Book Review: Luckiest Girl Alive

“Moving on doesn’t mean you don’t talk about it. Or hurt about it. It’s always going to hurt.”

Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

Ani FaNelli has reinvented herself from a high school social outcast into a modern day socialite worthy of everyone’s envy. With a handsome & wealthy fiance, an upscale apartment in New York City, and the wedding of her dreams right around the corner, Ani’s life is truly perfect. Isn’t it? She used to think so, she used to think this is what she wanted. Now as she realizes she can never truly escape her past, she begins to have doubts about the life she fought so hard to create for herself.

Read If You Liked: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Girl On The Train by Paul Hawkins

My Thoughts:

I have seen quite the mixed bag of reviews of this book. Many readers seem to be a bit put off by it. I, however, literally could not put it down and devoured it chapter after chapter every chance I could. Luckiest Girl Alive is absolutely riveting - and I do not use that word lightly.

This book is the beautiful love child of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, but is far too often overlooked due to their popularity. It has twists and turns that even avid readers of the mystery genre may not see coming. I have a lot of respect for Jessica Knoll and her decision to dive head first into topics that some authors would shy away from. She did this not for shock value, but for the importance of the message and to show the effects that certain life events can have on those involved in them. I would speak more on the specific topics Knoll tackles, but to do so would spoil key plot points of the story. However, I will issue a trigger warning here for gun violence and bullying.

While the importance of these topics was addressed, they did not overpower or distract from the main character (and my favorite part of the novel), Ani FaNelli. One of the major reasons reviewers gave to not like Luckiest Girl Alive, is because of its main character. Ani is caustic and selfish and even heinous at times - one could even call her completely unlikable. However, she felt more real to me than any character has in a long time. She is a character that is scarred by her memories and just trying to cope with the effects they have on her daily life. She is a character clawing her way up from rock bottom, trying to survive the only way she knows how. We, as readers, may not agree with the way she lives or how she acts, but this book is a good reminder that it is not up to us to decide how people rebuild themselves after they have been broken. Also, I do not believe a character has to be likable; is it not enough that we get to see another perspective on life that we may not otherwise see, isn't that what reading is all about?

This book may not be for everyone, it tackles some tough issues and focuses on a character that some may find difficult to relate to. Even I, who loved this book, can recognize its problems. Though I thought Ani was an amazing main character, I do wish the other characters had been a little more fleshed out because none of them could stand up to Ani's magnetism. Also, some of the writing was superfluous and the comparisons Knoll made at times were not the most original. However, this was a great book in my opinion that has a plot that will suck you in from the very first page. Trust me when I say that you’ll be obsessed with solving the multiple mysteries that fill this book and won’t want to stop reading until you do!