What do you think?
Rate this book
272 pages, Hardcover
First published July 21, 2015
The microwave clock spills into midnight, and the marionette girl walks up the stairs to sleep in her puppet bed in the puppet house, filled with not-puppet people.I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked Pretending to be Erica up, but it certainly delivered in both the premise and the execution. This is an eloquently written and thought-provoking novel.
They are made of flesh and blood, and she is made of lies and wood.
I’m the shadow of a dead girl. A shadow does not have friends.Pretending to be Erica is a gripping read from start to finish. Violet is a protagonist you can't help but root for, and the way Painchaud incorporates an emphasis on friends and family is wonderful.
A dead girl does not feel guilt.
The number-one rule of a con artist: even if you have no confidence, act like you do.
Pretending to be Erica is a pretender book. If you expect this book to be funny and witty and want to learn a con world from the inside - you are for a big disappointment. This book is sheer melodrama. It seems author took her own advice and pretended to write a solid book but it was only an act - the deeper you look, the lesser you see. This book wasn't bad, but mostly I was tired of MC's crying and ambivalence. I wanted action, I wanted something like How to steal a million with Audrey Hepburn. I wanted to see a con world from the inside. All I got from con world is how hard it was for little Violet to grow up with her foster dad and con master Sal, how she wanted to belong, how she wanted to be real Erica and ect.Sal’s face is never angry. Even in the darkness, even when he hits her, he never shows his real emotion. The face game is useless on him. He hides everything too well. Or he just has nothing to show.
Highly trained con artists raised from a young age to be perfect criminals. It’s not true, but if it were, how many more kids are there like us? More puppets for Sal to pull the strings of? How many more have come before us and are being groomed to come after us?
I am Erica and I have everything. I am Erica and I have everything. I am Erica. I have everything.
I am Violet and I have nothing.The microwave clock spills over into midnight, and the marionette girl walks up the stairs to sleep in her puppet bed in the puppet house, filled with not-puppet people.
They are made of flesh and blood, and she is made of lies and wood.
Like I said, drama part wasn't bad, just too much of it for my taste, but there were times I really liked MC and sympathized her. But, the annotation said that we are going to get a book about painting's robbery. I didn't get this one either. And mostly, because I felt robbed by this book I couldn't enjoy it. I was expecting the whole time that maybe now I'll get my robbery and real fun will begin. Nope? But what else does this book has except how bad MC feels lying to people she started to love like her own family? BTW, wasn't she supposed to be highly trained con artist who knows how not to get attached to your victims? Considering all the money and effort was given into making Violet Erica - and I mean multiply surgeries to make them look alike, and private information about real Erica - this all couldn't be cheap and took years to prepare and it also took four month to crumble down. No a very good score for a con artist.
The book takes place in Vegas. Vegas, people, is a city of great possibilities for fraud. I didn't see Vegas in this book, nope. No description, no city's vibe. I don't know how someone can write about Vegas without actually mentioning Vegas? This book feels undeveloped in every aspect. It has a skeleton but needs a great deal of working on it entrails. Seems like Michelle Painchaud wanted to write all about everything and in the end got only drama part executed... here and there.
Overall, if you want to read a book about criminal world taking place in Las Vegas - you won't find it here, but if you are in a mood for a melodramatic set and ready to miss all the holes inside - you will totally like this one. But I need to give some of deserved praise to the author - she conned me well by her book.
“Dear God, forgive me for my sins. I'm pretending to be a girl who went missing thirteen years ago. A girl who's rich.
A girl who's dead.”
“Violet. Violet is there, eclipsed before by my professionalism. Violet is getting tired of pretending. [...] She hates Erica. Everything Erica has, she covets. Violet wants to stop pretending and still have the things Erica does. But that's impossible. [...] And because Erica is sweet and kind and perfect, she does not hate Violet in return. She envies her. Violet is alive in ways she will never be.”
“When I adopted you, you said you wanted to be like me. Why do you want to be like me, Vi? I'm not a nice person.”
“I want to be with you,” Violet murmurs.
“Why do you want to be with me?”
“Because I don't wanna be alone.”
“Right after we talked in the mall, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were going to be the first girl to break my heart.”