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Dismantled: A Gripping Literary Ghost Story of College Friends, Deadly Pranks, and Revenge
"The New York Times" bestselling author of the acclaimed "Island of Lost Girls" and "Promise Not to Tell" returns with a chilling novel in which the secrets of the past come back to haunt a group of friends in terrifying ways.
Dismantlement = Freedom
Henry, Tess, Winnie, and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto--"To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart"--these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.
Nearly a decade later, Henry and Tess are living just an hour's drive from the old cabin. Each is desperate to move on from the summer of the Dismantlers, but their guilt isn't ready to let them go. When a victim of their past pranks commits suicide--apparently triggered by a mysterious Dismantler-style postcard--it sets off a chain of eerie events that threatens to engulf Henry, Tess, and their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter, Emma.
Is there someone who wants to reveal their secrets? Is it possible that Suz did not really die--or has she somehow found a way back to seek revenge?
Full of white-knuckle tension with deeply human characters caught in circumstances beyond their control, Jennifer McMahon's gripping story and spine-tingling plot prove that she is a master at weaving the fear of the supernatural with the stark realities of life.
Dismantlement = Freedom
Henry, Tess, Winnie, and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto--"To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart"--these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.
Nearly a decade later, Henry and Tess are living just an hour's drive from the old cabin. Each is desperate to move on from the summer of the Dismantlers, but their guilt isn't ready to let them go. When a victim of their past pranks commits suicide--apparently triggered by a mysterious Dismantler-style postcard--it sets off a chain of eerie events that threatens to engulf Henry, Tess, and their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter, Emma.
Is there someone who wants to reveal their secrets? Is it possible that Suz did not really die--or has she somehow found a way back to seek revenge?
Full of white-knuckle tension with deeply human characters caught in circumstances beyond their control, Jennifer McMahon's gripping story and spine-tingling plot prove that she is a master at weaving the fear of the supernatural with the stark realities of life.
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 16, 2009
207 people are currently reading
11760 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer McMahon
20 books11.5k followers I'm the author of nine suspense novels, including Promise Not to Telll, The Winter People, and my newest, The Drowning Kind. I live in central Vermont with my partner and daughter, in an old Victorian that some neighbors call The Addams Family house.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 924 reviews
November 4, 2019
i have been trying to write this review for almost an hour. in between i have eaten peanut-butter and jelly on english muffins (and now on space bar and several letters) and have drifted off-topic numerous times, and erased tons of irrelevant crap. much irrelevance remains, but the short version of this review is:
i enjoyed reading this book, but it is not good.
this is a perfect rebound book for proust - after a long relationship, you just want to have a silly fling with someone stupid - to just have fun - to have something that feels exactly opposite from what you have had for such a long time. and this book was nothing at all like proust.
it was stupid in about nine different ways.
this review does a great job with both plot summary and reactions to plot, so catch up and then i can talk about meeee some more.
first of all, i am at the age where reading about college-age artists at a hampshire-type school without rules or grades who band together with a manifesto and use petty acts of vandalism to open people's eyes to society's ills makes me more likely to guffaw than to feel a connection with them and say "yeah, go on protagonists - i am with you!!".
i have no problem with people having ambitions or goals, or criticizing society, but how pretentious do you have to be to develop a written manifesto about dismantling the world when you go around performing petty crimes like some small town kids playing mailbox baseball and feeling so proud and revolutionary.sure, there is criminal escalation, but even then, most of the characters are still treating it as a big joke, or mindlessly following their cookie-cutter evil mastermind because they want her vagina. using the word manifesto automatically makes you an asshole, it sounds so pompous, like a correct pronunciation of "gyro".
am i too old to see these characters as "cool"?? the girl at the center, to whom all these characters are drawn, is just a sleazy loudmouth parody of what is supposed to be transgressive or sexy (and if i had to read her verbal tic, "babycakes", one more time...)henry is a spineless drone, tess a shrill frigid harpy, winnie a suggestible tabula rasa (see, i can use art terms, too), and that kid...
as a writer, are you sure you want to give a nine-year-old girl ocd and olfactory and visual hallucinations and seizures? she is just a collection of tics and idiosyncrasies and she's not nicolas cage's daughter or anything, she is of two unafflicted parents, but she's a neurotic mess.
but i am drifting.
this is another secret history kind of book, and another one which fails. donna tartt could write a character, these are all echoes and shadows of characters - almost entirely one-dimensional. and i read secret history when i was about twenty, so it could be that i am just running on heart-fumes here, and if i were to read it again, it would fall short, but there has to be something to it, or there wouldn't be so many attempts to recreate it, would there?
this is going to sound facetious, but you know who could have pulled off a story like this?? besides donna tartt?? christopher pike. back in the good old days of me being 11-13 (all 1,095 of them) i read a ton of christopher pike books. and he was usually able to write very convincing mysteries where all the loose ends were tied up and the supernatural red herrings explained. this novel backtracks and can't decide whether it want to give a supernatural nod or not. the ending is ridonkulous. ree-donk-you-luss. wigs and switching and life-sized dolls and deceptions-within-deceptions...
but for all that, it was a fun read. i genuinely wanted to know what was happening and how everything would be resolved and it may not be proust, but it was fun and every book has something to offer, right?? this one is pure, end-of-summer, escapist fun.
come to my blog!
i enjoyed reading this book, but it is not good.
this is a perfect rebound book for proust - after a long relationship, you just want to have a silly fling with someone stupid - to just have fun - to have something that feels exactly opposite from what you have had for such a long time. and this book was nothing at all like proust.
it was stupid in about nine different ways.
this review does a great job with both plot summary and reactions to plot, so catch up and then i can talk about meeee some more.
first of all, i am at the age where reading about college-age artists at a hampshire-type school without rules or grades who band together with a manifesto and use petty acts of vandalism to open people's eyes to society's ills makes me more likely to guffaw than to feel a connection with them and say "yeah, go on protagonists - i am with you!!".
i have no problem with people having ambitions or goals, or criticizing society, but how pretentious do you have to be to develop a written manifesto about dismantling the world when you go around performing petty crimes like some small town kids playing mailbox baseball and feeling so proud and revolutionary.sure, there is criminal escalation, but even then, most of the characters are still treating it as a big joke, or mindlessly following their cookie-cutter evil mastermind because they want her vagina. using the word manifesto automatically makes you an asshole, it sounds so pompous, like a correct pronunciation of "gyro".
am i too old to see these characters as "cool"?? the girl at the center, to whom all these characters are drawn, is just a sleazy loudmouth parody of what is supposed to be transgressive or sexy (and if i had to read her verbal tic, "babycakes", one more time...)henry is a spineless drone, tess a shrill frigid harpy, winnie a suggestible tabula rasa (see, i can use art terms, too), and that kid...
as a writer, are you sure you want to give a nine-year-old girl ocd and olfactory and visual hallucinations and seizures? she is just a collection of tics and idiosyncrasies and she's not nicolas cage's daughter or anything, she is of two unafflicted parents, but she's a neurotic mess.
but i am drifting.
this is another secret history kind of book, and another one which fails. donna tartt could write a character, these are all echoes and shadows of characters - almost entirely one-dimensional. and i read secret history when i was about twenty, so it could be that i am just running on heart-fumes here, and if i were to read it again, it would fall short, but there has to be something to it, or there wouldn't be so many attempts to recreate it, would there?
this is going to sound facetious, but you know who could have pulled off a story like this?? besides donna tartt?? christopher pike. back in the good old days of me being 11-13 (all 1,095 of them) i read a ton of christopher pike books. and he was usually able to write very convincing mysteries where all the loose ends were tied up and the supernatural red herrings explained. this novel backtracks and can't decide whether it want to give a supernatural nod or not. the ending is ridonkulous. ree-donk-you-luss. wigs and switching and life-sized dolls and deceptions-within-deceptions...
but for all that, it was a fun read. i genuinely wanted to know what was happening and how everything would be resolved and it may not be proust, but it was fun and every book has something to offer, right?? this one is pure, end-of-summer, escapist fun.
come to my blog!
August 6, 2009
Oh goodness. I feel like Dismantled is intrinsically flawed. Which is sort of a shame, because it’s a strong concept, with much potential for strong commentary on art, guilt, youth, sexual fluidity. Unfortunately, the novel reads one-dimensionally, as if the characters and plot live only to serve McMahon’s themes. Four college friends ten years ago created an anarchic secret society (the “Compassionate Dismantlers”), which blew up in all their faces when their charismatic but dangerous leader Suz died. Now, she might be haunting two of the original members in the form of their daughter’s imaginary friend. All this sounded hokey and contrived to me; I can’t imagine any youthful anarchist naming their group so lamely-- indeed, the name of the group seems more an excuse for the novel’s title and the group’s manifesto, which gives name to the novel’s six sections.
McMahon’s pacing is not to be faulted. Somewhere around the halfway point, the story really takes off, indebted (like most contemporary genre fiction) more to the Hollywood thriller than classic literature. Chapters play out in quick five-page bursts, trading off between parallel scenarios with well-placed cliffhangers. But ultimately, I didn’t buy it.
Suz is supposed to be this amazingly charismatic, enigmatic wunderkind with whom everyone falls in love, but her actions are made up of the worst kind of rote, art-school cliches. She’s never believable as a character, and the rest of the cast tend to follow suit. Tess is sexually and socially repressed. Henry is a guilt-ridden alcoholic, and their daughter is a “precocious, wise beyond her years” type, ridden with heavy-handed OCD tendencies. They all have very obvious arcs, and never feel like anything more than humorless inventions, serving plot mechanics and the seriously heavy-handed theme of art as destruction vs. art as creation.
It’s all rather ridiculous, of course, but the whole thing is treated with serious importance, so that the writing comes off as sophomoric, much like the work of the sort of pretentious college-age, liberal-arts-studying libertines the novel seems to romanticize. Creepy flashes of intrigue and the fact that the whole thing ends economically and strangely are no salvation for a pervasive awareness of the novel’s contrivances.
McMahon’s pacing is not to be faulted. Somewhere around the halfway point, the story really takes off, indebted (like most contemporary genre fiction) more to the Hollywood thriller than classic literature. Chapters play out in quick five-page bursts, trading off between parallel scenarios with well-placed cliffhangers. But ultimately, I didn’t buy it.
Suz is supposed to be this amazingly charismatic, enigmatic wunderkind with whom everyone falls in love, but her actions are made up of the worst kind of rote, art-school cliches. She’s never believable as a character, and the rest of the cast tend to follow suit. Tess is sexually and socially repressed. Henry is a guilt-ridden alcoholic, and their daughter is a “precocious, wise beyond her years” type, ridden with heavy-handed OCD tendencies. They all have very obvious arcs, and never feel like anything more than humorless inventions, serving plot mechanics and the seriously heavy-handed theme of art as destruction vs. art as creation.
It’s all rather ridiculous, of course, but the whole thing is treated with serious importance, so that the writing comes off as sophomoric, much like the work of the sort of pretentious college-age, liberal-arts-studying libertines the novel seems to romanticize. Creepy flashes of intrigue and the fact that the whole thing ends economically and strangely are no salvation for a pervasive awareness of the novel’s contrivances.
May 8, 2010
this book can best be summed up as the rough equivalent of maclean's hospital's summer stock re-envisioning of the seminal brat pack flick "the breakfast club."
instead of the jock, the princess, the brain, the beauty, the rebel, and the recluse, mcmahon gives us the bisexual nihilistic arsonist, the borderline-personalitied poet sniper, the philandering closeted obsessive-compulsive frigid-artist-housewife, the extremely fertile yet slightly homicidal alcoholic sculptor, and the possibly schizophrenic, possibly autistic ghostwhispering child.
yup, what we have here is john hughes for the criminally insane.
i don't really know what i expected from this novel. the POV alternates too frequently between Henry, Tess, and Emma to ever emotionally connect to/trust any of them. the character of suz seems so one-dimensional and scary that i had no sympathy for her or her fate. likewise, the perhaps deliberately shallow treatment of winnie/val makes the novel's final moments seem so far-fetched and superficial that i actually resented reading the entire book. in fact, i'd so far as to say that the end, which was ludicrously stupid, ruined any good aspects of this novel for me.
part of the problem here stemmed from the novel's inability to define its genre. imagine, if you will, one of m night shyamalan's newer films, and you'll get what i'm talking about here. for me, this novel was the literary or artistic equivalent of drowning slowly, which considering the premise built on creative destruction may have been intentional. still, i never felt dismantled, only disappointed.
2 stars for the uber-creepy doll and the precocious girl who used the word ungulate correctly.
instead of the jock, the princess, the brain, the beauty, the rebel, and the recluse, mcmahon gives us the bisexual nihilistic arsonist, the borderline-personalitied poet sniper, the philandering closeted obsessive-compulsive frigid-artist-housewife, the extremely fertile yet slightly homicidal alcoholic sculptor, and the possibly schizophrenic, possibly autistic ghostwhispering child.
yup, what we have here is john hughes for the criminally insane.
i don't really know what i expected from this novel. the POV alternates too frequently between Henry, Tess, and Emma to ever emotionally connect to/trust any of them. the character of suz seems so one-dimensional and scary that i had no sympathy for her or her fate. likewise, the perhaps deliberately shallow treatment of winnie/val makes the novel's final moments seem so far-fetched and superficial that i actually resented reading the entire book. in fact, i'd so far as to say that the end, which was ludicrously stupid, ruined any good aspects of this novel for me.
part of the problem here stemmed from the novel's inability to define its genre. imagine, if you will, one of m night shyamalan's newer films, and you'll get what i'm talking about here. for me, this novel was the literary or artistic equivalent of drowning slowly, which considering the premise built on creative destruction may have been intentional. still, i never felt dismantled, only disappointed.
2 stars for the uber-creepy doll and the precocious girl who used the word ungulate correctly.
June 28, 2012
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Jennifer McMahon has the most disturbing covers in the book business.....real pictures of creepy children staring out at you. It's like a whole shelf of "Children of the Corn" and "Village of the Damned" at the bookstore. I told you before that I read "Island of Lost Girls" on vacation and did not want to do anything else but read. I was so anxious to read "Dismantled", McMahon's latest. Wow! It did not disappoint!
One of McMahon's strong points is going between time periods throughout her stories. With a less-talented author, this can be extremely jarring. In "Dismantled", the effect is seamless, alternating between the summer when four people formed the Dismantlers and a decade later, when two of them are unhappily married with child. This child, Emma, is desperate to get her parents back together. One seemingly innocent act sets off a chilling chain of events that will answer the questions about the summer of the Dismantlers.
Part murder mystery, part character study, part ghost story, I can easily see this turned into a movie directed by Hitchcock, if he was alive. The spine-tingling ending will make your heart beat out of your chest.
MY RATING - 5
See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2009/07...
One of McMahon's strong points is going between time periods throughout her stories. With a less-talented author, this can be extremely jarring. In "Dismantled", the effect is seamless, alternating between the summer when four people formed the Dismantlers and a decade later, when two of them are unhappily married with child. This child, Emma, is desperate to get her parents back together. One seemingly innocent act sets off a chilling chain of events that will answer the questions about the summer of the Dismantlers.
Part murder mystery, part character study, part ghost story, I can easily see this turned into a movie directed by Hitchcock, if he was alive. The spine-tingling ending will make your heart beat out of your chest.
MY RATING - 5
See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2009/07...
January 6, 2021
2 out of 10
ревью на русском/review in russian
One of the early books by the author. Maybe this is the reason why it feels so off. Some parts were creepy, but, all in all, everything is meeeeeh. No character depth I got used in other McMahon's works, no atmospheric setting. Like a C-movie. Not a Z, thank god, but not even a B. And I didn't like this book's translation.
My Reviews for Other McMahon's Books:
The Invited
Burntown
The Winter People
The Night Sister
The One I Left Behind
Island of Lost Girls
Don't Breathe a Word
Promise Not to Tell
The Invited
Burntown
The Winter People
The Night Sister
The One I Left Behind
Island of Lost Girls
Don't Breathe a Word
Promise Not to Tell
March 9, 2011
This book really irritated me. Suz was one of the most generic bad girl art student. Everything she said and everything she did was reminiscent of all the other bad girl art students. Suz does pranks and she inspires everyone to do what she does and thus they are liberated and so on and so on. This character has been written before. She is a pure cliche. Her friends are equally boring. Winnie is the self mutilated with no self esteem or self worth. Tess and Henry are average at best. They get married after Suz disappears. Fast forward and they have a daughter Emma. This books misery lies in what happened to Suz. We know she is dead. My problem with Emma is not that she is dull. Maybe the only non cliche character but I feel the child had problems that were far past her being a unique child. As I read this I kept thinking this little girl needed help. Her OCD was so severe her parents ignorance was frustrating. Her imaginary friend was into levels that was unhealthy. This child had some underlying mental illness. It was like the author wanted to have a messed up little girl but it became to big to just ignore. Another thing that was unrealistic is all of the women in this book are either gay or bisexual. All of them. I have no problem with gay characters but I didn't understand why the author felt it was realistic for every female character to be gay or bisexual. The two male characters where straight. This just made no sense. Finally we have our climax. Suz is revealed to be alive (not really we are just meant to believe it briefly) We find out what happened to Suz ( which was very dull) then we find out Suz is really still dead. I finished the book because I was hoping for a valuable reward of what happened but I was disappointed. I have heard great things about this author but with this book it just flopped. I am reluctant to give her other books a shot because I was just very disappointed in this effort. Also if I have to read where someone says "baby cakes" a million times in each chapter I think I will give up before the end. (the last part will be understood for readers of this book. So one star just not worth the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2016
"Is it possible, Henry wonders, that your fears can take on a life of their own? Is this what ghosts are - things worried into existence, frantic energy manifesting itself in an almost physical way?"
This felt like a real, grown up ghost story for me. I loved the twists and turns - I swore I knew the ending more than once, but nope. Stumped me.
There has to be something said for a thriller that can freeeeeak you out without there being any graphic violence. Just good old creepy eeriness.
This was my first Jennifer McMahon book, but I'll definitely be reading more!
This felt like a real, grown up ghost story for me. I loved the twists and turns - I swore I knew the ending more than once, but nope. Stumped me.
There has to be something said for a thriller that can freeeeeak you out without there being any graphic violence. Just good old creepy eeriness.
This was my first Jennifer McMahon book, but I'll definitely be reading more!
June 12, 2011
Holy cow... I had no clue what I was getting into when I started this book!! Dismantled was such an enthralling and utterly absorbing read! I absolutely loved this book and spent every free moment I could find reading more. Despite its 422 pages, it's likely one that could be read in a sitting (or a day) because of the way the story hooks the reader; (unfortunately, I literally don't have the time right now to read that much in one go so it still took me a couple days.)
Dismantled is a superbly written and well-plotted story about a 9-year-old girl, Emma, her parents, Henry and Tess, and a big secret from their past. More so, it's about Emma's childhood innocence, her efforts to keep her parents together, a chain of events seemingly started with a suicide, about family, guilt, fear, and a little bit of a ghost story too. Without giving anything away (won't tell more than what's on the back cover), Henry and Tess were once part of a group of 4 in college called The Compassionate Dismantlers. Initiated and led by their friend, Suz, the radical group embarked on missions to "stick it to the man" (my words, not in the book) -- to "dismantle" things because per their motto, "To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart." Their acts of vandalism and other pranks transitioned from innocent to dangerous and, ultimately, Suz dies. Her death is hidden by the other members of the group and they all drift apart.
Ten years later, the story focuses on Henry, Tess, and their daughter, Emma. Something happens which I won't reveal, a former acquaintance commits suicide, and it sets off the events and tension that continue for the rest of the novel.
There were so many things I loved about this book! First, I wasn't quite sure how I'd like the ghost story aspect since I'm not all that into supernatural things. But the author did a spectacular job of including this element but leaving it subtle; she managed to simultaneously add it to the story while keeping the reader guessing about it which was fun and spooky at the same time! There were moments when I was a bit scared to go to sleep after reading... I used it as an excuse to continue on to the next chapter even though it was past time for bed just in case I could reach a good stopping point when I wasn't so spooked. ;)
The character development was also fantastic. The author excelled at showing the character, allowing the reader to learn about the characters through their actions, rather than telling the reader what to think. In that sense, Suz, the leader of the Compassionate Dismantlers, could be considered the main character. Though she's deceased, the memories of her are a large part of this book because of the long-lasting effects she has on the remaining group members. And although I despised her character, it's possible that others may see a different side of her because, again, the author doesn't tell the reader what to think. And seriously, what a strong, intense character she is.
Ironies of all kind consumed the book, increasing the tension. And the pacing was perfect. Though the story continued to progress, I had the opportunities to savor the writing and characters too. I can't fail to mention how significant the character of the daughter, Emma, was to the story. Her innocence and desire to be liked by her cool friend, Mel, play a large part in the craziness of the story! And she plays a part in the ironies I mentioned!
The ending surprised and gripped me, and suspense filled the last 50 or so pages of the book. I laughed at myself when my jaw dropped during one of the revelations near the end because of the sheer unexpected and cunning qualities that moment possessed. I'll admit the last couple pages just slightly disappointed me, but then making up for it, the last paragraph was the perfect ending and answered the one question I feared would go unanswered. And I loved the answer.
In many ways, Dismantled, was a portrait of a family, their struggles, and the child's efforts to keep it together. As you can tell, this book completely enraptured me! On a somewhat different note, I was able to have a copy of this book signed by the author, Jennifer McMahan, at BEA (after I had already signed on for this blog tour) and I wish I had read this book before that so I could have let her know in person how much I enjoyed this book!
Taken from my blog at www.takemeawayreading.com
Dismantled is a superbly written and well-plotted story about a 9-year-old girl, Emma, her parents, Henry and Tess, and a big secret from their past. More so, it's about Emma's childhood innocence, her efforts to keep her parents together, a chain of events seemingly started with a suicide, about family, guilt, fear, and a little bit of a ghost story too. Without giving anything away (won't tell more than what's on the back cover), Henry and Tess were once part of a group of 4 in college called The Compassionate Dismantlers. Initiated and led by their friend, Suz, the radical group embarked on missions to "stick it to the man" (my words, not in the book) -- to "dismantle" things because per their motto, "To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart." Their acts of vandalism and other pranks transitioned from innocent to dangerous and, ultimately, Suz dies. Her death is hidden by the other members of the group and they all drift apart.
Ten years later, the story focuses on Henry, Tess, and their daughter, Emma. Something happens which I won't reveal, a former acquaintance commits suicide, and it sets off the events and tension that continue for the rest of the novel.
There were so many things I loved about this book! First, I wasn't quite sure how I'd like the ghost story aspect since I'm not all that into supernatural things. But the author did a spectacular job of including this element but leaving it subtle; she managed to simultaneously add it to the story while keeping the reader guessing about it which was fun and spooky at the same time! There were moments when I was a bit scared to go to sleep after reading... I used it as an excuse to continue on to the next chapter even though it was past time for bed just in case I could reach a good stopping point when I wasn't so spooked. ;)
The character development was also fantastic. The author excelled at showing the character, allowing the reader to learn about the characters through their actions, rather than telling the reader what to think. In that sense, Suz, the leader of the Compassionate Dismantlers, could be considered the main character. Though she's deceased, the memories of her are a large part of this book because of the long-lasting effects she has on the remaining group members. And although I despised her character, it's possible that others may see a different side of her because, again, the author doesn't tell the reader what to think. And seriously, what a strong, intense character she is.
Ironies of all kind consumed the book, increasing the tension. And the pacing was perfect. Though the story continued to progress, I had the opportunities to savor the writing and characters too. I can't fail to mention how significant the character of the daughter, Emma, was to the story. Her innocence and desire to be liked by her cool friend, Mel, play a large part in the craziness of the story! And she plays a part in the ironies I mentioned!
The ending surprised and gripped me, and suspense filled the last 50 or so pages of the book. I laughed at myself when my jaw dropped during one of the revelations near the end because of the sheer unexpected and cunning qualities that moment possessed. I'll admit the last couple pages just slightly disappointed me, but then making up for it, the last paragraph was the perfect ending and answered the one question I feared would go unanswered. And I loved the answer.
In many ways, Dismantled, was a portrait of a family, their struggles, and the child's efforts to keep it together. As you can tell, this book completely enraptured me! On a somewhat different note, I was able to have a copy of this book signed by the author, Jennifer McMahan, at BEA (after I had already signed on for this blog tour) and I wish I had read this book before that so I could have let her know in person how much I enjoyed this book!
Taken from my blog at www.takemeawayreading.com
February 2, 2011
I was so excited to be given this book which had arrived at the bookstore where I used to work. The manager there knew I was a huge fan of McMahon’s novel Promise Not to Tell, and so she passed this along.
Dismantled is the story of the Compassionate Dismantlers, four art students: Tess, Henry, Winnie and the charismatic Suz. The Compassionate Dismantlers believe that “to understand the nature of a thing you have to take it apart.” What they really believe, it seems, is that you can ruin someone’s career and set fires and manipulate lives for your own personal gain. At the end of their post-graduation summer in a cabin by the lake, Suz is dead and the remaining Dismantlers go their separate ways. Flash forward ten years. Henry and Tess are unhappily married and have a 10 year old daughter, Emma. Winnie has had her own struggles with mental illness. A simple act by Emma sets off a chain of events with far reaching consequences.
Dismantled was a big disappointment for me and it truly pains me to say that because I loved Promise Not To Tell and encouraged everyone I know to read it. For me, there was just too much going on. Was Dismantled a novel about a failing marriage, infidelity, the nature of art, childhood fears, imaginary friends, ghosts – real and imagined? Was it a mystery? Was it a ghost story? Was it a novel about revenge?
Honestly, I really struggled to finish Dismantled and only kept going because I thought maybe the end would justify the rest. I didn’t like any of the characters and worse, I didn’t care about any of them.
Read Promise Not to Tell instead.
Dismantled is the story of the Compassionate Dismantlers, four art students: Tess, Henry, Winnie and the charismatic Suz. The Compassionate Dismantlers believe that “to understand the nature of a thing you have to take it apart.” What they really believe, it seems, is that you can ruin someone’s career and set fires and manipulate lives for your own personal gain. At the end of their post-graduation summer in a cabin by the lake, Suz is dead and the remaining Dismantlers go their separate ways. Flash forward ten years. Henry and Tess are unhappily married and have a 10 year old daughter, Emma. Winnie has had her own struggles with mental illness. A simple act by Emma sets off a chain of events with far reaching consequences.
Dismantled was a big disappointment for me and it truly pains me to say that because I loved Promise Not To Tell and encouraged everyone I know to read it. For me, there was just too much going on. Was Dismantled a novel about a failing marriage, infidelity, the nature of art, childhood fears, imaginary friends, ghosts – real and imagined? Was it a mystery? Was it a ghost story? Was it a novel about revenge?
Honestly, I really struggled to finish Dismantled and only kept going because I thought maybe the end would justify the rest. I didn’t like any of the characters and worse, I didn’t care about any of them.
Read Promise Not to Tell instead.
June 3, 2011
There’s a simple truth about me when it comes to books. If you tell me that something is a lot like The Virgin Suicides or The Secret History, then I’m going to read it. I don’t care if the books don’t live up to what they may or may not be imitating. I’m just happy to have more books that are a lot like two of my favorites. So, while reading Dismantled, I was pumped about its comparison to The Secret History. Since I haven’t read the latter since 2000, I couldn’t do a minute-by-minute comparison. Maybe that helped me appreciate Dismantled that much more. This book just had all of the perfect elements for a thriller – a dead body at the bottom of the lake, flashbacks to a somewhat “secret society” of four college friends, a recovered journal, an imaginary friend, & a cabin in the woods. The list of "Bradbury-esque factors" goes on & on, but I refuse to say more. This book is too wickedly delicious for any spoilers. If you’re not too jaded to enjoy a thriller that’s not profound but is simply damn good, I suggest you check this one out. Upon finishing it, I had that excited feeling that I often felt after finishing a Christopher Pike novel back in the day, except this is no young adult novel. Cheers to that! I can’t wait to check out more from Jennifer McMahon. Up next – Promise Not to Tell.
March 18, 2018
”We will change the world by taking it apart, dismantling it piece by piece. Break it down. Tear it up. Only then can we be truly free.”
Synopsis: What would happen if the Losers Club grew up to be privileged, anarchist college students who want nothing more than to watch the world burn? You’ll find your answers here.
Biblio-Babble
* Jennifer McMahon is the author of two of my favorite books, The Winter People and The Night Sister. But this is a rare misfire from her. Four friends who made up an anarchist college group disband when one of their members disappears. Now more than ten years later, they are all brought back together again by the reigniting of memories of the single event that broke them up in the first place. The pacing was wonderful, but the actions of the characters were reprehensible. It’s one thing to write about characters who are the anti-hero of the story. It’s another thing to write about characters that are so utterly despicable that you don’t really care if they get their happy ending. Or worse, get a happy ending at all. The whole premise was preposterous and the supernatural elements that McMahon usually masters were uncharacteristically silly.
* One professional reviewer praised the feeling of constant dread that hangs over the book, and in that respect, they were right. From the very beginning when all the events are set into motion, you just get the feeling that something is going to go horribly, terribly wrong. McMahon nails settings, and this book is no exception.
* What the hell was the point of the Compassionate Dismantlers? Supposedly, they were a group of four college aged friends who were raging against the system (society, order, etc.) by tearing it apart and putting it back together again. And while they excelled at the tearing apart aspect, we saw none of the putting it back together. They directly contradicted everything that they stood for, or which they said they stood for. It was actually pretty sickening and gave me little to no sympathy for anything that could happen to them and everything that did happen to them. They were just five fucked up, selfish individuals who didn’t really care about the lives of others or everything that was being offered too them.
****************************************
There’s no denying that McMahon is a talented writer, but this rare misfire from her shows that even the best writers can write uncharacteristically bad books. Her mastery of writing the atmosphere of the story is overshadowed by unlikable characters, preposterous plot points, and an unsatisfying ending. For her best work, try the two novels mentioned above or Island of Lost Girls. While it doesn’t have the supernatural elements of the three listed novels, the same feeling of dread is there and the contemporary mystery is done much more sophisticatedly.
Synopsis: What would happen if the Losers Club grew up to be privileged, anarchist college students who want nothing more than to watch the world burn? You’ll find your answers here.
Biblio-Babble
* Jennifer McMahon is the author of two of my favorite books, The Winter People and The Night Sister. But this is a rare misfire from her. Four friends who made up an anarchist college group disband when one of their members disappears. Now more than ten years later, they are all brought back together again by the reigniting of memories of the single event that broke them up in the first place. The pacing was wonderful, but the actions of the characters were reprehensible. It’s one thing to write about characters who are the anti-hero of the story. It’s another thing to write about characters that are so utterly despicable that you don’t really care if they get their happy ending. Or worse, get a happy ending at all. The whole premise was preposterous and the supernatural elements that McMahon usually masters were uncharacteristically silly.
* One professional reviewer praised the feeling of constant dread that hangs over the book, and in that respect, they were right. From the very beginning when all the events are set into motion, you just get the feeling that something is going to go horribly, terribly wrong. McMahon nails settings, and this book is no exception.
* What the hell was the point of the Compassionate Dismantlers? Supposedly, they were a group of four college aged friends who were raging against the system (society, order, etc.) by tearing it apart and putting it back together again. And while they excelled at the tearing apart aspect, we saw none of the putting it back together. They directly contradicted everything that they stood for, or which they said they stood for. It was actually pretty sickening and gave me little to no sympathy for anything that could happen to them and everything that did happen to them. They were just five fucked up, selfish individuals who didn’t really care about the lives of others or everything that was being offered too them.
****************************************
There’s no denying that McMahon is a talented writer, but this rare misfire from her shows that even the best writers can write uncharacteristically bad books. Her mastery of writing the atmosphere of the story is overshadowed by unlikable characters, preposterous plot points, and an unsatisfying ending. For her best work, try the two novels mentioned above or Island of Lost Girls. While it doesn’t have the supernatural elements of the three listed novels, the same feeling of dread is there and the contemporary mystery is done much more sophisticatedly.
July 13, 2015
This book has a complicated plot. The story keeps you guessing until the end, which I appreciate in books but when I got to the end of this one, I felt a sense of deja vu. Between the ages of 13-16 I was obsessed with Fear Street books…R.L. Stine was by far my favorite author and I couldn’t get enough of his creepy stories. This book felt like a grown up version of a Fear Street book. There are a lot of twists and turns and just when you think you have it all figured out, the author turns it around for one last shocking moment.
I loved the first 1/3 of the book, the plot was fresh and different and the author only revealed a little bit of the mystery, enough to keep the pages turning. Things began to get slow and dragged a bit somewhere in the middle and my interest started to wane. Suz, the character the book focuses on, had the kind of personality that rubs me the wrong way…very overbearing and controlling…I tired of her very quickly.
It’s possible that this book had too many twists and turns (another reason it felt like a Fear Street book to me). I feel like it could have benefited from more editing…the story felt a bit too long and I was just glad to have finished it. Overall, a decent book but certainly not my favorite.
I loved the first 1/3 of the book, the plot was fresh and different and the author only revealed a little bit of the mystery, enough to keep the pages turning. Things began to get slow and dragged a bit somewhere in the middle and my interest started to wane. Suz, the character the book focuses on, had the kind of personality that rubs me the wrong way…very overbearing and controlling…I tired of her very quickly.
It’s possible that this book had too many twists and turns (another reason it felt like a Fear Street book to me). I feel like it could have benefited from more editing…the story felt a bit too long and I was just glad to have finished it. Overall, a decent book but certainly not my favorite.
November 23, 2014
I'm all for a good prank, but when someone dies because of it. You. Went. To. Far. This was a crazy story of friends who like to pull dangerous pranks until something horrible goes wrong. My father would have whipped my ass if I pulled anything like they had regardless of age! If he could catch me.
September 23, 2022
Early book and I've loved her later books but this one just didn't work for me. Can't put a finger on it but was not a favorite.
August 28, 2015
I ummed and ahhed about what to give this book - it is not a book you read because you love the people in it, or even relate particularly well to the story. But boy oh boy did it grab me and keep me wide-eyed reading till the early hours of the morning.
So what was it that gripped me so tightly in a book of characters that filled me with distaste much of the time?
The basic premise is one of an 'I know what you did last summer' type of story. Suz rides in to town (college) and inflicts herself upon the other art students with her brash, daring style. She sucks them into her world of Compassionate Dismantling - a world where taking things apart becomes a statement. In reality, the things they are taking apart are silly pranks, or manipulative, unkind things Suz constructs to get what she wants.
We know early on that Suz is dead. We do not mourn this as the book progresses. But neither do we support those that seemingly covered up her death.
The story of the compassionate dismantlers is told alongside the present day life of 2 of the group of 4. Henry and Tess have since married, had a child, built a life and are now separated but still sharing the house (in a way). Their child is... interesting. Emma has many quirks, few friends, and wants her parents to fall back in love with each other. She involves her only friend (real life - she has a very intriguing, very real seeming imaginary friend, Danner) in her plotting of a way to convince her parents to be together again. In that cyclical way, Emma's so-called friend is also very manipulative and interested only in her own gratification, and she sets off a chain of events which brings the dark past of the Dismantlers into the present.
There were times that I was glued to this book, not wanting to hear any creaks on the floorboards, and feeling very pleased that I wasn't home alone - the tension created was that disturbing in parts. This, along with wanting to know what was going to happen meant that you were invested in the ending (sometimes dislikeable characters can meant that you don't care enough to invest in a novel - this was not the case with this book at all). And the ending did not disappoint.
I can see from the reviews that opinion is very divided on this book, and I totally understand that. It would be a hard book to recommend to others because it is such a divisive sort of story. But I ended up loving it, even while I hated aspects of it. Now that is talent!
So what was it that gripped me so tightly in a book of characters that filled me with distaste much of the time?
The basic premise is one of an 'I know what you did last summer' type of story. Suz rides in to town (college) and inflicts herself upon the other art students with her brash, daring style. She sucks them into her world of Compassionate Dismantling - a world where taking things apart becomes a statement. In reality, the things they are taking apart are silly pranks, or manipulative, unkind things Suz constructs to get what she wants.
We know early on that Suz is dead. We do not mourn this as the book progresses. But neither do we support those that seemingly covered up her death.
The story of the compassionate dismantlers is told alongside the present day life of 2 of the group of 4. Henry and Tess have since married, had a child, built a life and are now separated but still sharing the house (in a way). Their child is... interesting. Emma has many quirks, few friends, and wants her parents to fall back in love with each other. She involves her only friend (real life - she has a very intriguing, very real seeming imaginary friend, Danner) in her plotting of a way to convince her parents to be together again. In that cyclical way, Emma's so-called friend is also very manipulative and interested only in her own gratification, and she sets off a chain of events which brings the dark past of the Dismantlers into the present.
There were times that I was glued to this book, not wanting to hear any creaks on the floorboards, and feeling very pleased that I wasn't home alone - the tension created was that disturbing in parts. This, along with wanting to know what was going to happen meant that you were invested in the ending (sometimes dislikeable characters can meant that you don't care enough to invest in a novel - this was not the case with this book at all). And the ending did not disappoint.
I can see from the reviews that opinion is very divided on this book, and I totally understand that. It would be a hard book to recommend to others because it is such a divisive sort of story. But I ended up loving it, even while I hated aspects of it. Now that is talent!
February 22, 2013
I am not completely done with this book but I am going to review it. I HATE it. And this isn't hate in the way I hated seeing Mila Kunis's butt in whatever that stupid movie was. This is hate as in this women has written five books, yes five now and as much as I enjoy her writing I would rate this as number six because whatever she writes next cannot POSSIBLY be this bad. I don't write out the plot of books because newsflash if you are interested and you want to know the plot you are already online there is Amazon who is more than happy to give you the plot along with Goodreads who also has the back of the book typed up for you. I read Promise Not To Tell when I was seventeen and I loved it. I read The Island of Lost Girls and it wasn't my favorite but I had to get to the end everything was twisting and turning I had to find out who did it. I just finished Don't Breathe a Word and The One I Left Behind and those were great this this is just wrong weird and I feel like a failed attempt. I mean we all have creative dull patches, this is hers. Don't Breathe a Word will have you up into the night same with The One I Left Behind. This just makes we sick. I don't know I just read it and it is NOT something that I CAN'T put down. It is not something I have to learn the end of before I can fall asleep. Frankly I don't care I am in this state of, "Well heck, the end isn't going to change over night, it can wait."
Now if you would excuse me I have to finish the last part of this so I can be done with it for good.
Now if you would excuse me I have to finish the last part of this so I can be done with it for good.
March 21, 2010
Any book compared to The Secret History is sort of set up to fail. I mean, look at The Little Friend. Donna Tartt couldn't even match her freshman effort.
And Jennifer McMahon doesn't even come close -- disappointing me doubly, since one of my favorite authors (Stewart O'Nan) wrote the blurb in question.
From page one till literally the very last one, Dismantled walks a fine line between suspense and ridiculousness. I have to admit that it didn't quite fall off the balance beam, but the fact that it straddled it for so long is pretty telling.
I avoid reviews that give away plot details (so mine often seem cryptic, I'm sure). But in a nutshell, a group of college friends have An Incident, and 10 years later, they're brought face to face with its creepy results.
I give McMahon a little credit for not falling into the solution I thought was coming -- but I'm not that much less frustrated with the deus es machina she used instead.
And my guess is, had I not had such high hopes for the book from the shelf, I wouldn't have been so disappointed with it later.
And Jennifer McMahon doesn't even come close -- disappointing me doubly, since one of my favorite authors (Stewart O'Nan) wrote the blurb in question.
From page one till literally the very last one, Dismantled walks a fine line between suspense and ridiculousness. I have to admit that it didn't quite fall off the balance beam, but the fact that it straddled it for so long is pretty telling.
I avoid reviews that give away plot details (so mine often seem cryptic, I'm sure). But in a nutshell, a group of college friends have An Incident, and 10 years later, they're brought face to face with its creepy results.
I give McMahon a little credit for not falling into the solution I thought was coming -- but I'm not that much less frustrated with the deus es machina she used instead.
And my guess is, had I not had such high hopes for the book from the shelf, I wouldn't have been so disappointed with it later.
September 29, 2016
Haunting and thrilling. Loved it.
May 20, 2025
Wow.
Initially, I was just very entertained by a little girl unknowingly tormenting her parents, but by the end... I definitely felt the creepy vibes.
Initially, I was just very entertained by a little girl unknowingly tormenting her parents, but by the end... I definitely felt the creepy vibes.
April 25, 2011
"In order to truly understand something, you have to take it apart."
The above-statement is the maxim that drove the protagonists of this novel to form a group called the Compassionate Dismantlers, a sort hippy dippy "artistic" terrorist organization that the main characters founded ten years before the actual events of the book took place. (We get glimpses of the Compassionate Dismantlers, who they were and what they stood for, throughout the novel, through a collection of flashbacks, character reminiscences, and journal entries). The maxim is also a fairly fitting way to describe Dismantled, a book that is, perhaps, best appreciated by the reader willing to ignore the WHOLE, in favor of its more attractive and interesting parts.
The premise of the story, in and of itself, is one you've probably seen before, in other novels or films. There is an event in the past, that brings about the tragic and untimely death of one of the characters. Cut to the present, when "strange and mysterious" things begin happening to the other characters involved in the event, things that seemingly could only be perpetuated by someone who witnessed the event itself. This, of course, poses a not-entirely-new dilemma to the readers of Dismantled, as well as its protagonists: Is there someone out there who KNOWS what happened that fateful night, and is taunting the characters with that knowledge? Or are supernatural elements to blame?
On its surface, "Dismantled" looks like your typical "I Know What You Did Last Summer" meets "Hide and Seek" meets "The Sixth Sense" amalgamation. But there's a bit more to it than that. Where Dismantled succeeds most is in its plotting. McMahon clearly took her time mapping out this story, which is constantly turning everything you think you know about the characters on its head, and taking them in directions you probably wouldn't have guessed, no matter how many of these types of tales you have already read. If you are like me, after you have finished reading this story, you will find yourself constantly rerunning the various plotpoints of the novel in your head, "taking them apart," and examining them separately, to ascertain how each fits into the story's intricately complex structure.
Where Dismantled was a bit less successful for me was in its character development. I simply couldn't find anyone to root for in this story. There's the crass, and quite possibly sociopathic, Suz, who all the characters inexplicably seem to worship, despite her having no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You also have the severely disturbed Winnie, for whom a "good time" involves running around dressed up as her dead friend. Then there's the mopey, useless, and weak-willed Henry, and his estranged wife, the cold and acerbic Tess.
And don't even get me started on Tess' and Henry's child, Emma! I was at least hoping I'd be able to like the 9-year old in this story. But, alas, Emma take the Creepy Kid in a Horror Story chiche to entirely new levels of freakishness.
I suspect the lack of likeable characters in this novel might have been intentional on the part of the author. After all, if you don't trust any of the characters in a novel, any of them can be "guilty," right? And yet, it's always nice, when you are spending 400-pages with a group of characters, to have at least one, you don't continually want to toss in the lake. Beyond not being particularly likeable, I didn't find the characters in this story to be believable, either. Many of the characters' actions at various points in the novel seemed inconsistent with the people we thought they were in previous pages. At times, some of the choices the characters made in the course of the story were, at best, bizarre, and, at worst, flat-out inexplicable.
In summation, Dismantled is a riveting and intricately plotted mystery / possible ghost story. The author's unique take on a common premise will definitely keep you guessing and compulsively turning pages, until you reach the end. However, the story could have used a bit more "heart." Had the author traded in one or two shocking plot twists, for a bit more consistent character development, this pretty good story could have been a truly great one.
The above-statement is the maxim that drove the protagonists of this novel to form a group called the Compassionate Dismantlers, a sort hippy dippy "artistic" terrorist organization that the main characters founded ten years before the actual events of the book took place. (We get glimpses of the Compassionate Dismantlers, who they were and what they stood for, throughout the novel, through a collection of flashbacks, character reminiscences, and journal entries). The maxim is also a fairly fitting way to describe Dismantled, a book that is, perhaps, best appreciated by the reader willing to ignore the WHOLE, in favor of its more attractive and interesting parts.
The premise of the story, in and of itself, is one you've probably seen before, in other novels or films. There is an event in the past, that brings about the tragic and untimely death of one of the characters. Cut to the present, when "strange and mysterious" things begin happening to the other characters involved in the event, things that seemingly could only be perpetuated by someone who witnessed the event itself. This, of course, poses a not-entirely-new dilemma to the readers of Dismantled, as well as its protagonists: Is there someone out there who KNOWS what happened that fateful night, and is taunting the characters with that knowledge? Or are supernatural elements to blame?
On its surface, "Dismantled" looks like your typical "I Know What You Did Last Summer" meets "Hide and Seek" meets "The Sixth Sense" amalgamation. But there's a bit more to it than that. Where Dismantled succeeds most is in its plotting. McMahon clearly took her time mapping out this story, which is constantly turning everything you think you know about the characters on its head, and taking them in directions you probably wouldn't have guessed, no matter how many of these types of tales you have already read. If you are like me, after you have finished reading this story, you will find yourself constantly rerunning the various plotpoints of the novel in your head, "taking them apart," and examining them separately, to ascertain how each fits into the story's intricately complex structure.
Where Dismantled was a bit less successful for me was in its character development. I simply couldn't find anyone to root for in this story. There's the crass, and quite possibly sociopathic, Suz, who all the characters inexplicably seem to worship, despite her having no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You also have the severely disturbed Winnie, for whom a "good time" involves running around dressed up as her dead friend. Then there's the mopey, useless, and weak-willed Henry, and his estranged wife, the cold and acerbic Tess.
And don't even get me started on Tess' and Henry's child, Emma! I was at least hoping I'd be able to like the 9-year old in this story. But, alas, Emma take the Creepy Kid in a Horror Story chiche to entirely new levels of freakishness.
I suspect the lack of likeable characters in this novel might have been intentional on the part of the author. After all, if you don't trust any of the characters in a novel, any of them can be "guilty," right? And yet, it's always nice, when you are spending 400-pages with a group of characters, to have at least one, you don't continually want to toss in the lake. Beyond not being particularly likeable, I didn't find the characters in this story to be believable, either. Many of the characters' actions at various points in the novel seemed inconsistent with the people we thought they were in previous pages. At times, some of the choices the characters made in the course of the story were, at best, bizarre, and, at worst, flat-out inexplicable.
In summation, Dismantled is a riveting and intricately plotted mystery / possible ghost story. The author's unique take on a common premise will definitely keep you guessing and compulsively turning pages, until you reach the end. However, the story could have used a bit more "heart." Had the author traded in one or two shocking plot twists, for a bit more consistent character development, this pretty good story could have been a truly great one.
August 22, 2011
Tess, Henry and their daughter Emma live a comfortable life in a small community. By all appearances, they are a happy couple. Emma seems to have a touch of OCD, but she is getting by and has a best friend at school. A troubled past lurks beneath the surface, though, and it is about to change all their lives forever.
Ten years in the past, Tess and Henry were part of a small group of college students calling itself the Compassionate Dismantlers. Led by a charismatic student named Suz, the Dismantlers lived by their credo that true art and understanding is achieved by taking a thing apart, dismantling it, destroying it. The Compassionate Dismantlers were responsible for acts of vandalism and destruction in the community, with only a thin veneer of social activism as justification. Gradually, the group began to go too far, until one day the results were irrevocable and deadly.
As the original group members are drawn by a mysterious summons back to the scene of their worst tragedy, they struggle to come to grips with what is happening. Has someone come back from the dead to exact revenge? Is someone who knows their secret toying with them? How does young Emma seem to know about things from her parents' hidden past?
I recommend this book, with some reservations. The first chapter is overwritten, trying too hard, all atmospherics and imagery. I almost gave up on the book before I ever finished the chapter. The narrative improves from there, though, and after a while, I was hooked. As you read, you'll wonder: is this a ghost story? A supernatural thriller? A mystery with very human and explicable answers? You'll want answers; this is a real page-turner.
By the time I reached the end, my feelings were a little lukewarm.
All the characters are unlikeable, with the possible exception of young Emma. You will despise them all for their weakness, meanness or dishonesty. Also, the author tends to repeat certain words over and over. For instance, when characters feel threatened, they "stiffen." Over and over again, until the word choice takes you out of the moment. More important, the final chapters of the book have to work a bit too hard to give the reader some answers, and there is an unfortunate reliance upon a left-field revelation that just felt too easy. (I can't better explain this without making this a spoiler!)
I do recommend this book for its page-turning, creepy tale. Despite my criticisms of Dismantled, I did enjoy it overall, and I would read another book by McMahon.
Ten years in the past, Tess and Henry were part of a small group of college students calling itself the Compassionate Dismantlers. Led by a charismatic student named Suz, the Dismantlers lived by their credo that true art and understanding is achieved by taking a thing apart, dismantling it, destroying it. The Compassionate Dismantlers were responsible for acts of vandalism and destruction in the community, with only a thin veneer of social activism as justification. Gradually, the group began to go too far, until one day the results were irrevocable and deadly.
As the original group members are drawn by a mysterious summons back to the scene of their worst tragedy, they struggle to come to grips with what is happening. Has someone come back from the dead to exact revenge? Is someone who knows their secret toying with them? How does young Emma seem to know about things from her parents' hidden past?
I recommend this book, with some reservations. The first chapter is overwritten, trying too hard, all atmospherics and imagery. I almost gave up on the book before I ever finished the chapter. The narrative improves from there, though, and after a while, I was hooked. As you read, you'll wonder: is this a ghost story? A supernatural thriller? A mystery with very human and explicable answers? You'll want answers; this is a real page-turner.
By the time I reached the end, my feelings were a little lukewarm.
All the characters are unlikeable, with the possible exception of young Emma. You will despise them all for their weakness, meanness or dishonesty. Also, the author tends to repeat certain words over and over. For instance, when characters feel threatened, they "stiffen." Over and over again, until the word choice takes you out of the moment. More important, the final chapters of the book have to work a bit too hard to give the reader some answers, and there is an unfortunate reliance upon a left-field revelation that just felt too easy. (I can't better explain this without making this a spoiler!)
I do recommend this book for its page-turning, creepy tale. Despite my criticisms of Dismantled, I did enjoy it overall, and I would read another book by McMahon.
April 20, 2018
I really struggled with this rating, because while I was extremely entertained by this book there was something about it that makes me want to give it squinty eyes.
The plot is super entertaining and only partially uses her popular literary device of going back and forth through time. I believe this was her third book ever written, so she likely was still defining her style. The twists and turns of the plot keep you guessing a good amount of the time, but if you sit down and think rationally, it makes sense and is quite predictable.
I really didn't care for most of the characters, which seems to be on purpose. Forgive the language, but they're all assholes in one way or another. All of them have done some pretty terrible things, whether they did it for love, or were following what their love wanted them to do. Suz seemed worst of all. Willing to destroy a man's life for what boiled down to her own personal pleasure, even though her excuse was that he deserved it because some man somewhere has hurt a woman at some point in time. Come on.
Suz aside, there was almost nothing likable about any of the other characters, even Emma. I wanted to like them, I really did, but they're a bunch of asshole art school kids who grew up to be asshole art school adults. Maybe I just can't relate to that on any level. I've never wanted to shake up the establishment, so to say.
Don't let my rant deter you from reading this Jennifer McMahon book. She is an incredible author and some of her later books have been some of my more recent favorites. It's kind of cool going back and seeing how her style has developed throughout the years. Even with my extreme distaste for the characters, the story was still entertaining and enthralling enough to merit 3 stars.
The plot is super entertaining and only partially uses her popular literary device of going back and forth through time. I believe this was her third book ever written, so she likely was still defining her style. The twists and turns of the plot keep you guessing a good amount of the time, but if you sit down and think rationally, it makes sense and is quite predictable.
I really didn't care for most of the characters, which seems to be on purpose. Forgive the language, but they're all assholes in one way or another. All of them have done some pretty terrible things, whether they did it for love, or were following what their love wanted them to do. Suz seemed worst of all. Willing to destroy a man's life for what boiled down to her own personal pleasure, even though her excuse was that he deserved it because some man somewhere has hurt a woman at some point in time. Come on.
Suz aside, there was almost nothing likable about any of the other characters, even Emma. I wanted to like them, I really did, but they're a bunch of asshole art school kids who grew up to be asshole art school adults. Maybe I just can't relate to that on any level. I've never wanted to shake up the establishment, so to say.
Don't let my rant deter you from reading this Jennifer McMahon book. She is an incredible author and some of her later books have been some of my more recent favorites. It's kind of cool going back and seeing how her style has developed throughout the years. Even with my extreme distaste for the characters, the story was still entertaining and enthralling enough to merit 3 stars.
January 19, 2016
Extraordinarily reminiscent of Donna Tarrt's The Secret History, this sees a group of people ten years after they were a college clique called The Dismantlers, whose ethos was that "to understand the nature of a thing it must be taken apart". The end point of their destructive pranks was the semi-accidental murder of the instigator of The Dismantlers' exploits, Suz, the promiscuous star around which the others orbited, reflecting her light. At the time, the death was adroitly concealed from the world; now, though, various enigmatic parties seem determined to dig up the truth, and one of them could well be an impossibly reanimated Suz. This is by no means a bad book -- especially when it focuses on Emma, the 9-year-old child of two of the original Dismantlers -- and overall I enjoyed reading it. The writing was good enough that I might well look out for McMahon books in future. It's just that this one seemed to have nothing much new to say.
December 16, 2017
(My copy is published as "Girl in the Woods")
Desperate to re-unite her parents, Emma sends their old university friends a postcard with the message
DISMANTLEMENT = FREEDOM. To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart
This seemingly innocent act creates a chain of events that none of them could have anticipated or forseen the havoc that it wreaks on their lives. The story plays out in the present with flashbacks to the past in which we learn what the Compassionate Dissemblers actually got up to that infamous summer.
While I suppose if I was completely honest I would have to say that some parts - & maybe Suz's character too - weren't wholly credible but for the purpose of the storyline they were perfect - if that makes sense! This was just the sort of book I love, it kept me enthralled throughout & wondering where it would go next. it also kept me asking...just who is Danner? That final sentence finished it all off nicely :o)
Desperate to re-unite her parents, Emma sends their old university friends a postcard with the message
DISMANTLEMENT = FREEDOM. To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart
This seemingly innocent act creates a chain of events that none of them could have anticipated or forseen the havoc that it wreaks on their lives. The story plays out in the present with flashbacks to the past in which we learn what the Compassionate Dissemblers actually got up to that infamous summer.
While I suppose if I was completely honest I would have to say that some parts - & maybe Suz's character too - weren't wholly credible but for the purpose of the storyline they were perfect - if that makes sense! This was just the sort of book I love, it kept me enthralled throughout & wondering where it would go next. it also kept me asking...just who is Danner? That final sentence finished it all off nicely :o)
July 28, 2015
Yum, yum, yum. Let me pause a moment to wash the dripping chocolate nutella off of my hands before I type any more. Yes, I am being metaphorical, but also literal...nothing like a mid-afternoon chocolate snack.
This book is awful. Really, there are a few major flaws in the plot (Emma and Danner...okay Danner can be a ghost rather than an imaginary friend, but why is she kind sometimes and evil others?) and the whole "it was really Winnie" plot twist was one too many (a bit scooby-doo removing the mask-ish).
However, it was compelling and entertaining and even though my belly is full from too much nutella and I'm gonna have a sugar crash in the next hour it was a perfectly lazy way to spend a few summer afternoons.
This book is awful. Really, there are a few major flaws in the plot (Emma and Danner...okay Danner can be a ghost rather than an imaginary friend, but why is she kind sometimes and evil others?) and the whole "it was really Winnie" plot twist was one too many (a bit scooby-doo removing the mask-ish).
However, it was compelling and entertaining and even though my belly is full from too much nutella and I'm gonna have a sugar crash in the next hour it was a perfectly lazy way to spend a few summer afternoons.
June 1, 2014
What. The. Fuck. That's what I've been asking myself throughout the whole book. The last time (and only time) I've felt mind-blown was while reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. This started out confusing and I almost DNF; however, I picked it back up after setting it down for over a month. The confusion continued for me throughout the book, but the pull of the unknown, the fucked up, made me devour it after I kept going. This was quite the whirl wind of a book. No clue how to classify it - Thriller? Mystery? Psychotic? Even after digesting everything that happened and all was explained, I'm still feeling thoroughly confused. 4/4.5 stars
September 16, 2010
I loved Promise Not To Tell.....what happened with this book? I found it hard to get into....by page 80 it was still dragging for me. I found the characters to be depressing, as well as the subject matter.
February 18, 2013
Awful. Ugh. I struggled to finish it, and forced myself to do so, just cause I the unfinished books. This book was too much. Too many things going on, none of the characters in the book were like able at all, not a single one. Not the daughter or any of them. Just, ugh.
October 5, 2017
For my written review, please check out the link below:
Debra's Book Cafe
Debs :-)
Debra's Book Cafe
Debs :-)
February 27, 2024
Dismantled is a riveting psychological thriller that takes readers on a chilling journey through the complexities of friendship, guilt, and obsession. This novel weaves together multiple narratives and timelines to unravel a haunting mystery that lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned.
The story centers around a group of college friends who call themselves the "Compassionate Dismantlers." United by their shared disdain for authority and conventional societal norms, the group engages in acts of vandalism and rebellion, culminating in the dismantling of an old farmhouse deep in the Vermont woods. However, their escapades take a dark turn when one of their own disappears under mysterious circumstances.
McMahon masterfully constructs the narrative, alternating between past and present, slowly revealing the events leading up to the fateful night of the farmhouse dismantling and its aftermath. Each chapter peels back layers of secrets and lies, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they piece together the puzzle of what really happened all those years ago.
One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its exploration of complex characters and their motivations. The members of the Compassionate Dismantlers are deeply flawed individuals grappling with guilt, regret, and the consequences of their actions. As the story unfolds, McMahon delves into their psyches, exposing the cracks beneath their carefully constructed facades and revealing the true extent of their culpability.
In addition to its compelling characters, Dismantled is steeped in atmosphere, evoking a palpable sense of unease and foreboding. McMahon expertly creates a sense of isolation and claustrophobia, drawing readers into the eerie landscape of rural Vermont and the dark secrets that lie hidden within its forests.
As the tension mounts and the mystery deepens, Dismantled keeps readers guessing until the very end. McMahon skillfully navigates twists and turns, delivering unexpected revelations that challenge perceptions and upend assumptions. The result is a gripping and satisfying read that leaves a lasting impression.
In conclusion, Dismantled is a masterfully crafted psychological thriller that captivates from beginning to end. With its compelling characters, atmospheric setting, and intricate plot, Jennifer McMahon delivers a haunting tale of friendship, betrayal, and the lingering consequences of past actions. Fans of suspenseful storytelling will find much to admire in this engrossing novel that skillfully blurs the lines between truth and deception.
The story centers around a group of college friends who call themselves the "Compassionate Dismantlers." United by their shared disdain for authority and conventional societal norms, the group engages in acts of vandalism and rebellion, culminating in the dismantling of an old farmhouse deep in the Vermont woods. However, their escapades take a dark turn when one of their own disappears under mysterious circumstances.
McMahon masterfully constructs the narrative, alternating between past and present, slowly revealing the events leading up to the fateful night of the farmhouse dismantling and its aftermath. Each chapter peels back layers of secrets and lies, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they piece together the puzzle of what really happened all those years ago.
One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its exploration of complex characters and their motivations. The members of the Compassionate Dismantlers are deeply flawed individuals grappling with guilt, regret, and the consequences of their actions. As the story unfolds, McMahon delves into their psyches, exposing the cracks beneath their carefully constructed facades and revealing the true extent of their culpability.
In addition to its compelling characters, Dismantled is steeped in atmosphere, evoking a palpable sense of unease and foreboding. McMahon expertly creates a sense of isolation and claustrophobia, drawing readers into the eerie landscape of rural Vermont and the dark secrets that lie hidden within its forests.
As the tension mounts and the mystery deepens, Dismantled keeps readers guessing until the very end. McMahon skillfully navigates twists and turns, delivering unexpected revelations that challenge perceptions and upend assumptions. The result is a gripping and satisfying read that leaves a lasting impression.
In conclusion, Dismantled is a masterfully crafted psychological thriller that captivates from beginning to end. With its compelling characters, atmospheric setting, and intricate plot, Jennifer McMahon delivers a haunting tale of friendship, betrayal, and the lingering consequences of past actions. Fans of suspenseful storytelling will find much to admire in this engrossing novel that skillfully blurs the lines between truth and deception.
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