BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2020 – PEOPLE MAGAZINE, VOGUE, and CNN
“Captivating, serpentine, and affecting.” -Megan Abbott
“A gothic Olive Kitteridge mixed with Gillian Flynn . . . Masterful.” -Vogue
“Gripping and tremendously searing.” -Leslie Jamison
“Reinvents the thriller for a new generation.” -Rebecca Godfrey
“Gone Girl for the new decade.” -Vogue.com
“A beautifully crafted novel with a … -Vogue.com
“A beautifully crafted novel with a terrifying story to tell. I couldn’t put it down.” -Paul La Farge
Inspired by a true story, this haunting debut novel pieces together a chorus of voices to explore the aftermath of a college student’s death.
On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered.
In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara’s body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara’s half sister, stifled by her family’s bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison.
A propulsive, taut tale of voyeurism and obsession, Nothing Can Hurt You dares to examine gendered violence not as an anomaly, but as the very core of everyday life. Tracing the concentric circles of violence rippling out from Sara’s murder, Nicola Maye Goldberg masterfully conducts an unforgettable chorus of disparate voices.
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Stories about the aftereffects of an event of any kind have always fascinated me. The ripples that a single action can have on people outside the immediate circle can be cruel and maybe even enlightening to others. The murder of college student Sara Morgan in 1997 causes such effects, and Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg is an eye-opener to cause and affects others’ lives have and how an impact a single action can resonate differently between people.
I need to get off my chest. Can we please stop comparing every piece of fiction, or even non-fiction, concerning a dead girl, to Gone Girl? This story is nothing like it, so please don’t let the reviews portion on the book’s back cover, or even on the Amazon page fool you otherwise.
Following, and even preceding the murder of Sara Morgan, Goldberg takes us through time documenting several women and their involvement with it. The book spreads across the characters, looking into the investigation somehow and even the people associated with the murderer. What interested me the most about this debut novel wasn’t because it was a thriller, because it really isn’t in the traditional sense, and it wasn’t terrifying either. Psychological is the term I would describe it best as we dive into what these women do surrounding this event, the motivation. At times, the justification they have as they attempt to understand from all perspectives.
While Goldberg’s debut does deserve praise, it may be a bit hard to follow for some. By the time I got to the end of the book, I had found myself flipping through pages to make sure another person the author was referencing was one I had already read about before. Having each chapter’s title named after the author’s character she was focusing on helped put the pieces together, but I wish there were a table of contents to make referencing easier. That, or maybe I should have created a map to help know which person coincided with another. Fortunately, I believe I got the majority of it and knew the relationships in family terms.
I may be off the mark, but I took much of this book as telling the audience that not everything is just about the individual, and we need to take notice that others deal with shared dilemmas in different ways. Regardless of if we agree, we should try and understand. Nothing Can Hurt You is an excellent look into how other people view a single event, but it didn’t resonate with me as much as I wanted it. I’m not sure if the marketing behind it had me anticipating something different that makes me feel like this, but I do believe that if you go into this novel knowing more than the short reviews lead on, you will get something more out of this book.
NOTHING CAN HURT YOU is a strange, alluring gem of a novel—the title of which is taken from one of my all-time favorite Louise Gluck quotes! In 1997, a college student named Sara Morgan is brutally killed by her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, who immediately confesses and is ultimately found not guilty for reason of insanity. The book weaves back and forth through time, telling the perspectives of twelve different people haunted by this crime, including Sara’s now-adult sister, who was only two when Sara died; Blake’s college best friend; a teenager for whom Sara used to babysit and who now writes letters to a serial killer in prison; and, finally, Sara herself. The structure reminded me a lot of Julia Philips’ gorgeous DISAPPEARING EARTH, so if you’re a fan of that book, you’ll enjoy this one as well. NOTHING CAN HURT YOU seems to be billed as a literary thriller (in fact, Vogue called it “GONE GIRL for the new decade”), but I don’t really agree with that assessment. To me, it’s a beautiful and haunting character study of people grappling with inexplicable violence. It can be chilling at times, yes, but there’s no mystery here, other than the mystery of the human heart. It’s a quick, hypnotic read that crisply explores the nuances of humanity, and the author expertly weaves this community of grievers together.
Couldn’t keep characters straight. Very confusing. Abrupt ending which left the whole experience empty.
I was drawn to Nothing can hurt you because it was listed as being a true crime novel. Unfortunately that is not completely accurate. It is actually a work of fiction claimed to be based around a true story. I attempted to research it and was unable to verify the case that was the true premise for this story.
The basic story line is that of a young woman who is brutally murdered by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a paranoid schizophrenic and is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.
The book is a little hard to follow because it moves from past to present and from character to character really frequently. The idea was to present to the reader all the lives that were impacted by the death of Sarah Morgan. But in doing so it created some confusion for me personally and I found myself having to re read passages.
Overall I did enjoy the book and feel it is a beautiful story of love, loss, murder and redemption .
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of Nothing Can Hurt You from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is about a girl, Sara, who is killed by her boyfriend, and people she is connected to – either in life, or as a result of her death. There is also a parallel storyline concerning a serial murderer caught right before Sara was killed.
The story is told in a series of vignettes featuring various people. Sara’s family, Blake-the boyfriend-and his family, as well as a reporter covering the murder, others who are connected to the serial killer, and more.
I felt the stories were a little disjointed, and I had trouble keeping track of everyone, and what their connection was to the story. I also felt the story ended rather abruptly.
I did like that the book was short, East to read in one sitting, but I wished it went deeper than it did.
#NothingCanHurtYou #NicolaMayeGoldberg #NetGalley
Inspired by a true story, this is the tale of a young college student, Sara Morgan, who was murdered by her boyfriend, Blake Campbell. Ultimately he is found not guilty as he was high on drugs and alcohol, his plea of temporary insanity leaving more questions than not.
This murder affected many others .. not only her friends and family, but also the person who found her body …. Sara’s half sister, a local reporter who believes there were more deaths in Blake’s wake …. a teenager Sara babysat at one time… and many, many more.
And therein lies the problem I had with this book. The concept is a good one… it’s a story of love and loss, murder, violence. But there are SO many characters speaking out, the story is lost among their voices. It was difficult to follow, and frankly, I just lost interest.
Many thanks to the author / Bloomsbury Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.