The Girl in the Mirror - April 2022 Book Group discussion

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Serendippily Apr 2022 4:53pm, 16 Apr 2022 25,719 posts	0 Serendippily Not a fan. The final twist was ok but I guessed a lot of it and churning through all the mills and boon type stuff was heavy work. It had an unpleasant heart
Serendippily Apr 2022 4:53pm, 16 Apr 2022 25,720 posts	0 Serendippily Glad you enjoyed it though
LindsD Apr 2022 11:20am, 19 Apr 2022 54,151 posts	0 LindsD I think this suffered for me because I had read the other one beforehand, so my tolerance for over-written manipulative fiction was pretty low. I was also not a fan, and found the whole thing pretty unbelievable. How would a fresh scar look the same as an old coral scar? How could Adam and Summer possibly predict everything that Iris would do? I also guessed the final twist. The sex stuff was really disturbing and unpleasant and not really addressed at all. I found the characters two-dimensional. It's a shame, really, as I think some of the issues around those kind of sibling relationships do bear examination. This book wasn't it, though. That said, I did sit and read it in the garden on Good Friday and I did want to know what happened.
Little Nemo Apr 2022 8:59pm, 21 Apr 2022 12,881 posts	0 Little Nemo This was an easy read but not always an enjoyable one. It reminded me of those made for TV movies you see during the day - glossy, slightly wooden dialogue and a farfetched story. It carries you along but doesn't bear much scrutiny. This is the sort of book that you'd pick up for a holiday and for its type it's OK. The mystery is interesting, the main character keeps your interest, the bits about the boat were educational and there's a good twist at the end. There are a lot of flaws though - the dreadful sex, the increasing implausibility of the plot, the stilted and unrealistic dialogue and most of the characters' odd behaviour. My biggest gripe though was the sheer ridiculousness of the pregnancy plot. It hinges on Iris's ability to navigate the rest of the journey on her own, not immediately declare who she is when she gets to The Seychelles, not objecting to having sex with her dead sister's husband, and then actually getting pregnant early enough to beat everyone else. Also how on earth would Summer have known that she was infertile at the age of 14?!? Even if she did discover it her mother would have had to know too, surely? I gave this book a 6.
Night-owl May 2022 4:05pm, 30 May 2022 39,603 posts	0 Night-owl Read this in 3 days the bulk of it yesterday, though that doesn't mean anything Don't think I enjoyed it glad to finish guessed the ending though a bit disappointed at the end. Don't think there was one likeable character.
Peregrinator Aug 2022 2:38pm, 7 Aug 2022 1,065 posts	0 Peregrinator The Girl in the Mirror There is the Drake equation: N = R∗ × fp × ne × fl × fi × fc × L which calculates the likely number of intelligent civilisations in the known Universe, by multiplying together factors like the number of planets capable of supporting life, the probability of life forming, the probability of it evolving significant intelligence, and ominously, the likely time civilisations might exist before destroying themselves. You could develop a similar equation to estimate the number of bath plugs in the world, from the number of countries, the typical number of towns and cities in those countries, the number of houses in those towns and cities, the number of bathrooms in each house, etc. Although as bath plugs are now replaced by other mechanical devices, we may have gone through "Peak Bath Plug". It occurred to me that books should have a probability index, calculated from the total probability of the elements in the story. I will exclude a premise of the story, so in TGITM I will accept that someone might write a will with unlikely, if probably unenforceable, conditions. But from then on its still down hill. For example, the probability of not realising that one's twin sibling is a self-interested conniving mercenary meanie? I'm not the greatest judge of character, but even I sussed out my two brothers by the age of 14. Anyhow, it all comes out "right" in the end, although I'm not sure I would want to pair up with someone who at the least might have been aware of the plans to bump me off. Maybe Pecunia vincit omnia, which seems to be the motto of this story. I'll stick with Virgil's original.
Peregrinator Aug 2022 2:53pm, 7 Aug 2022 1,066 posts	0 Peregrinator Glad other people found it unlikely, the people unpleasant and even used the word premise.... Makes me feel better.
LindsD Aug 2022 10:34pm, 7 Aug 2022 56,185 posts	0 LindsD Agree 100%
Peregrinator Aug 2022 9:41am, 12 Aug 2022 1,069 posts	0 Peregrinator LindsD - you've met my brothers then 😊 I agree with your thought that there are interesting themes that could be explored, and not just the Shakespeare Comedy of errors sitcom.
LindsD Aug 2022 6:23pm, 12 Aug 2022 56,256 posts	0 LindsD Indeed