The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarity

I started reading The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarity on May 13. At the time, I was preoccupied with my cousin's failing health and thought Oh, perfect! Brainless chick lit to read while I can't handle something deeper. Then on May 16, my cousin was admitted to the hospital and by May 17, she was transferred to hospice. Reading was the last thing on my mind.

When I picked the book up again a few days ago, I was still thinking that that The Hypnotist's Love Story was a quirky little book. And maybe at other times in my life, it might have seemed so. But at this point in my life, anything related to death (and there are many deaths resulting in deep losses that are important to the plot) jumped off the page at me. The book is an easy read and I was determined to finish it before it was due back to the library (today, May 27).

The Hypnotist's Love Story is a book about relationships. Romantic relationships, family relationships, relationships between friends. Current relationships and past relationships. Some of these past relationships have an impact on current relationships.

I loved the premise of the story. But I saw so many missed opportunities for this to be a really good book. The way it's written, it's simply mediocre.  In this novel, Moriarity did too much "tell" and not enough "show." Ellen, the hypnotist (or more specifically a hypnotherapist) is in a new relationship with Patrick, a widower with a young son named Jack. As they fall in love, Ellen questions all the relationships she's had in the past and compares them to her relationship with Patrick. Patrick comes to the relationship with a lot of baggage. His wife, Colleen, has been dead for 5 years. Shortly after his wife's death, he was in a relationship with Saskia... who is every present, stalking Patrick at every opportunity. She just can't help herself. Patrick is pretty upfront with Ellen about his stalker. For some warped reason, Ellen is intrigued by the idea of this stalker. Okay, I guess that works in chick lit.

What didn't work was that Moriarity hand fed us too much information about Saskia. I would have rather had the opportunity to experience an "ah ha" moment. Oh, yes, I bet that's who Saskia is. I felt cheated once that tidbit was laid to rest.

What also didn't work is that there wasn't too much tension in this novel. I never had the urge to scream Watch out! to any of the characters. For a book with a premise that sounds like it could be a thriller, it wasn't very thrilling. Whenever Ellen and Patrick had a disagreement, they made nice far too quickly. Maybe not in terms of the time it took, but Moriarity didn't show us enough discord. All the plot points were too neat and tidy. And unexciting.

I am usually disappointed with the way books end. The ending of the book was probably one of my favorite parts. The ending wasn't rushed as it so often is in chick lit novels. I thought the healing that went on for most of the characters seemed realistic and it worked.

This is the July book club selection for my community book club. I predict that our discussion will cover 2 points:

1. how the book was written (what worked, what didn't work)
2. the ease or (difficulty) that some people have getting over relationships.

I'll update you after our meeting.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but half-heartedly. (This book would probably make a much better movie than a book.)