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Liz's Reviews > The Woman in the Window
The Woman in the Window
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This review is a hard one for me. I struggled with the first half of the book, only to be totally drawn in by the end.
The book starts offs slowly, setting the stage. Anna Fox is a child psychotherapist who suffers from agoraphobia. As she’s trapped in her house, there’s not a lot of action to begin with. But that kind of works. But a little of that goes along way and I kept waiting for something to happen to turn up the pace.
I definitely didn’t relate to Anna, but I also had a hard time finding her believable. The idea that she’d be able to consume multiple bottles of wine at one time, on top of prescription drugs and be able to speak or walk at all seemed unbelievable. I’d be comatose, not just slurring my words. However, I didn’t think of her as a stalker or a voyeur, I didn’t find her creepy that way.
As the story goes along, I started wondering about some of the twists I assumed were coming. I correctly guessed the first big reveal well before it comes out. This book is a homage to old movies, especially Hitchcock and other film noir directors. But the movie this most reminded me of is a more recent one. I can’t name it without giving out a spoiler, which I refuse to do in a review. Flip side, I totally blew how I envisioned the ending.
Grading this is hard. The second half of the book is much more engrossing than the first. It really took a long time to grab me. The first half of the book is barely a three, the second half is somewhere between four and 4 ½ stars.
I listened to this and the narrator, Ann Marie Lee, did a great job. Her voice was a rainbow of nuances and emotions. But I’m wondering if this would have worked better as a book than as an audiobook. I find I like my audiobooks to be fast paced. I heard glimpses of good phrasing, something I always appreciate when I’m reading. Unfortunately, good writing is harder for me to appreciate when listening rather than reading. But that’s me, I’m definitely more visual than aural.
So, in the end I'm going with a 3.5 stars.
The book starts offs slowly, setting the stage. Anna Fox is a child psychotherapist who suffers from agoraphobia. As she’s trapped in her house, there’s not a lot of action to begin with. But that kind of works. But a little of that goes along way and I kept waiting for something to happen to turn up the pace.
I definitely didn’t relate to Anna, but I also had a hard time finding her believable. The idea that she’d be able to consume multiple bottles of wine at one time, on top of prescription drugs and be able to speak or walk at all seemed unbelievable. I’d be comatose, not just slurring my words. However, I didn’t think of her as a stalker or a voyeur, I didn’t find her creepy that way.
As the story goes along, I started wondering about some of the twists I assumed were coming. I correctly guessed the first big reveal well before it comes out. This book is a homage to old movies, especially Hitchcock and other film noir directors. But the movie this most reminded me of is a more recent one. I can’t name it without giving out a spoiler, which I refuse to do in a review. Flip side, I totally blew how I envisioned the ending.
Grading this is hard. The second half of the book is much more engrossing than the first. It really took a long time to grab me. The first half of the book is barely a three, the second half is somewhere between four and 4 ½ stars.
I listened to this and the narrator, Ann Marie Lee, did a great job. Her voice was a rainbow of nuances and emotions. But I’m wondering if this would have worked better as a book than as an audiobook. I find I like my audiobooks to be fast paced. I heard glimpses of good phrasing, something I always appreciate when I’m reading. Unfortunately, good writing is harder for me to appreciate when listening rather than reading. But that’s me, I’m definitely more visual than aural.
So, in the end I'm going with a 3.5 stars.
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Andrea
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rated it 5 stars
Mar 03, 2018 06:05AM
Good review Liz.
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Nice review, Liz. I can’t make up my mind, if I should read this or not 🤨
Megan wrote: "Nice review, Liz. I can’t make up my mind, if I should read this or not 🤨"I’m definitely in the minority on this one. And I really think I might have liked it better if I’d read it, rather than listened to it.
I think if I listened to this book I wouldn't of liked it as much as it does sound a slow read, wasn't sure at first till I got the feelings from the character.I don't go by the hype of any book I read it if I think it's my type of book.I didn't know it was a popular book and normally like fast reading books,and didn't know it's a slow book but glad I read it as really enjoy reading this book,there's some loved it some not so keen,and some hated it.read what you want to read as some people are put off by reviews I do that also one or two star ratings puts me of a book but I shouldn't do that from now on if I like a book from its cover and storyline just going to read it,as you never know could love it and could of missed out in a good book.and if I didn't like it can move onto another book.
If she built up her tolerance then yes, she could. I’ve seen ppl do it. It’s a certain road to death for sure but people with a high tolerance do it all the time. Just watch an episode of Intervention. It’s sad, but it’s true. Good review though. I have been wondering about this book.
Sometimes, audiobooks can make or break a book. Of course, only by reading and listening to the same book one can ascertain that, but it feels that way. I'll wait for the movie to come out.
Bianca wrote: "Sometimes, audiobooks can make or break a book. Of course, only by reading and listening to the same book one can ascertain that, but it feels that way. I'll wait for the movie to come out."Yes, I’m curious to see how they handle the movie.
Sorry this wasn’t a better read for you. I loved this one but I too find an audio perks better with certain types of books. Nice review.
JanB wrote: "Sorry this wasn’t a better read for you. I loved this one but I too find an audio perks better with certain types of books. Nice review."I’m still pretty new to the concept of audio books, so I’m still trying to suss out which ones to choose. I love it when a reviewer says they listened to a book as it really helps me.
sorry the beginning was somewhat pane-ful. nice that it picked up second half. sparkling review, liz!
paulie wrote: "sorry the beginning was somewhat pane-ful. nice that it picked up second half. sparkling review, liz!"Ouch!
Excellent review, Liz!!!
Shainlock wrote: "If she built up her tolerance then yes, she could. I’ve seen ppl do it. It’s a certain road to death for sure but people with a high tolerance do it all the time. Just watch an episode of Intervent..."I’ve never seen Intervention. I’ll check it out. Thanks.
Great review Liz. I have tgis one on my kindle to read. X
Yeah Liz, they get to where that is their functioning normal. Then they have to have more and more to get the High. It’s very sad. The woman in that story sounds really sad.
Nice review! I agree about the first part being slow, I got frustrated with the pace as well.
Rachel wrote: "Nice review! I agree about the first part being slow, I got frustrated with the pace as well."Good to hear. I was beginning to think I was the only one that found the book less than enthralling.
Great review! I had actually forgotten that the beginning was a bit slow for me as well.
I listened to this book as well and had a hard time getting into in during the first half. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it.
Elyse wrote: "You ‘always� write reviews that are valuable to read!!! I like the way you express your thoughts & review: PERIOD! Thanks, Liz!!!!"
Thank you so much. You just brought a huge smile to my face.
I think I should read this.
Thx for adding me to be your friend
;-)
Thx for adding me to be your friend
;-)
Chris Chan Chi Him U｡･ｪ･｡U wrote: "I think I should read this.Thx for adding me to be your friend
;-)"
Gladly. We share a lot of books in common.
Iim only 24% in and agree with your comments on the first half. It’s slow and drawn out. When does it pick up? I’m close to giving up if something doesn’t happen soon.
Alexis wrote: "Iim only 24% in and agree with your comments on the first half. It’s slow and drawn out. When does it pick up? I’m close to giving up if something doesn’t happen soon."I'm going to say about the 50% mark. And by then, I was already suspecting one of the "big reveals".
Appreciated your thoughtful review, Liz. Good points. I too am more visual -- and much more engaged with a physical book than with the audios, plus I retain more. Excellent point about missing the phrasing of "good writing" when listening rather than reading. I feel I'm participating more when I'm actively reading rather than passively listening.
Janet M wrote: "Appreciated your thoughtful review, Liz. Good points. I too am more visual -- and much more engaged with a physical book than with the audios, plus I retain more. Excellent point about missing the..."
Thanks. I’m still pretty new to audiobooks. I like them, but find I do better with more straight forward books when I’m listening. I’ll save the more nuanced books for actually reading.
First half...dull, dull, dulll. If I had listened to the audio versio it would have put me to sleep. Then bam followed by dull. Were the flashbacks hard to adjust to on the audio? In a print version aprint versiothe font ususlly changes so that a clue that you have left the current story. I had to go back to check the date for the chapter. I thought the flashbacks were poorly placed. The ending packed a punch and changed my mind on giving tis a 2 star review. I think a book of this genre should be gripping from the outset in order to rate more than 3 stars. There wasn't any ominous foreboding at the start to pull the reader in.
Millie wrote: "First half...dull, dull, dulll. If I had listened to the audio versio it would have put me to sleep. Then bam followed by dull. Were the flashbacks hard to adjust to on the audio? In a print versio..."Millie, I agree with your assessment. It needed to be more gripping from the get go. And that’s something I’m finding is really important to me with audiobooks. They need to grab me immediately. I have much less patience than I do with a printed book.
It’s been awhile since I listened to this, but I don’t remember being phased by the switch to flashbacks.
Honest and thorough review!
Staci wrote: "Honest and thorough review!"Thanks Staci.
Nice review, Liz. I think I shared a lot of your sentiments about this novel. :)
Erin wrote: "Nice review, Liz. I think I shared a lot of your sentiments about this novel. :)"Thanks Erin.
A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions You MUST either read this or listen. You won’t believe the possible truth about A. J. Finn. i. e. Dan Mallory.
Sherril wrote: "A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions You MUST either read this or listen. You won’t believe the possible..."
Wow!
Totally agree with your review - first half took me such a long time to get into, I even ended up parking the book for several months. Then something made me pick it back up a couple of days ago and I flew through the second half!
