Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was very easy to read. I always enjoy a story that flips between ‘then’ and ‘now’, I find that it gives you a different perspective on why certain things are the way they are.
At the beginning of the story I quite liked Alice. She seems to be a normal kind of girl, and while her boyfriend seems nice enough, you can tell there is something going on with her friend who she doesn’t talk to anymore, Harvey. And then she is diagnosed with cancer. And then I found that the story changed. Alice becomes friends once again with Harvey and it is obvious that he is in love with her…almost to the point of being a sad little puppy dog that would follow her anywhere and so anything for her. And so he helps her get revenge on a few people had treated her badly. She figures she should get these things done before she dies. She also tells Harvey he is the person she will miss the most, I think because she knows he wants to hear this and so why shouldn’t she tell him that before she dies. But then she doesn’t die. Alice goes into remission, cancer – gone.
And this is where I really lost it with Alice. She treated Harvey like dirt, really, she was a total bitch to him. The last half of the book were made up of things that I was just shaking my head at and saying, ‘Alice – why are you doing this to him’, and ‘Harvey – why are you letting her do this to you’.
I think the author has done an excellent job in creating these characters as the characters made me feel so much. Even though I really didn’t like Alice, I totally understood where she was coming from and why she was like she was and so I actually loved her. I felt it was a bit like, ‘let’s not anyone get close to me because there is a risk that someone will get hurt’. She does try to redeem herself at the end of the story and I am still trying to work out whether or not I have forgiven her.
Overall – a satisfying read which gave me a lot to think about.
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