Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel

Luckiest Girl Alive is a tantalizing first novel with a bold, brash irreverent heroine who skids off the margins in juicy technicolor and settles into your sofa like a Persian cat with slitted eyes, long, long claws and a penchant for dragging those claws across expensive upholstery.This book is NOT for fans of E.L. James, Stephanie Meyer or Nicolas Sparks. Stand back, because Knoll ricochets words like Nadal slams tennis balls. She writes mountainous sundaes of metaphors -- so bloated and oozing, so drenched in bloodied cherries and gluey caramel it seems like your ingesting calories just by reading them. Ani FaNelli, the fiery heroine is a spectacular stew of diabolical dysfunction. Her complexities and quirks so lavish and distinctive they almost drool down her back like a cape. Her rage is so dense and calcified you could crack it in half like a porcelain saucer. Told in the first person, Ani's voice tethers you immediately as she reveals dark horrors from her past chiseled out of a culture besieged with narcissism and barbarity.NOW: Is this Gone Girl?No. It's not. However comparisons are not inaccurate. Knoll and Flynn are shockingly good writers who both possess the remarkable ability to warp reality until it resembles a Salvidor Dali. Until it's melted and marvelous and your wading through a solid wooden table and groping for a murder weapon in a capsized ear the size of a Toyota. Knoll and Flynn excel at obliterating the ordinary. They're aggressive writers who have no time for your appointments or whining children or dinner reservations. By page 5 they will have bashed in your door like Federal marshals. They'll drag you out and shove you in the back of their van and you won't even care. You'll just sit there. spellbound and stupefied, abandoning your dinner and your phone and that good night's sleep you so desperately need. These writers will make mincemeat of your circadian rhythms. They'll keep you up until 5:00 AM and then they'll have the audacity to invade your dreams -- their crazed characters kicking yours out of the way like soda cans on the side of the road. Yes, it's that easy. Your subconscious will not stand a chance against the Tsunami of dysfunctional wackos that Flynn and Knoll churn out like Apple churns out i-pads.So Gone Girl or Luckiest Girl Alive?Gone Girl wins and the main reason is plot. Gone Girl's superb structure and wickedly clever treasure hunts and jaw dropping convulsions give it the edge. That book's plot is as impenetrable as the pentagon and moves with the speed and stealth of a comic book icon.HOWEVER, that is not to say Luckiest Girl Alive isn't well plotted or lacking suspense. It just isn't the caliber of Flynn's. Yet......This is Knoll's first novel and I am without a doubt she is capable of matching Flynn given some time. She is the dark horse, and the dirt and smoke being kicked up on the track around these two is something usually generated by Daniel Craig's careening Astin martin.I gave Luckiest Girl Alive 5 stars because in the end, I didn't read this book to simply compare it to Gone Girl. Everyone told me to. And of course, everyone is waiting for the next Gone Girl and that would be wonderful, but not realistic. Knoll's characters are unique. They throb on the page and Ani FaNelli may not be Amy Dunne but I guarantee you'll like her.....even if she claws your sofa and eats your goldfish......you'll kind of love her.

📚BOOK REVIEW📚Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica KnollRating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5Genre: Mystery ThrillerTropes: dual timeline, secret past, fake life, childhood traumaAni has a glamorous job at a magazine, a conventionally beautiful body, and a good looking fiancé from a wealthy family. On the surface, she looks completely put together.But it’s a lie. After a traumatic incident that occurred when she was a teenager at a prestigious prep school, she completely reinvented herself. She meticulously chose new features of her personality based on what would get her ahead in life.As her wedding draws near, she is invited by a documentary producer to speak about the incident that occurred at the prep school. She struggles with figuring out what to tell them, because telling the whole truth would destroy the “picture-perfect” life she has worked so hard to create.Throughout the story, we get to learn about what exactly happened to her as a teenager and how much of it she has lied about to everyone (including her family and the police).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This one was a very solid read. I think it definitely could be relatable for a lot of people, but also possibly a bit triggering. It definitely touches a lot on the bullying dynamic that can occur in schools.I really like the author’s writing style; it’s very entertaining. The way she weaves analogies into everything really adds to the story.Ani, the main character, is very interesting. She is definitely very multi-dimensional. This is one of those books where you end up not really liking any of the characters because everyone is kind of problematic.Overall, very solid read. If you like thrillers with an academy setting and where the details are slowly unveiled throughout the book, you’ll probably like this one.

I absolutely loved this book. It was way better then the movie. But I mean all books are usually better then the movie. Gave way more details and really drew you in!

"I couldn't imagine anything worse than spending every day of my life with a physical reminder of the terrible things life can do, of the ever-present reality that no one is safe"#luckiestgirlalive by #jessicaknoll @jessicaknollauthor is the story of TifAni FaNelli, a succesful magazine writer that is going to get married to the perfect man, according to everyone around her, in a couple of months. But before that day comes, she is asked to film a documentary about the worse 6 months of her life. When she was 14 years old. A story about a gang rape, bullying and a school shooting.How to tell when an author is excellent in what she does? How to tell when a story is perfectly written? When every single page made me feel nauseous, made me want to scream of impotence, made me cry in anger, made me feel like I needed to do something, anything.This story is full of evil people, yes, EVIL. Every single one of the characters in this book was evil in it's own way. Not one of them was redeemable. The story was a horrible story, that made it worse than a horror story, since everything I am sure happens in a daily basis in real life.I felt impotent to realize how much torture a human being can do to another human being, even at 14 years old. How much we don't really know what a friend should be like. What a mother should be like. How a teacher should be like."Is it rape if you don't remember it?" "Is it worth losing your popularity over to speak up if you don't even remember it?"

Excellent novel.... gripping.....enjoyed it.

Started off quite good, but it didn’t flow well and how it ended was disappointing. Quite a shame as it could have been great. Considering it was based on events from the author’s life, and something that many have experienced, it could have been so much better. The film was also disappointing (i watched it after reading the book) i really like Mila Kunis, but i thought the casting of the movie was very poor and nothing how the characters were described in the book.

Keeps you going and only lets you know the path when you're already there with the character, very well written.