Must Read Well by Ellen Pall (Review by Lara Ferguson)
4/5
Elizabeth Miller needs a new plan. Once an ambitious and passionate feminist doctoral student, she now finds herself stagnating without an apartment and without a viable plan for finishing her dissertation. It is in this place that we meet Elizabeth. After being dumped by her boyfriend for another woman, she is staying with a friend and trolling Craigslist for a living situation she can afford. When she sees the ad, she can’t believe her luck. An elderly woman is searching for a boarder who will read to her daily and when Elizabeth figures out who this woman is (the reason her dissertation stalled), she begins to plot her path forward.
Thus begins an intriguing story where the reader is never sure who knows what, or who knows who knows what. The elderly woman is Anne Weil, one of the authors who is key to the completion of Elizabeth’s book and PhD, and the material Elizabeth will be reading to her is Weil’s personal journals, the key to finishing the dissertation. Elizabeth is elated when Anne offers the room to her, sure that she will finally be able to fill the gaps in her writing.
From the beginning, Must Read Well, with its escalating game of discovery and deception is difficult to put down. Pall explores themes of ambition, love, literature, betrayal, and feminism as she creates a psychological thriller of sorts that ends with a unexpected twist that leaves the reader with a cynical smile.
GBC Reader Reviews
5 Comments
I clicked the the third heart by accident! (Actually, my beloved husband did this while reading the review on my phone last night.) Five hearts for this book from my husband! As for me, it was certainly written from my own heart, and I am so grateful for the terrific Gloss review! Ellen
I loved this book so much that I was actually sorry that it ended.
I loved this book! It is literate, literary and a real page-turner.
Must Read Well offers suspense, wit, humor, and thoughtful observations about feminism, literature and personal responsibility. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope Ms. Pall has more novels of this caliber on the way.
This is such a ridiculously wonderful book. Couldn’t put it down and I’m not a “big reader”. But, Pall’s dialogue and character development and plot intrigue got me hooked. Good, good, read. I recommend highly.