Comments on: Book Review: I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE by Laura Lippman

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:54:52 +0000

Hi Eli,

Yes, yes, and yes. I agree completely.

By: Eli

Eli — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:42:50 +0000

Leaving the kid in B&N really bugged me as well. She’s going to a school. Couldn’t the kid have sat on a chair in the hall?

I was also infuriated by the pushiness of Barbara and Trudy, and how she just let them roll over her.

Peter was a bit of a cipher. I think the most likeable character was actually Vonnie, because she did call Eliza on her behaviour.

By: Jen Forbus

Jen Forbus — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 13:17:32 +0000

Oh characters should definitely grow. I was meaning more along the lines of those authors who have their characters go through a metamorphosis that is so monumental as to be unbelievable. “I’m a completely self-centered ego-maniac on page 1 and by 150 I’m the world’s greatest philanthropist”-type thing.

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:03:27 +0000

You know what else I was mad about? Eliza leaving her eight-year-old son in a B&N by himself so she could go to Iso's school. Here's a woman who was kidnapped as a child; you'd think she'd be extra protective of her children. When I go to B&N with my eight-year-old niece, I don't let her out of my sight, much less leave her in the store alone and go somewhere else. Lippman definitely stayed consistent but I didn't want Eliza to be consistent---I wanted her to change. The protagonist must go through an arc and be altered by the things happening to him/her. Eliza seemed stuck in the personality she had when she was 15. She did eventually change but it came way too late for me.

By: Jen Forbus

Jen Forbus — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:55:56 +0000

I think I alluded to this very thing in my review. I didn’t relate to these characters and I would get frustrated too, thinking, “why are you letting them do this?” But Lippman did stay consistent in Eliza’s character, she just was rather spineless. I, too, found Barbara icky, especially when she conned her way into the house. I think I was caught up more in the psychology behind everything rather than the characters, which is unusual for me. And I got mad at Eliza for how blase she acted about the schools concerns regarding her daughter. Anyway, I find your thoughts very interesting. I think I felt exactly that way about WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. I couldn’t find any characters that I really felt anything for. I didn’t care what happened to them and I figured out the secret long before the end.

By: EIREGO

EIREGO — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:48:32 +0000

I know exactly what you mean about being frustrated with lead characters I can’t relate to. This happens with a lot of movies for me these days as well. I have have actually walked out of movies and asked for my money back quite a bit over the last couple of years, which is doubly annoying since I took the time to get there and stood in line to get a ticket. Thankfully, with a book, you can just close the cover.