Book Review: To Die For by Joyce Maynard
Jan. 12th, 2026 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: To Die For
Author: Joyce Maynard
Published: Open Road Media, 2012 (1992)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 260
Total Page Count: 557,745
Text Number: 2097
Read Because: watched the movie, which Teja recommended as a "heard description, thought of you" but then had to watch himself because he was visiting at the time, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A newlywed, ambitious reporter befriends a trio of high school kids in a plot to kill her husband. This is told entirely in first person testimonials, a conceit that stretches suspension of disbelief but remains extremely readable; I appreciate how astutely each chapter locates its respective PoV. I picked this up after watching the movie, and find I still prefer the adaptation. In the film, there's some ambiguity about when Suzanne begins to plot the murder; the novel is more straightforward. It's charmingly inept and deromanticized either way, but better, I think, for being even more an opportunity stumbled-upon. A book allows more room for character and thematic development; unsurprisingly, I love Jimmy's perspective, but the cultural commentary, a prescient examination of tabloid, true crime, and reality TV, is also aging uncomfortably, particularly re: fatphobia.
Author: Joyce Maynard
Published: Open Road Media, 2012 (1992)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 260
Total Page Count: 557,745
Text Number: 2097
Read Because: watched the movie, which Teja recommended as a "heard description, thought of you" but then had to watch himself because he was visiting at the time, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A newlywed, ambitious reporter befriends a trio of high school kids in a plot to kill her husband. This is told entirely in first person testimonials, a conceit that stretches suspension of disbelief but remains extremely readable; I appreciate how astutely each chapter locates its respective PoV. I picked this up after watching the movie, and find I still prefer the adaptation. In the film, there's some ambiguity about when Suzanne begins to plot the murder; the novel is more straightforward. It's charmingly inept and deromanticized either way, but better, I think, for being even more an opportunity stumbled-upon. A book allows more room for character and thematic development; unsurprisingly, I love Jimmy's perspective, but the cultural commentary, a prescient examination of tabloid, true crime, and reality TV, is also aging uncomfortably, particularly re: fatphobia.
