Review: The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn-Notes & Highlights

This is the first book in our Sister Book Club.

Anna Fox from The Woman in the Window be like…

So I won books from the Summer reading program during Covid times and I had to receive my prizes in the car because of the six feet rule. I always make more than one account because I want all of the books! XD They probably got confused with my account because I didn't give them my email or something. I got two copies and one for Ale.

“I’d like to, pumpkin.” I drift upstairs, to the second floor, where the view’s better. “Oh: There are pumpkins everywhere. All the neighbors have one. The Grays have four.” I’ve reached the landing, glass in hand, wine lapping at my lip. “I wish I could pick out a pumpkin for you. Tell Daddy to get you one.” I sip, swallow. “Tell him to get you two, one for you and one for me.” (Ch. 2)

When I read the word “pumpkin” I smelled pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, and the smell of Fall. This scene reminds me of one of those basic scenes in the movies that are in the kitchen. Also, I picture their neighborhood like the ones in Halloween Town or in Hocus Pocus. With orange leaves on the ground, wind rustling, and grand brick houses.

“There’s a son,” I repeat, pressing my forehead against the cold glass of the window. Sodium lamps have yet to sprout in this province of Harlem, and the street is lit only by a lemon-wedge of moon, but still I can make them out in silhouette: a man, a woman, and a tall boy, ferrying boxes to the front door. “A teenager,” I add.

“Easy, cougar.” (Ch. 2)

Lol

“The Agora welcome screen greets me. I scan the message boards, comb the threads. 3 MONTHS STUCK IN MY HOUSE. I hear you, Kala88; almost ten months and counting here.” (Ch. 6)

This reminded me of the world’s current quarantine. Like how we’re all supposed to be in our house, but this woman can’t go outside.

“In the years before Olivia, we’d watch a movie at least once a week—all the vintage suspense flicks from my childhood: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Saboteur, The Big Clock . . . We lived in monochrome those nights. For me, it was a chance to revisit old friends; for Ed, it was an opportunity to make new ones.” (Ch. 7)

I thought this was so cute for them to do every week and I also like how Anna Fox describes watching the movies as visiting friends.

“...misquotes” (Ch. 7).

Lol I thought this word was mosquito. It looks like it.

“...you smear yourself along his sofa like butter on toast, and you melt” (Ch. 16).

“‘Sometimes I’ve got too many thoughts at once. It’s like there’s a four-way intersection in my brain where everyone’s trying to go at the same time’” (Ch. 16).

“Don’t be late—that was Wesley’s golden rule. ‘For some people, this is the most important fifty minutes of their week,’ he would remind me. ‘So for Christ’s sake, whatever else you do or fail to do, don’t be late’” (Ch. 20).

I thought this was funny. I wasn’t sure if he was referring to being late to class or to an appointment.

“Of course, I’m accustomed to children in distress: weeping, shouting, pummeling dolls, flaying books. It used to be that Olivia was the only one I could hug. Now I open my arms to Ethan, spread them wide like wings, and he walks into them awkwardly, as though bumping into me.

For an instant, and then for a moment, I’m holding my daughter again—holding her before her first day of school, holding her in the swimming pool on our vacation in Barbados, clutching her amid the silent snowfall. Her heart beating against my own, a beat apart, a continuous drumline, blood surging through us both.

He mutters something indistinct against my shoulder. “What’s that?”

“I said I’m really sorry,” he repeats, prying himself free, skidding his sleeve beneath his nose. “I’m really sorry.” (Ch. 25)

This part made me cry because of Anna’s description of hugging her daughter.

“I sip, roll the wine around my tongue.” 

“I feel the smile spreading across my lips.” (Ch. 29)

“Then quiet—but a strange quiet, a different quality of quiet.” (Ch. 36)

“...the front steps like a tongue unspooled...” (Ch. 38)

“I wasn’t hallucinating,” I hiss. My words tumble as they flee my mouth, land on their sides. “I wasn’t imagining things. I’m not insane.” (Ch. 40)

I like how Finn described how the words came out of Anna’s mouth.

“I stare at them, ranged around me, like those three kids hurling eggs, those three little shits.

I’m going to lay them out flat.

“So where is she?” I ask, snapping my arms across my chest. “Where’s Jane? If she’s fine, bring her over here.”

They share a glance.

“Come on.” I gather my robe around me, yank the sash, cross my arms again. “Go get her.” (Ch. 40)

While I read this and heard the narrator of the audiobook (Ann Marie Lee) I was like yaaas bitch, you tell them! 

“Something nibbles at my brain.

I grasp at it, lose it.” (Ch. 49)

“For the first time in days, I feel relaxed, in charge. Useful, even.” (Ch. 52)

“...septuagenarian…” (Ch. 52). 

Aperson who is from 70 to 79 years old.

“...compartmentalize…” (Ch. 59). 

Categorize.

“The phone lies there immobile. An immobile mobile. Ha.” (Ch. 59)

Ha.

“Down in the kitchen, drops of rain popping against the window, I pour more merlot into a tumbler. A long swig. I needed that.” (Ch. 60)

That’s my vibe right there!

“I flinch. Something—someone—has bumped into me, knocked the umbrella aside; it rushes past, a blue blur of jeans and coat, and as I turn to watch, I see myself in a pane of glass: my hair in weeds, my skin damp, a tattersall umbrella protruding from my hand like an enormous flower.” (Ch. 61)

I always wonder why Anna doesn’t take a shower and make herself look decent before she tries to go outside again. I mean like she could brush her hair, put on a pair of jeans and a shirt at least!

“As I drift past him, entering the shop, my memory thaws.” (Ch. 61)

“Want me to check in on you later?”

I shake my head. Ethan shrugs. “Maybe. Let’s see how it goes.” (Ch. 62)

These two (Nick and Ethan) are such nice boys! So cute and adorable how they care for their neighbor!

“Let’s go inside,” Ethan says.” (Ch. 62) 

I like how the audiobook narrator said this line because of the voice crack. Ethan is a teenager and since he’s going through puberty he would have a voice crack, so I think it’s accurate.

“A memento. Memento mori. Remember that you have to die.

Remember.” (Ch. 70)

“...defiant…” (Ch. 73) 

Resistant, aggressive.

“I don’t even much like Grape Nuts; Ed does. Did.” (Ch. 78)

I’m proud of Anna for using the past tense words because that means that she is starting to move on.