Sunday, November 10, 2019

Book Review | Tear Me Apart by Sara Sligar


Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar definitely threw me for a loop. For some reason I expected this novel to be one of those cliche thriller tropes that are chalk-full of twists and turns just to end up with an ending so out there there's no way anyone would be able to guess it.
This was not one of those novels.

In Callinas, California, a well-known artist named Miranda Brand suddenly died and the shock-waves were felt high and low. Years later, Miranda's son, Theo, hires an archivist (also an ex journalist) named Kate to go through his mother and father's things to create an archive of their work to put up for an auction.

As Kate delves deeper into Miranda's personal belongings she begins to piece together tiny fragments of her life and in turn, learning more about her enigmatic yet frighteningly handsome and sometimes terrifying boss. Through Kate's discoveries we see that Miranda was under so much pressure due to her job, motherhood, and being a wife that she was slowly buckling underneath it all.

Kate doesn't have it all together herself, so we slowly see her decline as well over her summer stay at her aunt and uncle's. She soon spirals into an obsession over trying to figure out who killed Miranda and it takes over her very being. There are quite a few parallels to Kate's life and the deceased Miranda so we can understand Kate's need to figure things out.

What I Liked:
  • Learning about Miranda and her life through her personal belongings like receipts and diary entries was interesting. You can see her slow decline and feel her pain and confusion through them.
  • It deals with more than a few tough subject matters like spousal rape/abuse, post-partum depression, bosses taking advantage of their positions, and gas-lighting. These issues are handled with care yet still provides an honest and raw depiction of the matters at hand.
  • It had The Seven Lives Husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes. With that being one of my favorite books within the past few years, I had to check to make sure the author of this book wasn't the same author as that one. It isn't. Lol!
  • The ending. While there wasn't a massive amount of twists and turns to end up at a mind-blowing revelation, I quite enjoyed how everything was wrapped up in the end.
  • I did not feel like I was reading a debut book from a debut author. I feel like I just read a novel by an extremely well-seasoned author who's been around for awhile and I believe that speaks volumes to Sligar's writing abilities. 
  • It's a slow-burn novel. Things aren't in your face so it's definitely more psychological than anything else.

What I Disliked:
  • I only have one complaint and it has zero to do with Sligar or her writing, it's more of a personal quarrel with things in general.
    Why do most characters seem to make their minds up then when one thing happens they end up questioning literally EVERYTHING about the thing/person they made their mind up about. If you're so sure of something, why does one tiny thing someone else says sway your opinion so easily? Maybe Kate was purposely written that way to show how having a mental illness can warp your sense of judgement or something but it's so aggravating because I know people in real life do this as well. Que eye roll. Lol.

    So yeah, there you have it! I definitely enjoyed this one and I'm going to start following Sligar as I can tell she has promise and talent. She'll be going far for sure!

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