I bought this book with high expectations after reading all the glowing review. I was disappointed as it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. Ms. Gruen is a talented writer, and the book starts off well, but then travels into sappy “chick lit” territory, especially the ending.
However, the one thing that ruined this book for me was the depiction of mental illness. The character August is described as a paranoid schizophrenic. I am not a psychiatrist but I am a mental health professional and his symptoms sound closer to bipolar disorder. Also, August is cruel and violent, to say the least, when acutally most paranoid schizophrenics are NOT VIOLENT. Yes, I know it’s fiction and the author is free to take artistic license, but misconceptions about mental illness are common and this book only furthers them.
Lastly, I understand that the book is being made into a movie with Reese Witherspoon. I like Reese and even though I wasn’t crazy about the book, was thinking of going to go see it until I learned that Robert what’s-his-fang from the horrible “Twilight” series is playing Jacob Jankowski. Noooooooooooooo!