Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This is my first review simply due to the fact that I was waiting until I finished a book and could not live with myself until I expressed my thoughts on it. Well, that moment has arrived. Who would have thought it would be for a book I GENEROUSLY rated 1 star? If half stars were an option (which I have often wished they were, usually as a happy solution to the dilemma between a 3 and 4 star rating), I would have given this book a half star.

Wow. Disappointment is an understatement. As an avid book nerd and writer myself (sure, I'll flatter myself), I will not crap on any work of literature out of respect and understanding that everyone has their own vision. But that being said, this book seemed utterly pointless to me. I cannot fathom why it was written (or published). The author clearly had their reasons for producing such a story - but it's lost on me.

The whole novel read to me the way your least favorite chapter in another book might read. A premise somewhat crafted (with a few random and try hard paragraphs seemingly there only to let you know that the author is an intellectual thinker)....then a whole lot of nothing. Now I understand a slow burn section here and there helps with the pacing of a novel, but this whole book was literally one long and boring chapter. I kept waiting for something - anything - exciting or suspenseful or for the love of all that is holy INTERESTING to happen or be fully developed ... but it never did. Sure there were parts where I was (cruelly) misled into thinking something intriguing or eerie was waiting around the next corner. Or passages when the married couple actually embodied something similar to real, genuine married people, before returning to their flaky and inconsistently written characters. But in the end, I couldn't get past the overall nothingness that was this book.

SPOILER ....

And oh sweet baby Jesus - the depressing and completely (to me) unnecessary death of the dog as the "climax" or turning point of the story? Not good. And I'm not even a passionate dog lover. It was more of a "THAT was what I was waiting for?" moment. I have never felt more cheated by a book in my entire 29 years on this earth. I guess in order to reignite the spark in your marriage and overcome intense and crippling anxiety, not to mention extinguish your desire to cheat on your mentally unstable wife with a much younger female student, your beloved family dog just needs to abruptly die. Simple. Got it.

Maybe I should blame the summary on the inside cover and not the book or the author, but this is in no way, shape or form a book about "terrifying paranoia". The only thing terrifying was the fact that I continued reading with such enthusiasm in hopes that it would eventually get better.

Not to mention, the author was brutally and embarrassingly insulting to anyone who lives in, has travelled through, visited or has ever even heard about the existence of Ohio (and on a slightly less degrading scale, West Virginia). Apparently, as an Ohioan, I should thank my lucky stars that I can even read because, you know, I'm clearly an uneducated inbred. Authors words, not mine.



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