Review: Meredith, Alone

Meredith, Alone by Claire Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are many trigger warnings in this book. However, here are the ones that I think would affect the most people:

Self-cutting, rape, thoughts of suicide, and parental abuse, among other things.

Did I love this book? No, I can't really say I loved it. I personally couldn't connect with Meredith, but perhaps that is because I'm not a total agoraphobic. (just a little!) This book also left me a bit depressed. However, I found some of the secondary characters a little unbelievable, and the conclusion was a bit abrupt.

I can admit that this is a very important book and seems to have been well-researched. It was gripping, and the manner in which it was written was interesting. Sort of like a journal with flash-backs added in. I do admit that I couldn't put it down, but again, I didn't love it.

It was a fascinating look into the life of an agoraphobic and her struggle to leave the house. Isn't it fascinating that the ease of computers makes it so easy to be agoraphobic?

*ARC supplied by the publisher Grand Central Publishing, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: She has a full-time remote job and her rescue cat Fred. Her best friend Sadie visits with her two children.  There's her online support group, her jigsaw puzzles and favorite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson, the internet, the grocery delivery man.  Also keeping her company are treacherous memories of an unstable childhood, the estrangement from her sister, and a traumatic event that had sent her reeling.

But something's about to change. Whether Meredith likes it or not, the world is coming to her door.   Does she have the courage to overcome what's been keeping her inside all this time?