There are no spoilers for the top part of this post – the beginning of this post is only a repeat of the information provided about the book that was provided at the start of the month, before the meeting. But…..
Near the bottom of the page, there is a place for our participants to leave comments about the book, and spoilers will likely be included. Don’t scroll down to the comments area, until you have finished the book.
We read My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa for the April 28 Meeting. This is a non-series (standalone) novel. It is in the “psychological thriller” sub-genre of the crime fiction category. A BLURB:
Ever since Paloma was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, she has had the best of everything – schools, money, and parents so perfect that she fears she’ll never live up to them.
Now thirty years old and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit it feels good helping someone find their way in America-that is until Arun discovers Paloma’s darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country. Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him facedown in a pool of blood.
She flees the apartment, but by the time the police arrive, there’s no body-and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Paloma’s secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?
Learn more about Amanda Jayatissa and the book:
Amanda Jayatissa loves to read disturbing books with shocking plot twists, so it seemed logical to her that she should attempt to write disturbing books with shocking plot twists. When she isn’t recovering from a self-induced book hangover, she works tirelessly as the chief taste tester at the cookie shop she co-owns.
She grew up on the island-nation of Sri Lanka and has lived in the California bay area and British countryside, before relocating back to her sunny island, where she lives with her husband and two Tasmanian-devil-reincarnate huskies.
[From her website.]
My Sweet Girl is her first thriller (2021); it was awarded “Best Debut Novel” by the International Thriller Writers. Her second and most recent book is, You’re Invited, published by Berkley in Fall 2022.
For more information, check out these resources. SPOILERS?– All of these tell you a little about the beginning of the book; none gives away the end of the book (except the last page of the Book Club Kit). Apart from that exception, I suggest you use the following resources half way through, or when you have finished the book:
- A pleasant interview with the celebrated owner of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore.
- A NY Times book review of My Sweet Girl.
- A Book Club Potpourri Kit (PDF) from the author. Click here for the following
- Pg `1: Cover Page.
- Pg 2: Hello Readers – Where the idea of Paloma and the basis of the book came from.
- Pg 3-4: Frequent questions from readers about the book.
- Pg 5-7: Origins of Mohini and similar cultural myths.
- Pg 8: A list of discussion questions. WAIT until you finish the book before perusing the questions on this page. Some of these are good questions for our April 28 meeting.
Meeting Report
There were 14 participants at the meeting. We began with – “Did you finish reading the book?” I was surprised but pleased to see that eleven people persevered through the book. I introduced a new acronym: “NWT” which represents a situation where you gave the book a serious try of at least 50-100 pages, but just did not feel the book was worth your time. (The “DNF” or “DNR” acronyms remain for those whose life circumstances did not permit starting or finishing the book.)
We then asked for a thumb-ometer reading. This is when….
Of 13 people showing a thumb, I believe 11 were showing a “thumbs down”! That will be a book for our records. Here is the list of final ratings:
So – Why Was it On Our Reading List?
In the search for books to be nominated, it is impossible for me to pre-read all the books. Perhaps a greater number could be pre-read if several volunteered to read one of the books in advance. We will try to provide that opportunity in the weeks ahead.
My Sweet Girl came to my attention when it won the top award for debut author last year in the International Thriller Writers organization. That plus an interesting blurb got it onto the list of books to choose from. It was in the top 12 when we voted for book (blurbs) last spring. So, how did the book win the award?
Carol addressed that in the meeting when she described the overall structure of the book. Namely that it begins with the woman named Paloma with a secret. As the end approaches, we either deduced, or we learn from the story, that she is not Paloma! That she is the other orphan Lihini, and many of her troubles in San Francisco are due to the Real Paloma who is seeking revenge. So it is a pretty unique or original “twist.”
Carol further points out in her comments below, that there is a worthy message or theme buried in the story, namely that childhood as an orphan in an institution that is run and staffed by completely disreputable if not evil people, produces PTSD on a horrendous scale. So as a “psychological” thriller it includes insights to the human condition.
If you have read the book, write your thoughts on the book and the score you came up with below. This is …
(1) for those who will not be able to attend the meeting. Your comments and score will be read during the meeting.
(2) for those who do attend. Please consider writing some of your thoughts about the book here after the meeting, even if you expressed them in the meeting. This helps provide a “report” to those who could not attend.
Please write your book reactions and score where it says “LEAVE A REPLY,” below. You can also [nicely] comment on any other participant’s thoughts.
I did not like this book at all and, in fact, was unable to finish it (so no rating from me). I tried 3 or 4 times to read it through—first for 25 pages, then for another 25 to 30. When I was totally miserable reading those pages, I tried a third time to just scan the story to see if could get interested—I couldn’t. Finally I read the ending—still no interest on my part. None of those readings made me like the book any better—in fact they intensified my negative reaction to the book.
Here are just a few of the several reasons I did not like the book:
1. I did not like any of the characters and Paloma, who was mostly nuts and unreliable, least of all
2. I was annoyed by Paloma constantly talking to herself. The reader was, essentially, inside her head a lot of the time.
3. The story went back and forth between the past and the current time. While that does not always bother me, it bothered me a lot in this story.
4. Even without the two different time periods, the story was often confusing.
5. I didn’t care for the seemingly supernatural/ghostly aspect of the story.
Because I did not finish, I did not (am not allowed) to rate it!
Although I did not care for the book personally, I do think that the author did a good job writing a psychological thriller ~ especially addressing PTSD ~ Post Traumatic Disorder ~’Paloma’ experienced at the orphanage ~ Ending was extremely dramatic and a bit overdone but plausible ~ Just listen or read the news and one can see the ‘craziness’ in the world and terrible things humans to do to one another ~
Always good to hear the difference of opinions in the book group ~ thanks ~
I cannot remember the last time I gave a book a score this low (55). Since June of 2019, I “failed” one other book with a score of 60. This book -for me- was twice as bad. Here’s why:
1) Most importantly not one person is likable. None! Consequently, there is no “hero” in this book. I would go so far as to say that the book has two antagonists and no protagonist. This, and any others like this, give me no pleasure in reading. Still, there were at least two others like this book that I graded higher: Strangers on a Train and 8 Perfect Murders were both told by unreliable narrators, and I gave them an 86 and 78 respectively. But neither of those books also had these other faults….
2) This book left you with a bad taste due to the characters, plot, and bummer ending. On the other hand, the other two books, and especially Strangers, also left you with a lot to think about.
3) This book unnecessarily used the “F” word 306 times (according to my Kindle “find” feature). It is a record for any book I’ve read, without a doubt. There are so many ways to convey the character as angry or crude besides over-doing it with such strong language. It is greatly distracting! It makes me think more about the author’s limitations than the character’s issues.
4) I think the author has to decide, when creating such a disorienting plot twist, whether she still wants the reader to “follow” the twist or just get lost. For example, it was not clear to me at the end which person got hit by the baseball bat. I was not alone apparently, but a few of our readers were able to clue me in.
5) Some things, at the end, just do not work. Yes, the extremity of behavior – the “craziness” as Carol mentioned is surely plausible. But this is what I mean: Paloma was left behind, a 12 year old. She burned down the orphanage apparently. Maybe that’s possible. She somehow got the Evans to come back years later, and somehow managed to cut the brake-lines in their car so that they died. How is that. She would have been living on the streets, penniless, for some time. Where do the skills and ability to keep in touch with their visit to Sri Lanka come from? Where does the money and documentation come from to get her a visa and passport to travel to and within the USA? Etc.
Another implausible point relates to Lihini’s many blackouts which presumably occur due to her use of a prescription drug and alcohol. OK, fine. But for this to happen so many times where she blacks out and cannot recall what she did, yet continues on her life in all other regards? It’s possible but a huge stretch, way overdone.
I guess you can gather that I did not like reading the book.