#NoraReads
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| Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney |
Identitas Buku
Penulis: Alice Feeney
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Map illustration: Rhys Davies
Design: Donna Sinisgalli Noetzel
Isle of Amberly illustration: Rhys Davies
ISBN: 978-1-0350-5382-7
Fakta Menarik
Buku ini memiliki easter egg yang sangat unik. Sebagian besar pengguna di Facebook sepakat bahwa kata pertama dari setiap bab di dalam buku ini jika digabungkan membentuk sebuah pesan tersembunyi, yaitu: "If you are reading this, I am trapped on the island, please help me".
Mari kita ulas!
Beautiful Ugly – Bercerita tentang sepasang suami istri, Grady Green dan Abby Goldman yang berada di fase sulit pernikahannya. Abby merasa Grady sudah tidak terlalu memperdulikannya dan lebih cenderung terobsesi menjadi penulis yang namanya terpampang pada New York Times Best Seller Author. Begitu pula dengan Grady, yang merasa Abby selalu sibuk dengan pekerjaannya sebagai jurnalis hingga suatu Abby mendapat ancaman pribadi dari salah satu pemberitaan yang ia tulis.
Suatu ketika harapan Grady untuk menjadi penulis best seller terwujud dan ia hendak merayakan dengan istrinya, namun sesuatu yang buruk terjadi pada Abby. Ketika hendak berkendara dari tempat kerja untuk pulang ke rumah bertemu suaminya dan merayakan pencapaian sang suami–Abby dinyatakan hilang persis ketika ia menemukan seorang perempuan yang tergeletak terbaring di tengah jalan.
Setahun yang berat dan suram telah dijalani oleh Grady tanpa adanya kabar orang hilang dari Abby. selama satu tahun juga ia tidak bisa memfokuskan pikirannya untuk menulis buku berikutnya. Hingga suatu ketika, Kitty–agent sekaligus editor novelnya menyarankan ia pergi ke pulau antah berantah, Amberly untuk refreshing pikiran. Namun, hal misterius satu per satu mulai terjadi dan rahasia pun terungkap. Salah satunya, ia bertemu dengan seseorang yang mirip sang istri yang hilang satu tahun lalu.
Siapakah sosok yang mirip dengan istrinya di pulau Amberly?
Opiniku
Crazy plot twist, ceritanya super well written dan setiap karakter saling terkait satu sama lain yang dikaitkan oleh kejadian di masa lalu. Seperli classic Alice Feeney–sepanjang cerita kita disuguhkan hal-hal misterius yang terus terjadi, dan ketika di dua chapter terakhir, maka semua akan terungkap. Set up dari cerita ini menurutku sangat rapih, masuk akal, dan keterkaitannya saling menyambung, namun to be honest endingnya buatku kurang sih. Yang ku pikir akan win-win-solution tapi ternyata gak sesuai kesepakatan. Tapi sejujurnya bisa banget lagi, buku ini dibuat sekuelnya.
Rating dariku
3.9/5 ⭐
English Version
Funfact
This book has a really unique easter egg. Many Facebook users noticed that the first word of every chapter, when put together, forms a hidden message: "If you are reading this, I am trapped on the island, please help me."
Here comes the review!
Beautiful Ugly follows a married couple, Grady Green and Abby Goldman, who are going through a difficult phase in their marriage. Abby feels like Grady doesn't really care about her anymore and is more obsessed with becoming a bestselling author whose name appears on the New York Times Best Seller list. Grady, on the other hand, feels that Abby is always too busy with her work as a journalist, especially after she receives a personal threat from someone involved in one of her stories.
Eventually, Grady's dream of becoming a bestselling author comes true, and he plans to celebrate with his wife. But something terrible happens to Abby. While driving home from work to meet her husband and celebrate his achievement, Abby suddenly goes missing, right after she finds a woman lying in the middle of the road.
Grady spends a difficult and gloomy year with no news about Abby. For an entire year, he also struggles to focus on writing his next book. Until one day, Kitty, his literary agent and editor, suggests that he escape to a remote island called Amberly to clear his mind.
But one mysterious thing after another starts happening, and secrets slowly begin to unravel. One of them is that Grady meets someone who looks just like his wife, who disappeared a year ago.
Who is this woman who looks exactly like his wife on Amberly Island?
My Opinion
Crazy plot twists! The story is super well written, and every character is connected to one another through events from the past. Very classic Alice Feeney. Throughout the story, we're constantly given one mysterious event after another, and everything finally comes together in the last two chapters.
I thought the setup was really well done. Everything felt logical, and the connections between the characters and events came together nicely. But, to be honest, the ending wasn't really my thing. I thought we were heading toward a win-win solution, but it didn't exactly go the way I expected based on the agreement.
That being said, I honestly wouldn't mind if this book got a sequel because there is definitely room for one!
My Rating
3.9/5 ⭐
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