{"id":17806,"date":"2019-11-22T20:44:26","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T04:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/?p=17806"},"modified":"2019-11-22T22:35:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T06:35:44","slug":"pursue-path-survival-lisa-lutz-passenger-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/2019\/11\/22\/pursue-path-survival-lisa-lutz-passenger-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pursue your path to survival’ Lisa Lutz \u201cThe Passenger\u201d — Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

First; book jackets need to stop comparing books to \u201cThe Girl on the Train<\/strong>\u201d {Novel by Paula Hawkins<\/strong>} & \u201cGone Girl<\/strong>\u201d {Novel by Gillian Flynn<\/strong>}. Just stop. You\u2019re doing a disservice to either novel you\u2019re promoting or referencing. Like many others, I *love* those two novels; they\u2019re a damn fine read. But it\u2019s gotten ridiculous how many times they\u2019re referenced by publishers with other novels. While I enjoyed \u201cThe Passenger<\/strong>\u201d <\/em>very much, it\u2019s no \u201cGone Girl<\/strong>\u201d\u2014 and we all have to let that be okay\u2026<\/p>\n

One description says: \u201cWith heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions,\u00a0\u201cThe Passenger\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is an amazing psychological thriller<\/strong> about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All true till the end. The whole ride isn\u2019t breathless; there are many parts that are; but stop saying or insinuating that the whole \u2018ride\u2019 is please. There are actually mundane parts (shocker)! And that\u2019s okay\u2026novels don\u2019t have to be a thrill a minute to keep us engaged.<\/p>\n

Also, enough things change (and change is a constant) that it keeps us on our feet.<\/p>\n

In the book:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that\u2019s a deft description; I\u2019ve never read a novel that had so many identity changes\u2014it was exhausting and made you oh so grateful if you\u2019re safe and okay with the identity you have!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Author Lisa Lutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Novel starts with her husband\u2019s apparent accidental death\u2014however she seems somewhat unfazed by his death. It\u2019s more about how it\u2019s forcing her hand evidently to run. Clearly Frank isn\u2019t a great paramour either\u2026 \u201cFrank was nosier asleep than he was awake\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut looking at Frank then, so still and not talking, I didn\u2019t mind him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not knowing the origins of why our protagonist is in this predicament is intense; it keeps us guessing and keeps us questioning her motives and choices. If her husband really did just fall down the stairs–why not just stay and deal with the aftermath? She\u2019d be a widow with a small business. Instead we watch her go through hellish adventures with absolutely no respite. She gets no peace, no rest\u2014there\u2019s so much upheaval in this book I\u2019d have called it \u2018Upheaval\u2019\u2014much more apt title.<\/p>\n

And in many ways, that\u2019s why you can end up loving it so much. As I say many times; one of the reasons I love reading so many books is you quite often come away appreciating & appraising your life and all you have that much more. The truth is the world is a really jacked up place and we all know it. Life is complicated and messy and rarely as it appears. And it\u2019s riddled with truly selfish, hateful human animals.<\/p>\n

Logan is that which is the worst in the human species. And yet Ryan also lets her down in the worst way. It takes the whole novel to really find out why\u2014but once you do it\u2019s unnerving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Her journey is so tense; there\u2019s no rest, no time to feel safe: \u201cAs he\u00a0poured\u00a0my pint, he decided to make friendly conversation. I wondered if I\u2019d ever be able to engage in small talk without feeling like there was a lit stick of dynamite in the vicinity.\u201d<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re caught up in her story, or dramatic adventure is more like it, we\u2019re reading sets of emails spanning the entirety of her exile\u2026this give clues; but of course, not the whole of the story.<\/p>\n

One review said you\u2019ll want to \u201cturn back to the first page to start again\u201d\u2014no, not quite; but the emails yes; you will want to reread those as you now know the meaning, subtext and context.<\/p>\n

The character of Blue was one of the best parts of the novel. She was inscrutable, & you never knew what she was going to do next.<\/p>\n

After meeting Blue, the novel turned into more of a wild & dangerous adventure (for a while)<\/em> filled with more name changes, (& a great deal of hair dye)<\/em> & some really serious bad guys. There\u2019s a couple who are quite bad (lethal bad) and there\u2019s always a bad man watching her, staring at her\u2014wherever she seems to go.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one brief respite where she manages to find some peace in a small town. I was sad to see that part end actually\u2026<\/p>\n

Excerpt: \u201cIt\u2019s quite possible that Andrew\u2014the child, not the president\u2014had taught me more than I taught him. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for our\u00a0educational system, but let\u2019s hope that unqualified teachers working under an assumed name are an\u00a0anomaly.\u201d<\/p>\n

An anomaly indeed\u2026<\/p>\n

The identities are dizzying! Really; when I looked at the chapter heads; I\u2019m like; why would she change them so much? The book answers that for you and trust me\u2014you don\u2019t want to be on the run, looking for identities my friend; you just don\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n

One of my favorite paragraphs\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cThis seat taken?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said. Because the seat wasn\u2019t taken, not because I wanted to encourage the man. I\u2019ve never quite figured out a way to answer that question honestly and gain the desired result (man not sitting down).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Author Lisa Lutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Man not sitting down\u2019\u2014I love that! How do you prevent them from sitting down\/hitting on you?! And if you earnestly try with polite honesty you\u2019re told to smile more or that you\u2019re a bitch. Honestly, men (can be) impossible. This is a great sentence\u2026great query\u2014how can men be stopped lol\u2026.<\/p>\n

The whole book is about her initial trauma and why is she on the run\u2026<\/p>\n

Crux of book: \u201cI chose to run because I figured that would give me the best chance at something like living. And that\u2019s exactly what it was. Something like living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething like living\u201d could be title of the book\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First; book jackets need to stop comparing books to \u201cThe Girl on the Train\u201d {Novel by Paula Hawkins} & \u201cGone Girl\u201d {Novel by Gillian Flynn}. Just stop. You\u2019re doing a disservice to either novel you\u2019re promoting or referencing. Like many others, I *love* those two novels; they\u2019re a damn fine read. But it\u2019s gotten ridiculous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":17809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle"},"yoast_head":"\n'Pursue your path to survival' Lisa Lutz \u201cThe Passenger\u201d - Book Review - Daily Ovation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/2019\/11\/22\/pursue-path-survival-lisa-lutz-passenger-book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Pursue your path to survival' Lisa Lutz \u201cThe Passenger\u201d - Book Review - Daily Ovation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First; book jackets need to stop comparing books to \u201cThe Girl on the Train\u201d {Novel by Paula Hawkins} & \u201cGone Girl\u201d {Novel by Gillian Flynn}. Just stop. You\u2019re doing a disservice to either novel you\u2019re promoting or referencing. Like many others, I *love* those two novels; they\u2019re a damn fine read. 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