I just finished Verity, the best-selling novel that was recently adapted into a major motion picture -- and, uhhhhhh, NOT A FAN! 😅🙅♀️
(⚠️ A fair warning in advance: there will be huge spoilers included in this review, as well as graphic content. If you plan on reading/watching Verity, please tread carefully! ⚠️)
Firstly, the book opens with the most unorthodox situation possible: the protagonist witnesses a pedestrian get hit (and squished) by a transport truck.
Like, yes, I understand the intent in doing this: to reel in the reader as quickly as possible (and, in this case, the EASIEST way possible). But it was such low hanging fruit; shock value for the sake of shock value... The characters are barely affected by the scene, they don't feel the need to enroll in therapy, the incident is never brought up again... It was simply there for plot, to hook the reader -- nothing more.
Secondly, WAY too much explicit content. I did not go into this novel thinking it would be p*rnographic (a few steamy scenes, sure!), but for this reason, I was seriously disappointed...
Thirdly, the author kept referencing the protagonist's sleepwalking problem, to the point where the author even included lore of how the issue tainted her relationship with her mother. Because of its presumed serious nature and how frequently it was mentioned, I assumed it would become a vital element of the story.
NOPE; literally only used as an excuse to push the protagonist along in sleeping with Verity's husband!
For another thing, the subject matter was very grotesque, and I say that as someone who used to be a huge horror/gore fan. There are some things that simply do not need to be explored -- no, not even for the sake of "getting into the character's head." For example, I've never been able to relate to a rpist, and I have no desire to understand.
So, with that being said, this novel depicts acts of attempted abrtion, chking an infant, and mrdering a child! Again, I do not appreciate the book's repeated attempts at nothing more than shock value...
To add to the point of the subject matter -- I truly do not understand how Anne Hathaway, of all people -- a woman who is currently pregnant and has been pregnant multiple times -- could agree to represent the role of Verity.
"You need to separate the person from the character" -- no, how about it's as simple as there should be NO desire to want to portray that character to begin with?? 😮 As a mother whose children are my entire purpose, again, I personally have no interest in understanding a character like Verity.
Finally, in regards to the true ending... What is my opinion on what the truth is?... I choose to believe that Verity's manuscript was 100% real, not fictional like she tried to imply.
There is no reason for her to fake anything, considering she was already a phenomenal writer to begin with. Verity states that she first started the manuscript AFTER the release of her first (extremely) successful novel.
Faking the manuscript entails her husband to keep track of Verity's numerous lies as well (and, let's be honest, no man is capable of that lol).
Verity went into waaaay too much detail and explanation for the fight between her and her husband; almost like she anticipated someone other than her husband reading her letter and trying to convince THEM of the "truth."
Verity herself notes that the manuscript was meant to be the opposite of her thoughts -- not her actions.
"...I needed to get into the mind of an evil character by writing journal entries from my own life ... things that really happened ... but to make my inner dialogue in the entry be the opposite from what I was actually thinking at the time."
There is 0 explanation to account for any of Verity's horrendous actions: why mention attempted abrtions and chking your infant if only the dialogue was meant to be a lie? Verity wrote down the ACTUAL events that happened -- she k*lled her own daughter.
Finally, there is no reason to FAKE BEING BRAIN DAMAGED because one is "afraid their husband will try k*lling them" -- how many times was Verity left alone with other people, and not ONCE did she use the opportunity to tell someone what happened?! Stupid...
(For that matter, how does one "fake" brain scans?! 😂 No one bothered to question Verity's state of mind "because of the scans," so one can't just "fake" brain damage results! Seriously, WTF is this book?! 😭)
I'm sorry, my final compliant -- they kll Verity as opposed to turning her into the police 🥴 They had all of the evidence they needed -- a manuscript, a fake brain injury -- but they klled her instead because of the chance she could get away with it. Like, all they had to do was tickle her feet, and brain injury immediately debunked! 🥴