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    Whatever You Love: A Novel
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    Whatever You Love: A Novel
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    Whatever You Love: A Novel
    Ebook349 pages5 hours

    Whatever You Love: A Novel

    By Louise Doughty

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Longlisted for the Orange Prize and Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, Louise Doughty’s hauntingly beautiful investigation of love, loss, and revenge is a literary page-turner that will linger in your mind far after the cover closes. When a hit-and-run car crash claims Laura’s daughter Betty, her life is turned upside down. But when the courts rule the death an accident, the lines dividing justice from punishment will blur as Laura embarks on her own quest for vengeance. Sure to captivate fans of Antoinette van Heugten and Sophie Hannah, as well as readers of Doughty’s previous books Fires in the Dark and A Novel in a Year, among others, Whatever You Love is a poignant psychological story in which life’s greatest questions hang in the balance.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 27, 2012
    ISBN9780062094674
    Unavailable
    Whatever You Love: A Novel
    Author

    Louise Doughty

    Louise Doughty’s novel Whatever You Love was short-listed for the Costa Book Award and long-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Doughty is the author of several other novels and a book of nonfiction, A Novel in a Year, based on her hugely popular newspaper column. She also writes plays and journalism and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 4. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for Whatever You Love

    4/5

    107 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Laura's nine year old daughter is run over and killed by a car, while walking to a dance class with a friend. The novel describes Laura's grief at the loss of her daughter and later her desire to find out exactly what happened and who was driving the car. At least as much time, however is given to the recounting of the story of how Laura met and married her husband, David, had two children with him and lost him to Chloe.The story of Laura's relationship with David was well done and so was the depiction of her grief (although it was depressing to read - I don't think she ate more than a plateful of food during the whole novel), but the last part got a little melodramatic and unlikely. The very ending, with its final twists, on the other hand, redeemed things for me somewhat. Note that Laura hates Chloe far more than David, who is the one who really wronged her. I was confused slightly about Laura's feelings for and intentions towards David at the end.
    • 1/5
      This book purports to be about the revenge sought by a mother after the hit and run death of her 9 year old daughter Betty, but it read more like the memoir of the mother rather than a tale of retribution.Laura goes back and forth in time telling of life pre and post accident; that being the defining moment in her life. She describes how she meets and falls in love with Betty's father David, his subsequent defection for a younger woman Chloe and the moment in time that breaks both Laura and David - Betty's death on a walk home from school with her best friend Willow.After the accident Laura tries to get on with her life but a revelation from the police leads her to try and track down the man who killed her daughter and meet him. Up until this point in the book I found myself caught up in the story. I was about wrung out from reading because Ms. Doughty has a way with words that draws you into the world of Laura and David and you truly feel their emotions.Then Laura cracks.And she does something I could not understand. I could not understand why, I could not understand the character's motivation, I could not understand Ms. Doughty's motivation and from that point on the novel crashed for me. It was such a horrifying act I still find myself thinking about it and I do not thank Ms. Doughty for that.I can certainly understand that the loss of a child can be a devastating event in a parent's life but I find it hard to believe that a mother would react as Laura did. I mean, my stomach turned...I can't in all good conscious reveal such a major plot point but I won't be reading any more books by Ms. Doughty which is a shame because until that scene I enjoyed her writing.
    • 4/5
      Very, very compelling and quite well-written. The characters are fully realized despite being almost uniformly awful. Did not care for the last couple of twists at the end, though.
    • 5/5
      !
    • 4/5
      Honestly, there was one scene that so put my teeth on edge. It kept this one from being a 5 for me but it's a great book!
    • 5/5
      This is the other side of all those crime novels that focus on the investigation and pay lip service to the grieving relatives, keeping it clinical so we can feel OK about being entertained by it. Here we have an in-depth examination of grief, starting from the moment the policemen arrive at the door. The term "every parent's nightmare" is such a cliché but true all the same. As a parent I would regard a life after the death of one of my children as a different world entirely, and what the author does is step right through into that world and depict its landscape with tremendous eloquence. Such a powerful and emotional read. I cannot imagine this author ever writing a bad book.
    • 2/5
      This book started out in such a captivating way, and then slowly dissolved into a ridiculous scenario. The portrayal of a grief-stricken mother was so well done and the plot should have gone a different way - it didn't and I am disappointed that I wasted my time on this, my first novel by Louise Doughty.
    • 4/5
      This was a tough book for me. Filled with hauntingly beautiful descriptions, and gut-wrenching emotions, Whatever You Love tells the hard story of loss and picking up the pieces afterward.Louise Doughty kept me guessing - even when the most horrific of events had passed (at the beginning of the book, no less), the story kept moving and twisting and turning in ways I could not predict. I sympathized with Laura and felt every bit of anger, despair, and desperation was not only warranted - but also necessary for her to deal with the injustice of what happened to her daughter.Through and though, this story is filled with heavy, intense subject matter. There wasn't a single moment in which I felt as if it let up - and that is the only real complaint I had. There was so much despair, and I desperately needed just a ray of hope, something that I felt wasn't provided. So consider that my word of warning, this is not the book you want to read if you tend to go to the dark places easily and have a rough time coming out.
    • 1/5
      This book purports to be about the revenge sought by a mother after the hit and run death of her 9 year old daughter Betty, but it read more like the memoir of the mother rather than a tale of retribution.Laura goes back and forth in time telling of life pre and post accident; that being the defining moment in her life. She describes how she meets and falls in love with Betty's father David, his subsequent defection for a younger woman Chloe and the moment in time that breaks both Laura and David - Betty's death on a walk home from school with her best friend Willow.After the accident Laura tries to get on with her life but a revelation from the police leads her to try and track down the man who killed her daughter and meet him. Up until this point in the book I found myself caught up in the story. I was about wrung out from reading because Ms. Doughty has a way with words that draws you into the world of Laura and David and you truly feel their emotions.Then Laura cracks.And she does something I could not understand. I could not understand why, I could not understand the character's motivation, I could not understand Ms. Doughty's motivation and from that point on the novel crashed for me. It was such a horrifying act I still find myself thinking about it and I do not thank Ms. Doughty for that.I can certainly understand that the loss of a child can be a devastating event in a parent's life but I find it hard to believe that a mother would react as Laura did. I mean, my stomach turned...I can't in all good conscious reveal such a major plot point but I won't be reading any more books by Ms. Doughty which is a shame because until that scene I enjoyed her writing.
    • 4/5
      This is a very well written book, the author does a fantastic job portraying the emotions of a very distraught mother after the death of her child. Would have given it a four but I found the ending improbable.
    • 4/5
      Not quite what I expected but very good. Laura's nine year old daughter is killed in a hit and run accident and her life is turned upside down. The aftermath of losing Betty reignites some of the hostilities she faced during her divorce from Betty's father and tears her life, family and sanity apart. When the death is ruled to be an accident Laura decides to take revenge on the man who killed her child by taking away the things he loves. But nothing goes quite to plan.I was expecting a more typical revenge story but as it turns out it is more a study of grief and of the breakdown of a family. The actual revenge angle doesn't feature until close to the end of the book and is ultimately very different to what Laura has allowed herself to imagine. The book is very well written and has some moments of absolute clarity that show the author perfectly understands the subjects she is tackling.
    • 4/5
      When Laura's daughter Betty is hit by a car and dies, Laura descends into grief and finds some degree of solace by planning revenge. Laura, a divorced mother of a surviving child, Rees, still aches for Betty and Rees' father who left her for another woman three years prior. Whatever You Love explores grief on a number of levels, from the loss of a child to the dissolution of a marriage.I really enjoyed Whatever You Love. The novel fluctuates between before Betty's death and after. I was engrossed in David and Laura's tumultuous courtship and the eventual disintegration of their marriage. Doughty creates clear, absorbing scenes that succeed in making the reader truly feel like a"fly on the wall". The dynamics between David and Laura over their shared grief was interesting, showing that when a couple is bound by children ties are never really severed.I didn't find this novel incredibly sad, as the plot suggests it might be. Parts of it were definitely sad, but in its entirety, it was more a psychological exploration of obsession and loss. I recommend this novel.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the first part of this novel immensely but after a while it just seemed to lose something. The book is set in sections titled "Before" and "After". In the beginning they were both excellent but when it came to the last third of the book I began to feel like it wasn't going anyway. The sex scene towards the end of the novel just doesn't feel right and the ending was simply too vague for me. I don't mind an unclear ending where the reader can make choices but this didn't even have that. The book is well written and my feelings towards this novel would not prevent me reading something else by her.
    • 4/5
      I had never heard much about Louise Doughty although a couple of her books were on my to be read continent. Laura is a single mum with a 9 year old daughter called Betty and a 4 year old son called Rees. Living in an unnamed English seaside town, she is plodding through life, still struggling with the infidelity and remarriage of her husband, but happy enough with her loving children. When Betty is run over and killed on her first walk without her Mum from school to her dance class, Laura quite naturally falls apart. Struggling to make sense of Betty's death, Laura decides to make the dangerous driver pay by finding what he loves the most and taking it away. Reminiscent of Come Sunday by Isla Morley, this is a bleak but beautiful examination of loss and grief. An Early Reviewers book, 4 stars
    • 5/5
      Full of raw emotion, brilliant.I really enjoyed this book - in as much as you can enjoy reading about bereavement. It was very well written, full of raw emotion, yet not merely a sob story.Betty, the 9 year old victim of a hit-and-run, dies in the opening pages of the book - we only get to know her in memory flashes and she retains a ghost-like feel. For her parents, David and Laura, the world ends on that day. Her three year old brother doesn't really understand what has happened but some sense of normality must be retained for his sake.The story is told in first person by Laura. We hear about how she met David, how their relationship grew and the effects of his affair with another woman.The book is structured in chunks so that as the trauma of the bereavement becomes too much to read, we are given a break while the background is painted in.I didn't feel the last portion of the book was rushed as some reviewers have commented, events came to a head and gave the book a purpose. Things didn't turn out quite as I'd expected and one or two aspects are left for us to fill in, but for me, the whole reading experience was highly satisfying.There was only one part that I really didn't like and that was the sex scene towards the end of the book, not because of the sex but because it just didn't seem to fit in. Only 2 pages though so not enough to drop a point.I have several Louise Doughty books on my tbr, after this one they will be bumped up; have I have been missing out on a fantastic author?(If you enjoyed this book you might also try The Crying Tree by Naseem Rahka.)
    • 4/5
      This book caught me by surprise as I've not come across the author before nor, going from the blurb, would I have normally chosen to read it. The opening chapter is gripping and almost cinematic so that it draws in the reader instantly. What follows thereafter is less the expected tale of revenge but one of a troubled, compulsive relationship and the irrationality of grief. Laura, the child's mother, is a well-developed character, the father is less so, but overall this is a well-written and engrossing read.
    • 3/5
      Laura's nine year old daughter is killed by a car while walking home from after school activities, this book tells of her attempts to cope with the grief and guilt that follows. There are flashbacks to her experiences as a child, meeting her future husband and her traumatic divorce as well as her rather direct way of dealing with the aftermath of tragedy.The first chapter where Laura recives the news of her daughter's death is extraordinarily well told and requires tissues but for much of the rest of the book Laura is too self indulgent and the book wallows in grief too much for my taste.Decently written but overwrought, the first chapter is worth reading by itself.
    • 5/5
      "I am going to find out who you love, then whatever it is, I am going to track it down and I am going to take it away from you" This book is compulsive reading! I could not put it down...it had me from the "blurb" and the first sentences. It centres around the tragic death of Laura's young daughter Betty and focuses on grief in a raw and unrelenting way. Laura's life has not been easy and this tragedy is almost too much to bear. She can, and does, reach the point of near insanity. Some of her actions appear irrational and inexplicable, but somehow, you as the reader, completely understand why she taken this course. I don't want to give too much of the story away, as Laura's "revenge" on the driver of the car that kills her daughter takes many twists and turns......many of them completely unexpected. Suffice it to say, that as a reader, I almost "became" Laura, the writing is that strong and compelling. This novel has received a good deal of promotion here in the UK. I have read reviews and recommendation in several newspapers and magazines. All were favourable and much deserved. I now look forward to reading another Louise Doughty novel "Stone Cradle". Highly recommended and worthy of the 5 stars I have given it.
    • 5/5
      From the blurb of this book I was expecting a story of a mother taking revenge on the man who killed her daughter in a car accident, but that's not quite what I got. This is the story of Laura. The book begins when she is told of her nine year old daughter's death. She then goes on to tell us about her life, starting from her childhood, through her marriage to David, and up to the point when she starts to get her life back together following the tragedy.The story is told by Laura herself, and this first person narrative works very well in this case, as she can tell us exactly how she feels about the events of her life, and her loss. I thought the author captured Laura's emptiness very well.The story is very well written and I enjoyed reading it very much. I have never read any of Louise Doughty's work before, although I do have a copy of Stone Cradle, which I am now looking forward to reading, given how much I liked Whatever You Love.