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The Woman in the Window,
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Nancy Butler
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Shonna
I'm only 40% done but the book feels like an homage to film noir, and particularly Hitchcock. So, yes, it has the same trope -- a person looking out the window at their neighbours -- but I think it's entirely intentional. I wouldn't call it a knock off or copy.
Hope Morgan
I thought it was very similar. Too similar for me. Yes there are some differences, but not enough in my opinion. Maybe it is because I watched Rear Window (which I absolutely LOVE) recently, that this book just felt like sort of a rip off to me. I think you can borrow from other things, but I felt like overall idea was stolen.
carol johnson
I did read Gone Girl. It was indeed a "thriller' in most senses of the word, well-paced, fairly well written, though by now my opinion of it may be colored by the movie. I did not read Girl on the Train. Woman in the Window in greatly flawed in every way: structurally, the writing, the characters. The woman in the window is a mess, and while agoraphobia is a serious and given her situation understandable disorder, which is compounded by her alcohol and prescription drug abuse, she is so hard to like and, for me, not that credible. I also felt that much of what occurred as the novel progresses was predictable. And while the movie references were interesting and at times appropriate, it began to be tiresome and forced. In sum, for me, the only real likeness between the two novels is that they each involve seriously emotionally fraught women who allegedly see disturbing stuff out of a window. That is where the similarities end and Gone Girl is a far better written book. I cannot recommend Woman in the Window.
Cynthia
Great similarities such as the witnessing of something from afar, but this novel goes into more depth and the story blooms out far afield of Hitchcock's terse thriller.
Jennifer O'neill
It veers of from Rear Window towards the second half. You won't finish it thinking you just read Rear Window. It definitely does pay an homage to the old Hitchcock movies and mentions old mystery movies a bit too much. All in all, I enjoyed the book though.
Amber Brown
The basic premise is similar, but the narrator is even more unreliable than Jimmy Stewart's character, and there are more twists, in my opinion.
There's also the added psychological element of her agoraphobia.
There's also the added psychological element of her agoraphobia.
Greg
Same story. Same plot points. In Rear Window, for example, the man in the wheelchair watches a number of different neighbors/windows/but sees a murder in one of them. Then the bad person comes after the witness, Steward: in RW, Stewart is still in a wheelchair, in Woman, Anna still has agoraphobia. Difference? "Woman", when made into a film, will NEVER EVER have the glorious Grace Kelly in all those Vogue cover fashions.
Clara Taylor
Sure did think of Hitchcock early on but got into other developments so enjoyed it on its own merits.
John
Basically the plot is a re-do of the screenplay of Rear Window - the protagonist is female, not male, in a drug and alcohol psychotic state, not in a wheelchair, and so on. A total ripoff. I don't understand how the author got away with this - 1954 wasn't that long ago!!
Janice Hovis
To, me the plot seems like a mashup of Rear Window with other Hitchcock and film noir. There are definitely elements of Vertigo and Gaslight, for example. I really enjoyed all the film references.
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Aug 10, 2018 02:41PM · flag