Рецензия на книгу

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  Jocelyn_Phoenix18 апреля 2025 г.

  I ... liked this more than I had expected.

  I related HARD to the idea of not wanting to be the way I am and doing something about it fast, even with questionable methods. Not each character's exact circumstances were familiar to me, but, boy, so many of their struggles were.

  I also liked the way the family that had lost their son/brother to suicide was portrayed. Their grief, the feelings of guilt, blaming themselves, struggling not to blame each other, the successes and fails on their heaing journey...

  Having said that, I probably wouldn't have enjouyed it as much if it didn't hit so many of my personal buttons.

  The book is VERY slow and not much happens. We get fairly detailed backstories of at least 10 characters, most of them not connected at all, and we dive deep into why they so drastically want to be changed. A large part of the retreat is just them going on hikes, doing yoga, and eating healthy. Riveting stuff.

  This is not a thriller. There is some element of mystery - like, what's the "new protocol", and some of the guests have secrets but they are very normal-people-not-really-secrety secrets (which I actually kind of liked as compared to the increasingly outlandish stuff modern thriller authors often come up with), did Masha really go crazy or is it part of the plan? But the book doesn't feel very suspenseful, you don't ever feel afraid for the characters (not even when they are locked up) or particularly excited for the outcome. Still a good drama, though.

  The ending is ... too good. Things go well for almost all the characters, and the retreat seems to have kind of worked despite failing spectacularly.

  Overall, I still liked it for the slow character-driven drama it was and for all the stuff I related to.

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