, but I feel like that is completely different scenario that the synopsis basically saying "hey i'm a ghost thriller" and only 10% of the book being actually about that.
All that aside I found it SO SLOW. The only reason I finished it is because I kept thinking, oh this is a thriller, SOMETHING is going to happen and it just never did. The random premonition thing also bugged me. It had no context? This book was definitely not for me.
I listened to this as an audio book as that was the only medium that was available via the library. I'm not sure I would have made it through reading it in print. Though, with that said, I did enjoy listening to it.I agree that it is not a thriller. At all. It's sad and made me mad, but then, I realized it also had such a sweet nugget of joy showing how it's the little things in life that are what's remembered, what matters. And I'm glad the focus wasn't on Matty/Matthew. As it wasn't his story and definitely did not deserve the attention, even fictionally.
This was a really different book than what I would gravitate to, so I'm glad to have read/listened to it.
I ended up giving this 3.5 stars. The majority of the book I enjoyed - I thought the story of Lisa and Marty’s relationship was gripping and very true to life and I enjoyed reading about the staff at the train station; they just shouldn’t have been part of the same book. It should have either been the story of Lisa and Matty’s relationship- ending with Matty moving on with his new girlfriend - or it should have been the story of how a man committing suicide affected the staff who worked at the station. Either of those would be great as a stand alone piece. The choice to combine them made the entire book feel strange. I was waiting for the whole book for the connection between Lisa and the other man who died (he was mentioned so little, I can’t even remember his name) because of the synopsis and was thoroughly confused when I finished the book. It also definitely isn’t a mystery or a thriller. This is a dark contemporary.
I enjoyed the individual elements but the book overall was disappointing and confusing.
Erin wrote: "I ended up giving this 3.5 stars. The majority of the book I enjoyed - I thought the story of Lisa and Marty’s relationship was gripping and very true to life and I enjoyed reading about the staff ..."Hi Erin. I agree. The train station seemed like it should have been entirely separate as it did not feel part ofthe same story. Like you, I found the synopsis very misleading and therefore, it too was disappointing and confusing for me
Erin wrote: "they just shouldn’t have been part of the same book ..."I totally agree, it felt like I was reading two completely different stories here.
Like almost everyone else has said, the synopsis of this book was misleading, and I was really disappointed that this lacked the thriller/horror elements that I was hoping for.
This book really didn't work for me. Aside from it not being at all what I thought it was going to be I found it really boring. I listened to the audiobook and I found myself drifting in and out of focus a lot. It was so slow paced, and I felt like nothing happened.
The plot, for me, was also pretty contrived. Especially the part where Lisa randomly falls in love with a guy and suddenly she can leave the train station and all her memories come back? I was so lost as to how and why this happened. I also really thought the connection between the two suicides would be something grander, but the connection was tenuous at best. I didn't understand the point of half of the things that were included in this story.
Overall this was a pretty big disappointment for me.
ok but does anyone else feel..... weird reading about why white women are not sexually appealing through the eyes of a man of color written BY a white woman?? in chapter 24 Doughty does this for an excruciatingly long time? and it just seems kind of uncomfortable? does anyone get what i’m saying?
hannah g wrote: "ok but does anyone else feel..... weird reading about why white women are not sexually appealing through the eyes of a man of color written BY a white woman?? in chapter 24 Doughty does this for an..."Yeah, I was pretty concerned by that t0o. I was cleaning while listening and actually stopped what I was doing and was like..."wait....isn't this author a white woman?"
Brittany wrote: "hannah g wrote: "ok but does anyone else feel..... weird reading about why white women are not sexually appealing through the eyes of a man of color written BY a white woman?? in chapter 24 Doughty..."okay, great. thanks for responding, Brittany! otherwise, I really would have thought I was reading too far into it. what an odd read, really have no idea where the author was going with it
1 star read for me. I was just so so bored. Nothing was thrilling about this, nothing was scary. I didnt care about any of the other characters. What was the point of them? Did I miss something? I think Im just disappointed as this was not at all what I was expecting. The synopsis was definitely misleading.
It was a 3 star read for me. I expected way more out of it given the description. If the synopsis hasn't been as misleading as it was, I might have liked it more than I did. If It would have been advertised as a domestic drama with elements of suspense, I would have invested way more in the characters and the plot line.Full transparency, I hated Matthew, despised him even, and I became emotional SEVERAL times listening to how he treated Lisa.
I liked the text of the book. I liked the story it told and the devices it used to tell it. It's a story that I think needed to be told. The slow plot worked for it but i do think the ghost and flashback parts were poorly balanced and that the flashbacks could've been better integrated.However, i can't bring myself to look past the fact that this was, in the very least, marketed as a thriller. It was at most a suspenful contemporary with a focus on domestic abuse. It wasn't close to a domestic thriller as it was far too grounded for that. So I'm left feeling just weird about this book and the treatment of this book just rubs me the wrong way as an abuse survivor in a way that books like Pretty Girls & the Wife Between Us never did. I think in part it's because this is more grounded, less dramatic and over the top.
I can only agree with most people before me. I gave the book 3 stars, but i was generous. It was not because I generally didnt like the book. Its mainly due to the misleading marketing. This was not horror, not even a thriller - it was a domestic abuse story, that is told by the ghost of a victim of the abuser. Its just a different mindset on how someone approaches the story, when you expect a thriller vs a domestic abuse story.
I kind of liked the side stories, I liked how the abuse is portrayed... ok that sounds bad. What I mean is that I appreciate how creeped out the book made me feel about the abuse (i am usually quite detached from stories).
But it was just not what I expected.
This was in no way a horror or a thriller. MAYBE a mystery, but a very dull one at that. Very disappointed 2/5.
I thought the atmosphere was really well done, as well as mental states of the characters; but I hated the end. Not so much the twist with Miriam but what felt like a forced supernatural element at the end, instead of letting the reader drawing their own conclusions and be spooked by the non-explanation.
Bibo wrote: "I can only agree with most people before me. I gave the book 3 stars, but i was generous. It was not because I generally didnt like the book. Its mainly due to the misleading marketing. This was n..."
I completely agree. I didn't have a problem with the writing, and once I was in the right mindset, I started to enjoy the story. But this was absolutely not what I was expecting and because of that, it was a disappointment.
Liz wrote: "This was in no way a horror or a thriller. MAYBE a mystery, but a very dull one at that. Very disappointed 2/5."This seems to be the consensus. I don't think many people are going to be able to appreciate this book for what it was because it was so inaccurately marketed.
Oh no, I voted for this and I really really didn't like it.I agree with what a lot of people are saying, especially about the misleading marketing. This was definitely NOT the book I thought I was getting based on the synopsis, and if I'd had a clearer picture of what this was about, I don't think I would have picked it up at all.
Domestic abuse in books or any media is always a difficult topic, but in my opinion it was not handled well here. Matty often felt like a cartoon bad guy to me, lacking any subtlety that would allow me to understand why Lisa (who we are led to believe was happy and relatively well-adjusted before meeting him) would ignore so many red flags, especially early on. Yes I understand she rushed into cohabitation, but some of her internal dialogue just really didn't work for me (Like her misreading of extreme possessiveness and jealousy as "cute"...what?) This plot device slash trope of the "perfect" boyfriend/husband who is secretly a crazy, abusive, creepy, megalomaniac, psycho is something I don't care for at all. And in the end, I wasn't sure what we were supposed to get out of all of it.
Like a lot of others, I also thought the plot was a mess. Too many side stories and too many characters and good grief it was so slow at times...so, so slow. At times I feared the book would never end. And I often thought the plot felt contrived.
Also, is anyone else confused as to how Lisa somehow failed to notice the giant, loud, freight train with headlights coming down the track? She looked away for a second but she wouldn't have heard it coming? As far as I know freight trains don't "sneak up" on people. Even as confused and frightened as she was, I just don't buy it. Also, she had her cell phone on her the whole time, why didn't she call someone when she left the house? Her parents or her friend? If someone made me fear for my life or was following me the first thing I would do would be call someone. In fact, I've been in a situation where a man was following me and I called my mom immediately, told her where I was and what was happening and did not get off the phone. That whole scene felt very contrived and seriously irritated me.
Ok, I'll stop. Suffice to say this really didn't work for me. 2 stars.
I agree with most of you.This book had an identity crisis, it introduced so many elements and storylines that seemed so pointless at the end. While this isn't the worst book. I found the writing to be pretty good. But looking back there are just so many things that really annoy me. Too many storylines that are useless to Lisa's story, the synopsis was just very bad, poor marketing, and just too many things that just seemed lazy. She can't leave the station then suddenly "love" sets her free? She can't remember anything then suddenly remembers everything? The whole middle part of the book you kind of forget she's meant to be a ghost at all.
Way too much going on, in my opinion. I think if the author would have focused on a couple of elements and fleshed those out a bit more and connected them better, it would have been more enjoyable.
Erin wrote: "Oh no, I voted for this and I really really didn't like it.I agree with what a lot of people are saying, especially about the misleading marketing. This was definitely NOT the book I thought I wa..."
You summarized my thoughts on this story exactly! Especially regarding the plot device of the crazy, abusive, possessive boyfriends. I just feel it is so overdone and I am tired of seeing it. It is almost lazy, to be honest. As you said, there were definitely certain things here that were very contrived and convenient and it just didn't work well.
hi ! just a brief note, i swear i'm not attacking anyone. but please chose your language carefully when you are talking about the domestic abuse. and think carefully about what you are going to say. of course everyone is allowed to have their opinions on the accuracy however it does require a bit more delicacy than normal
Overall I gave the book 2⭐️. The beginning was slow and boring. The middle picked up and I found Lisa’s story interesting. The ending was just okay for me. I actually like the way she ended Matty’s story. I didn’t really find the story suspenseful at all. I feel like from the time she met Matty I could tell he wasn’t going to be a good guy. The pacing was just too slow and I don’t think we needed to see into all of the side characters lives.
So unbelievably boring! 2 ⭐️ I almost didn’t finish but it started to pick up a little with Matty and Lisa’s story and nope never really went anywhere. Also, the parts with the secondary characters from the train station were dreadful and unnecessary.
I gave it 2. I liked the middle and the abuse part cause of how accurate it is and I could see all the different tactics he uses. its easy to say that she shouldve left but this is how extremely many women go. they question themselves and they stay until it's too late. but with that said, as soon as he started acting the way he did the ending was extremely predictable, and I'm not the type of guy who cares if an ending is predictable. The beginning and the ending just fell flat for me. I felt like you go into this expecting one thing and getting an entirely different thing, the synopsis should've been way different. if it said it would be about what it was about I probably wouldn't have picked it up because I personally wouldnt learn anything or get anything from it. also I'm not sure if the abuse aspect of it was written good because I disnt feel anything or didnt feel triggered which I usually do in books written about abuse, I cant really tell how I feel even if I felt it was the most interesting part? idk man
Heather wrote: "So unbelievably boring! 2 ⭐️ I almost didn’t finish but it started to pick up a little with Matty and Lisa’s story and nope never really went anywhere. Also, the parts with the secondary characters..."I agree. I was fully confused by what actual purpose those secondary characters had.
Throughout a good portion of the book, I was trying to figure out how it would become a thriller. Was he perhaps not really a doctor and was living a lie? I feel like even that would have made this slightly more interesting. It wasn't an awful read, and I can deal with some slower pacing, so it was a 3 out of 5. An actual thriller would have been a better pick for this month but oh well. Would have preferred some more plot twists.
Libby wrote: "Throughout a good portion of the book, I was trying to figure out how it would become a thriller. Was he perhaps not really a doctor and was living a lie? I feel like even that would have made this..."This! There was one point in the book where Lisa thought Matty was at work but he was home when she got there. I was thinking, ok, finally, this guy is lying, he's not a doctor. I thought for sure that was why he got all pissy about her going to an appointment at the hospital. But NOPE, nothing happened with that...
Ugh this book was such a bummer.
I gave it 3/5 stars. Honestly I found it not super thrilling until the very end. Also did anyone else guess that she didn’t actually kill herself and it actually Matty basically the first time he was even a little mean to her?I didn’t hate this book but I also didn’t particularly love it. I was interested to keep reading but honestly I found it pretty meh overall.
2/5 stars for me. I'm feeling a lot of the same things that people are here - bored, confused, underwhelmed. I really agree that this should not have been marketed as a horror/thriller and the synopsis on the cover and the quotes on the back make it seem much more like a ghost story and its just a mess of a domestic thriller.
I really didnt like the ending, I skimmed my way through it as I couldn't dnf a book with only 50 pages to go. It seemed so bland as if it was trying to be this big philosophical moment and talking point but it just felt really out of place.
I really was wishing for a big plot twist between Lisa and Thomas - as the synopsis hints towards - but no :(
It's a shame because it highlights an abusive relationship in a very common why that I think a lot of people can relate to or have witnessed, but this wasn't the book for it
I'm glad to see so many reviewers not like this. I was worried I was going to be alone. As I didn't vote for this, I was skeptical. I couldn't get this from my library or econtent resources such as Hoopla or Libby, so I had to buy it. And that was pretty much the only reason I finished it. The narrator was more than fine, but like someone else said above- holy meandering plot line Batman!I found this story to be all over the place, not at all what was advertised (SO not a mystery/suspense) and ultimately a let down. No revenge and all hair-pulling? Seriously, the amount of times I was yelling in my car in frustration at everything. And I get it, we're outsiders looking in so it's easier for us. But even stories like this deserve some sort of redemption. I did not find the "well you saw me do it, so there's hope you won't do it" message to be not enough.
Hard 2/5 stars. Moving on to whatever's next.
Finished this tonight... Not overly impressed. I didn't hate it, but it's really not my genre, so, I gave it the middle-of-the-road rating of 3. It wasn't bad, but also not good? I don't know... It's weird...
I’ve just finished Platform Seven and my first thought was “is that it?” I really despised the beginning of this book, the writing was not to my taste and I was BORED! The book picked up in places and quite honestly the only remotely interesting thing about this book was Matthew. Throughout it all I had a sense of boredom, the book wasn’t going anywhere (even though it was) and the last 20 or so pages I skimmed. I’m glad to be done with this. A disappointing read and for me it’s a 2 star
There are times when I feel like noone or only very few people share my opinion. That I love something people hate or hate something people love and I feel alone and unable to share my opinions with anyone because they would not understand. This is not that time - I agree with everyone here.The synopsis’s misleading, plot feels like several decent ideas mashed together into one confusing book, etc. etc. I tried to treat it like a mystery/thriller, but there were no surprises, no shocks, no plot twists, nothing.
The best part was Lisa’s backstory/life prior to her death, the parts with watching life of the other people were ok and the worst parts were the ones where the author tried to sound "deep" by commenting on society and other stuff (I just skimmed those parts).
My final verdict is 2/5 stars. 2,5 when I accept that Lisa’s prediction of the future is 100% correct, because I kinda needed at least a semblance of justice for how did Matty treated women. He’ll end up as an alcoholic wreck? Good.
Finished it today! I did not care for this book. I thought of dnf’ing it but stuck with it because I voted for it 😕. I agree there is nothing horror/ thriller about this story. This book was sooo boring and far too wordy. I found the character Lisa extremely irritating not only because of her circumstances, I just felt she was incessantly babbling.
I finished today. I think I'll be giving it 2.5 stars?I thought it had really excellent moments but a lot of shortcomings. The voices of the characters were well developed. The tension of the bad relationship was extremely well done, but I thought we spent an awful lot of time in flashback. I would have liked more back and forth. However, it turns out there was very little going on in the present. The "mystery" I thought was going to happen didn't. The connection between the suicides was barely there and unimportant.
As I said, the example of a controlling and dangerous relationship was well done, but that wasn't the advertised point of the story. (I don't know that I would have read it if it had been accurately described). Sadly, even the afterlife revelations of Lisa didn't feel all that poignant. They just felt obvious because the reader was in on what eventually became of her all along.
The ending was also anti-climactic. I get that often the villains don't get caught and lives and stories don't wrap up well, but even after we get to the conclusion of Lisa's story and of the odd side story, we have to go on a goodbye tour. I wish she would have done a bit of this while wrapping up her story or shortened it or something. It felt like the author didn't know how to end it.
Not a terrible read. It has memorable moments. I'm glad I listened to it instead of reading a physical copy. That probably kept it from dragging too much. It has a great reader.
I feel like I missed something important before reading this book. It was kind of interesting, but overall I finished it wondering what the point of it all was. I'm glad Shelley wasn't like Lisa, but that's a whole other issue there coming from a single parent point of view
Brittany wrote: "The marketing of this story was incredibly misleading. It is, in no way, a horror/thriller. If anything, I would say this is a contemporary domestic drama with a speculative element as the perspect..."I completely agree. I feel like I spent most of the book wondering what the plot actually was, and when different pieces started coming together it was just ok, but what does this have to with Lisa? Still wondering what the whole point was
I agree with a lot of people who have already commented. This was pretty meh, which is why I gave it 2,5 stars. This book had very high highs, but also very low lows. Whilst I was super intrigued when Lisa was talking about her life before her death, and her relationships, and their developments, I found myself not caring about the rest at all. There were a lot of parts where she, as a ghost, just wandered around and observed things, and people, I had no interest in. This book is pretty long, and I feel like the first and last few chapters really could have been shortened a bit to make it more enjoyable. Like this, however, the story dragged, and I found myself losing focus while listening to the audiobook. Especially the first few chapters were super boring, and almost made me dnf the book. Not a book I would read again, sadly.
Uhhh thank God it's finally over. I was so bored and annoyed with this book and the only reason I didn't dnfed it was because I hopped it would end up somewhere. I had no interest in the characters and there's no thriller/horror element. Obviously it's a 1 star book for me😕
Agreed with all comments, made it to 100 pages before I checked out and decided to DNF it. Sad because it was so hard to find...
I feel like everyone hated this but I was so surprised to love it (as much as you can love story about intimate partner violence). I wouldn't say this was a thriller/horror/mystery at all, but that's fine with me because I just loved the writing and reading something that felt so original).
The side-characters were intriguing and I loved how each character had their own 'issue' in life and how it came full circle to the woman Lisa saw in the window.
A 4/5 rating from me!
Emily wrote: "I feel like everyone hated this but I was so surprised to love it (as much as you can love story about intimate partner violence). I wouldn't say this was a thriller/horror/mystery at all, but tha..."
I ended up appreciating it for what it was....but because it wasn't what I expected or what was advertised, I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. The writing was definitely good, which is probably why it wasn't total failure for me.
