Aimee Reads: Shutter Island

Pertinent Info

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow, 2003)
I read it April 21, 2010.

Why’d I Read It?

Book Club.  100% book club.  After freaking out over the previews to the movie (I don’t DO scary movies. Or books.), I wrote the book off.  When it was assigned for book club, one of the gals said, “Trust me.  It’s great.”  Book club is tonight, so I took a deep breath and cracked it open yesterday.

What I Thought

It’s great.  (Whoa.  Deja vu.)  I couldn’t put it down.  It was a quick read.  (Even for me – I read it in less than four hours.)

What appears to be a frightening psychological thriller in the movie previews turns out to be a brilliant psychological thriller in print.

I’m struggling with how to describe my thoughts on the book without giving anything away, so I think I’m going to stay away from the plot altogether.  Just take my word for it – good stuff.  Let’s focus on the writing.  Lehane has a gift with words, with imagery.  Line after line jumped out at me as perfect visual descriptors.  I don’t know the last time I read a book where the physical scene was set so perfectly in my mind.  I found nearly every character to be sympathetic, even as I was questioning who was good and bad, who was right and wrong.  The ending wasn’t entirely predictable…I thought I’d figured parts of it out, but it was an ‘Ooh!  I was right!’, rather than a ‘Yawn, saw that one coming a mile away’ reaction.

Favorite Lines

I’d have to type about half of the book here…which is time-consuming and likely illegal.

Would I Recommend It?

Yes.  But bear in mind that it deals with some heavy stuff, including disturbing murder scenes and the criminally insane.  I’m still not going anywhere near the movie.