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I found this book through my Twitter feed and the blurb made it sound exellent; so I downloaded it to my Kindle. The author Merry Freer said it was a “love it or hate it” kind of book.
Well, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. I started to grow weary about halfway through, and then I started skimming, to see if I could get to some juicy parts. When I got to the 3/4 mark I gave up, with the reasoning that I have many other novels in my bullpen to get to, and life is too short to waste on bad books.
The story is based on true events; the author is manipulated and abused by both her boyfriend and her therapist. I didn’t get to the part that explains why the police were called to Mark’s (the boyfriend) house, but I really didn’t care either. See, the book starts off with the author waiting for the police to go to Mark’s house, and she feels guilty about it. The story then starts as a flashback–how she got a divorce, how her therapist helped her through the bad times, how she meets Mark, a handsome doctor–and then it just gets strange. Mark treats her well, then dumps her; the therapist offers to start seeing Mark, they get back together; the therapist seemingly tells the author “secrets” of what happens in Mark’s therapy sessions; and so on.
The first alarm bell was when I read about the unethical behavior of the therapist. Then I wondered why Freer would stay with a man that was so distant, manipulative, untrustworthy, and deceitful. I felt truly sorry for her, that she wasted her time with Mark when it would have been better for her to be alone. It seems like she was desperate and felt unworthy of someone better. It was annoying to me to keep reading about how she felt bad because of how he treated her, yet she was so in love with him and thought that things would become better somehow. Mark was a drug addict that cheated on Freer multiple times. Who would want to stay with a man like that? Maybe if I wasn’t so frustrated in her inability to get this guy out of her mind I would have kept going, but there was just a little too much of “I loved him so, why did he treat me like this? Why isn’t he calling me? Why is my therapist asking me to do this?” I know the idea of the book was that things were so off kilter, but I have no patience with hearing about how men take advantage of women. Since I didn’t finish the book, I can only hope that Freer has exorcised her demons and has found happiness either on her own, or with a real man who knows the meaning of love.
Want to read this yourself? Click [easyazon_link asin=”B00NO0VV7E” locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”gimmethatbook-20″ add_to_cart=”yes” cloaking=”default” localization=”yes” popups=”yes”]here[/easyazon_link] to purchase it. Let me know what YOU think.
Thank you so much for reviewing my book, “Doctor, Doctor.” on your website. It is especially important for authors like me to be recognized because I am an independent author as well as a debut author.
I am sorry to hear that you only skimmed through parts of my book and did not read the end. It is difficult to get the full effect of the story and understand the decisions I made without completely understanding character motivation. Additionally, Part II turns the book into one that fits in the “True Crime” category, something that a reader would not know without finishing the work.
In the “From the Author” section on Amazon, I explain how I shake my head in astonishment right along with the reader at decisions I made so long ago. I knew from the moment that I published this excruciatingly true story that I would be criticized and even disbelieved. That didn’t prevent me from sticking straight to the truth. Psychological manipulation is insidious and paralyzing, especially for someone who has lived through a childhood in which she was asked to substitute her own judgment for that of others.
Additionally, had you read the last part of the book (Part II) you would know that it turns abruptly into a true crime story, one that is interesting enough to have kept it ranked at #1 in the True Crime category at Amazon for several months and receive a coveted place on Suspense Magazine’s “Best of 2014” list. You would also know that the protagonist becomes empowered, learns from her experience, and goes on to have a fruitful life.
I would hope that in the future you would give authors the benefit of reading their entire work before criticism is meted out. Whether or not it changes your mind, at least your readers would receive a fair review that reflects the entirety of the author’s work.
Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
Merry Freer