Book Review: Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead | Jenny Hollander

I love a book with an unreliable narrator, and Jenny Hollander’s debut Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead delivers. After seeing a few less-than-favorable reviews of the ending, I was surprised to find I liked the way it tied together! It goes to show that you should take every review (even mine!) with a grain of salt.

About the Book | Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead

What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true?

Nine years ago, with the world’s eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a “witness” to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve—events known to the public as “Scarlet Christmas”—though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She’s the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie’s former classmates threatens to shatter everything she’s worked for, Charlie realizes how much she’s changed in nine years. Now, she’s not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Audiobook Review | Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead

Before I get into the review, I wanted to talk about the audiobook. While I think this book will read fantastically in print and ebook, the audiobook added an extra layer to the experience of the novel that I greatly appreciated. Narrated by Marisa Calin—the story is from the perspective of a British woman who attends graduate school and lives post-graduate in New York. Calin narrates the accents for this story perfectly.

Charlie herself references making her accent posher at times to garner respect from others that allows her to gloss over things she’d rather not discuss. Hearing Charlie’s story narrated out loud keeps that aspect of her personality at the forefront, and to me it was a critical part of her story. I also liked the way Calin narrated others, from the sisters from Connecticut to a southern boy attempting to downplay his accent.

Review | Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead

A tragic event ten years earlier in graduate school still plagues our narrator, Charlie, as she struggles to remember exactly what transpired that night. It’s a well-used (for good reason) premise that has a unique take in Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead!

Charlotte “Charlie” Colbert was a survivor of “Scarlet Christmas”—an event popularized by the media because it involved the deaths of several graduate students at the prestigious Carroll University School of Journalism where Charlie was also enrolled. If you’re reading this and confused about which students died, don’t worry! I went back because I wasn’t sure if I missed it, and realized it was intentionally vague at the beginning due to Charlie’s attempts to repress memories of what happened and push forward.

Which brings us to the present timeline of the book (we actually don’t visit the past storyline as it’s own narrative, but learn about it through media coverage and Charlie’s sessions with her therapist). Charlie has an incredible life in the present day! On the surface, at least… A Londoner living in New York, Charlie is the editor-in-chief of C—a popular women’s magazine linked to a broader newspaper.

Charlie is also engaged to a man named Tripp who is a handsome, filthy rich, old-money heir to a publishing magnate. More importantly, Tripp is kind and loves Charlie. When Charlie receives an email from a former classmate that one of their cohort is producing a movie based on the events of that night long ago, Charlie spirals. She has worked hard to repress memories from that night. Now she may have no choice but to relive them, as she does everything she can to prevent the movie from portraying the truth of that night.

What I liked

Told through present day timeline, media excerpts, and sessions with Charlie’s therapist where she works to uncover memories from that night, the plot is compelling and well-paced. Charlie was a great narrator. She is aware that she is unreliable, which is a departure from many novels with this general plot. Furthermore, she isn’t necessarily intentionally keeping everything from the reader, she has genuinely experienced a blackhole in her memory from that night.

Charlie is a plucky, upbeat, and driven character. I did the audiobook and found that narrator Marisa Calin nailed the tone for Charlie. From early on, Charlie mentions using her British-ness to her benefit. The posh-er she makes her accent, the more people respect her opinion and don’t question her. This is a super-power Charlie has at work and in life. It helps her gloss over questions about the trauma for the sake of British reservedness. I liked that her cageyness with the reader is part of her efforts to just push forward in life and not think about the people or events of graduate school.

Despite her trauma and obvious challenges, Charlie isn’t the typical basket case that narrates these types of novels. Her memory blackouts in the past are specific to that night. She didn’t let it break her, but it is seeping out at the seams of her perfect life as the movie becomes a reality. Charlie may know that there is no evidence of her involvement that night, but she also knows that once the story becomes a sensation, true crime fans won’t hesitate to pick it apart and find the holes in the story she told police.

Stephanie—the journalist from that cohort who is producing the movie on it—is a mysterious and fascinating part of the plot. Steph has been as successful in broadcast journalism as Charlie has been in print media. In every way that Charlie wants to hide what happened, Steph wants to bring it to light. Steph believes that by producing it as a scripted film (rather than a documentary)—they get to tell the narrative that the public should take away from it. They can make the victims and survivors sympathetic, and cast a light on those who should be held responsible. Steph is not a prominent character, but her film is the catalyst for Charlie’s spiral that eventually leads both Charlie and the reader to confront the truth.

I mentioned earlier in this review that I was confused at times about which students died that night, but later realized it was kept intentionally vague. Charlie has a list of names and events she has forbidden being mentioned in her therapy sessions prior to this book. Now that she has pressure to remember everything from that night, she has the oppsite approach and begins to speak about her past much more openly. I was gripped by her story, wanting to know more and more leading up to the event. Her former boyfriend Jordan is the person who emails her about the film, so we know he is alive. Similarly Steph is creating the film, so she clearly lived as well. But some of the other deaths are more mysterious until about halfway through. I’ll be honest, at times I even questioned if Charlie really got an email from Jordan or if this was part of her complex survivor’s guilt.

What others may not like

There were more critical reviews than I expected when I went to read this book. Many liked the book until the last 30% or so, where things heat up and a lot of truths are revealed. This is the part of the novel where Charlie is honest with Tripp, her therapist, and herself about what she knows about that night. From there, things are fast-paced.

Most of the criticism I saw of this book fell towards that final third (and a few who clearly dropped the book early because they found it confusing, which is fair but intentional, as I’ve discussed). Readers sometimes felt that the story wrapped up a bit too neatly and abruptly, leaving some plot holes. I actually agree with these points, though I didn’t think it was a bad thing. I liked that the story had a full conclusion.

Don’t wait for a final twist in the epilogue, it is meant to showcase what happened eighteen months after the main events of the novel. The twist comes before that and has a complex development that I absolutely loved. I was surprised to find many disliked it, because it was so delicious and satisfying, in my opinion!

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved this book, and was surprised reading early reviews that others felt differently. I think it goes to show that for any book, we should take the reviews with a grain of salt. Know going in that not every book is for every reader. I actually loved the ending and how it came together, and the epilogue answered those typical lingering questions in psychological thrillers where we ponder “so what happened to these characters I got to know over the course of this book?”

A gripping story of repression, survivor’s guilt, and the power and happiness that can come from revealing our worst selves so we can heal and move forward.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.