Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
In my spoiler-free review of House in the Pines, I talk about how I am going with option A, and I think the book is really more a book about recovery from trauma than a thriller. Maya recalls (not sure if in the past or present) that her mom (Brenda) met her dad and his family on a church trip to Guatemala. Maya’s grandparents were Brenda’s host parents. Brenda and Jairo fell in love and she got pregnant, but then he died, shot by the Guatemalan army. The only part of the story I really didn’t get was the connection to the book that Maya’s father had been writing. This seems to be really symbolic, both in the synopsis and throughout the story itself, but I couldn’t make the connection between that story and what was happening to Maya.
House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick The House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
What signs did you notice which demonstrated Frank’s manipulative character? Is it understandable that Maya missed or ignored these signs? After many years mourning the death of her friend Aubrey during high school, Maya decides to return to her hometown in the Berkshires to find out. A YouTube video has surfaced of a young woman sitting across from a man named Frank...the SAME man who was with Aubrey the night she died. In the video, this new woman appears to drop dead while her gaze is firmly trained on Frank.If guilty pleasures could come in book form...side by side with Ben and Jerry's, trashy TV, and belting out show tunes in the shower, this one could hold its own...in the BEST possible way! 😉 Is this a new Frank murder victim? I don’t think Gary or Ruby or the fire are ever discussed at the end. Or did I miss it? I talk about the Guatemalan interlude in my review of The House in the Pines. I read an interview with the author who said that the Guatemala stuff was a clue that the house wasn’t real because … magical realism. I could be on board with a magical realism thriller. But then why throw in the hypnosis (which seemed very science-based) and the gaslighting, which was just garden variety toxic male gaslighting. Did the book explain why Frank was able to kill Aubrey, who seemed a lot less susceptible? I don’t think so. Apparently most people are NOT susceptible to hypnosis, but people with vivid imaginations (like artists and teenagers and, apparently, people who read a lot) are.
House in the Pines - IMDb The House in the Pines - IMDb
Once Maya finally admits to Aubrey the truth behind her relationship with Frank, Aubrey surprises her. She's afraid of him too. Just as the two girls begin to make connections, on that very day, Aubrey ends up dead. Prior to becoming a mom myself, I would stay up late reading books here and there with no issue. Now I try not to read too late as I need that sleep to chase a toddler around, haha. However, I had to know how this story would end so I found myself breaking my rule and staying up to read to the end. So that’s a big endorsement there! It's like she was forced to relive it. I appreciated that her character was willing to return home and face all her fears and it did get creepy. During their last year of high school, Maya's best friend, Aubrey dropped dead while in the presence of Frank, a man they had been spending time with over the summer. Seven years have passed, and Maya has a secret addiction to klonopin which she has been keeping secret from her boyfriend, Ben. Maya gets off drugs and begins to work on finishing her father’s book. Spoiler Discussion for The House in the Pines
What to know
How did Maya’s addiction impact her credibility, if at all? As the novel went on, did Maya’s credibility change for you? If so, what was the turning point? I received an ARE of The House in the Pines from Dutton in return for a fair review, and another log on the fire. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating. Seven years later Maya is living contentedly with her boyfriend although she has never gotten over Aubrey's sudden death. One day Maya comes across a UTube video of a girl dying in a diner and guess who is sitting across from her when it happens? Yes, it was Frank in the video. Now how's that for a coincidence. Maya makes it her mission to find out what happened to this girl because she knows now he did kill Aubrey but how can she prove it. Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the older man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer. After the tragedy, Maya drowns herself in alcohol and drugs to numb the pain.
The Place Beyond the Pines - Rotten Tomatoes The Place Beyond the Pines - Rotten Tomatoes
the book) suffers from doing way too much at the same time […] I really struggled with following this narrative, and the drinking/pill popping trope is so overused at this point. However, I do think there’s a reader/audience for this book. The synopsis is calling it “utterly unique” and I can see that because as the story develops after the halfway mark, it is indeed very different than I expected. Readers will either love or hate the ending, which will make for great book club discussions.” After seven years later, she has Klonopin withdrawals, hiding the truth from her boyfriend Dan she’s living with, suffering insomnia and obsession about a YouTube video that shows a young painter named Cristina dies behind her boyfriend’s eyes as they sit at the dinner. That boyfriend is the same man haunting her for seven years, who might be responsible for her best friend’s Aubrey’s death.
Need Help?
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer. What? The new police lady also clearly agrees that Maya is not living in the same reality as the rest of us.
Great Deal 
New Comment