I'll be honest and say that this book has left me feeling conflicted. The concept of "ghosting" intrigued me but Ghosted ended up being something other than what I expected.
Sarah & Eddie meet, spend a week together & fall deeply in love. Maybe my romantic heart has hardened with age but the fact that this thirty-something year old woman became OBSESSED with Eddie after 7 days just didn't seem romantic to me. It felt unstable, toxic even . All her frantic, unanswered attempts to reach out to Eddie crossed a line in my mind. She appeared desperate, unbalanced and stalkerish.
I found myself feeling annoyed with Sarah's behavior. I simply had no sympathy for her as a character, mostly because of the way she was acting. She was very self-centered not even noticing what her friends were going through around her due to her "Eddie Tunnel Vision". Yet, I admittedly was still intrigued by what could have actually led to Eddie "ghosting" her. Walsh laid out several breadcrumbs and my curiosity was definitely piqued. There was no doubt that I had to know what was actually going on. Was Eddie married? Was he a criminal? Was Sarah actually mentally unbalanced and imagining the connection they had?
So, back to my conflicted feelings regarding Ghosted . Sarah genuinely annoyed me and I found the whole insta-love aspect far-fetched. Yet, I have to also admit that I found the book compulsively readable. I couldn't put it down because despite its failings, I did want to find out what was actually going on. I couldn't look away from Sarah unravelling before my eyes. Her actions were reminiscent of a character in a bad Lifetime movie. If you're like me, you can't flip the channel on one of those either so you understand! One surprising aspect was that I really connected with the grief aspect of the story. The loss of a loved one is palpable, raw & real. I thought Walsh's portrayal of the way various family members handle grief differently in response to tragedy was empathetic, honest & very well done.
I enjoyed some of the twists this book took and it definitely wasn't what I expected going in. Unfortunately, I just never had a big enough connection to Sarah & Eddie's insta-love relationship to feel fully invested in what happened with them and that was the bulk of the book. If I'm going to be honest, it was definitely more curiosity than anything else, that kept me turning the pages to the end. (less)
Sarah & Eddie meet, spend a week together & fall deeply in love. Maybe my romantic heart has hardened with age but the fact that this thirty-something year old woman became OBSESSED with Eddie after 7 days just didn't seem romantic to me. It felt unstable, toxic even . All her frantic, unanswered attempts to reach out to Eddie crossed a line in my mind. She appeared desperate, unbalanced and stalkerish.
I found myself feeling annoyed with Sarah's behavior. I simply had no sympathy for her as a character, mostly because of the way she was acting. She was very self-centered not even noticing what her friends were going through around her due to her "Eddie Tunnel Vision". Yet, I admittedly was still intrigued by what could have actually led to Eddie "ghosting" her. Walsh laid out several breadcrumbs and my curiosity was definitely piqued. There was no doubt that I had to know what was actually going on. Was Eddie married? Was he a criminal? Was Sarah actually mentally unbalanced and imagining the connection they had?
So, back to my conflicted feelings regarding Ghosted . Sarah genuinely annoyed me and I found the whole insta-love aspect far-fetched. Yet, I have to also admit that I found the book compulsively readable. I couldn't put it down because despite its failings, I did want to find out what was actually going on. I couldn't look away from Sarah unravelling before my eyes. Her actions were reminiscent of a character in a bad Lifetime movie. If you're like me, you can't flip the channel on one of those either so you understand! One surprising aspect was that I really connected with the grief aspect of the story. The loss of a loved one is palpable, raw & real. I thought Walsh's portrayal of the way various family members handle grief differently in response to tragedy was empathetic, honest & very well done.
I enjoyed some of the twists this book took and it definitely wasn't what I expected going in. Unfortunately, I just never had a big enough connection to Sarah & Eddie's insta-love relationship to feel fully invested in what happened with them and that was the bulk of the book. If I'm going to be honest, it was definitely more curiosity than anything else, that kept me turning the pages to the end. (less)