The Gift by Freida McFadden

Genre: Thriller

Format: Kindle

Pages: 53

Start Date: December 4th, 2023

End Date: December 4th, 2023

Overall: ★★★

Character Development: ★★ 

Ending: ★★★

Recommend: Yes

 🚨 May Contain Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk 🚨

     So I wasn’t really sure what to expect reading a “novelette”, and I’m not really sure what to think after finishing it. I feel like I was bothered by how short it was, which isn’t that the point of a novelette? Yet, if Freida would’ve added things that I felt were missing, like more character development, I feel like I would’ve felt like the story was boring and drawn out. Maybe novelettes aren’t for me, haha, but I did really enjoy the quickness this novelette offered.

Stella sacrificed her hair, something she loved dearly, to provide the perfect gift for her husband. Would you have done that? No, and the fact Stella did sort of bothered me. She knows that her hair is the only really attractive thing about her, so why would she give that up and then essentially shave her head?! I get that it was out of love, but if can’t even pay your heating bill, why would you and your husband not agree to just pass on giving gifts this year? Maybe I just found their poorness a bit of a stretch….

When do you think Stella started to really regret her decision to cut her hair? I feel like she was regretting it while Helga was cutting it off. She references regret while she feels how short Helga was going.

It was never specifically said that Stella killed her husband, but implied. Do you think the old woman believed she did? If so, why don’t you think she had a stronger reaction to that realization? I do believe Helga knew instantly Stella killer her husband. I feel like Helga’s character was incredibly perceptive, and really saw the instability of Stella’s mental state from the beginning. Do I think Helga thought Stella would ultimately kill her husband? No, but I feel like her senses were strong enough to anticipate more of a “worst case scenario”, if you will. 

If you’re a parent, would you have gone to such extremes for your daughter? No. As much as I want to give my children everything I possibly can, the daughter is an adult who made a very poor choice. I would definitely be there to suppport her and the child any way I could, but even if the husband wasn’t murdered and actually did leave Stella, I’d be saying RUN, GIRL, RUN! Sounds like he was a sleaze-bag all the way around, and she should’ve tried to stay out of that mess.