August 2020 📚 Wrap up

The first month of autumn has just come, but I'm here to talk to you about the 4 amazing books I read in August. If you are a fan of thriller books, you should definitely keep reading!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015)

Rachel takes the same train every day. And when the train stops at a specific traffic light, she can see a snapshot of the life of a happy couple living close to the rail. However, one day she witnesses a dramatic change to the usual blissful scenery at that apartment and the next day is announced that the woman she was spying for so long disappeared. She will try to get involve in the couple's life in an attempt to find her, but it is hard for anyone to trust Rachel due to her severe alcohol problem.

The story is very thrilling and I enjoyed every minute of it. I have to admit that several blackouts that Rachel experiences are pretty convenient, but I didn't really mind them as they are actual symptoms of alcoholism and it was like the reader was sharing the agony Rachel was feeling in her struggle to retrieve her lost memories. The themes discussed, like taking responsibility over our actions, the role of women, the life people lead behind closed doors and a lot more concerning the complexity of human nature, are presented in a very intriguing and not at all patronising or didactic way; we see the actions and we hear the thoughts of flawed beings and readers get to understand them even if they don't condone their behaviours. Plus, we read the story from the perspectives of three completely different women. But it turns out that there are some similarities among them which contribute to the characters being important and not just pawns to a plot-driven story. 

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (2009)

Libby Day is 31 years old and she is still confronted with the demons of her childhood daily; when she was 7 years old she experienced the murder of her mother and her two older sisters. What makes matters even worse is that her brother was accused of all these murders. In an attempt to earn some money, she accepts to investigate her own case and she ends up doubting everything she thought she knew. 

What I loved the most is the exploration of family bonds. The fact that the Days were a low-class, impoverished family and the members weren't used to expressing any genuine affection towards each other made their relationships complicated and led to adults with behavioural, mental and emotional issues. When it comes to the plot, it is very intriguing and it keeps you on your toes. However, I felt like there were too many things going on. And this is why although a very interesting character shows up towards the end of the book, he serves an idea that unfortunately was never fully developed. Despite these complaints, I had a great - or a greatly chilling- time reading this novel.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (2005)

Unexpectedly, Mikael Blomkvist receives an interesting, well-paid but complex job offer right after reaching a low point at his journalistic career. He will soon discover that most of the family members of the wealthy Vanger family, whom he is hired to investigate, have a lot of secrets and are involved in many conspiracies and scandals. Can the secret of one of them be so deadly as the murder of another family member approximately 30 years ago?

At the same time, Lisbeth Salander is an antisocial, disfunctional, anorexic-looking but extremely bright young investigator who is hired to look into Mikael's life. 

That is the first book of the Millennium trilogy and I'm definitely going to read the others based on my reading experience of this one. I loved the writing style which was purely descriptive with a few instances of figures of speech or thoughts of the characters because it matched the journalistic and factual way of speaking and thinking of the two protagonists. In addition to that, I appreciated the fact that Mikael and Lisbeth started collaborating about halfway through the book because that gave the readers the time to get to know the two characters and feel for them individually before rooting for them to get to the bottom of their dangerous mission without getting hurt in the process. It is an added bonus that Lisbeth and Mikael express opposing points of view at some moral issues which allows the readers to ponder on the subject and agree with whoever they want. 

However, I do have two complaints; First, I wished there was a family tree of the Vanger family at the end of the book because I couldn't keep up with all the members and when I googled looking for a character list, accidentally  I read a major spoiler. Second, although it is obvious that the notion that good people can do bad things is heavily discussed in the book, there are some characters that are portrayed as purely bad with no redeeming qualities which seems as a great discrepancy among the characters and as if the idea that it is okay to commit a crime and not get punished for it if you have good intentions is promoted. Besides these two negative comments, if you don't mind reading about murders and rapes, I would recommend giving this book a read. 

The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

We meet Meursault as he is informed that his mother passed away and he has to travel to the home for the elderly where she was staying to see her for the last time. After the funeral, we see him interact with friends and neighbours until his life takes an unexpected turn as he goes through a trial for a serious crime. 

I have to be honest and admit that I was feeling confused while reading this book. Camus is interested in the notion of absurdity that governs human existence and this interest is evident mostly in the behaviour of the protagonist. His reactions are so unpredictable that it was hard for me as a reader to understand him and root for him. Plus, it was totally baffling to me how he didn't feel guilty and remorseful for the crime he committed. However, I appreciated the language used to convey the message of how absurd life can be. At the beginning, language was purely descriptive and even emotional scenes were narrated in a robotic and factual manner. But as things were getting worse for our protagonist, he seemed to let himself care about what was happening around him and inside his own soul. This change in his attitude led to a stylistic change in language as it became more symbolic and more figures of speech were used. 

And those were all the books I read in August. What about you? What did you read last month?