I just didn't get this one, and by looking at the reviews I'm not the only one.
It was odd, but not so odd as to make it marvelous.
I'm just a bit confused by it.

“The Girl At The Door” totally missed the mark for me. It felt as though there wasn't enough backstory provided to set the scene so I mostly hadn't a clue what was going on

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

This is a strange book. You don’t develop any kind of a relationship with or empathy for the characters as you are only given such brief insight into their feelings at any time. Didn’t seem to flow or feel very coherent. An interesting concept but not followed through particularly well.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was squicky in a politically important way. As a book it’s about a 3. As a portrait of our time, it’s a 4. I still can’t make up my mind on a number. I sort of wish I hadn’t read it

After this was branded the ‘first post-Weinstein novel’ I knew I had to read it. Obviously the content was always going to be disturbing but it was a lot further from the core of the me too movement than I had anticipated as it was too impersonal. The sections where he tried to justify the relationship as consensual were expertly crafted in a way that you could see his twisted mechanisms that lead to trying to justify it like that, but her perspective lacked the condemnation you see in other books like Disgrace or even Lolita

Just one of the oddest books I’ve ever read. Didn’t understand it or like it. After I finished the book I read som3 of the other reviews to see if I had just missed something... I don’t think I did.

This was just really odd. I didn’t like it at all I’m afraid but may be suited to other readers. It was just an odd format and story for a book and did not engage me at all.

I normally do 3 for neutral, but I can’t for this one because I felt it was so oddly written it wasn’t me so much, as the actual book.

A very strange/odd read.. A book that sadly I really did struggle to read. I felt that I was unable to engage with it.
Thank you to both NetGalley and 4th Estate for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

A very peculiar read. I’m not sure if something was lost in translation but I felt that the narrative swung back and forth between deep and meaningful and almost unreadable.
The book was billed as ‘the first post-Weinstein book’ because of the way it talks about a young woman who comes to a realisation that she has been raped/abused some years later, and how the girlfriend of the accused deals with this news.
The author chose to have both the accused man and his girlfriend narrate alternate chapters, headed ‘him’ and ‘her’, but I felt that because we didn’t get to know the characters it was difficult to feel deeply about them. There was also a vague allusion to a big event (The Crash) after which the utopia that they moved to was created, but this was not really built upon and just left me feeling like I’d missed something.
There are moments of beautiful writing but also large chunks that I skimmed over because of over flowery language. Again, this could be an issue with translation but it just wasn’t for me.
A generous 2 stars because I didn’t hate it, but actually felt quite ambivalent about it...
I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for a fair review.

The girl at the door started well but honestly I lost interest quite quickly. I really wanted to like this book as it sounded interesting, the premise was one that had potential - but I felt alot was left unexplained.

Oooh boy. This is a tough book to review. I have a policy of only reviewing books that are 3 stars and above and this just fell into the 3 star bracket. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. In fact, to be honest, I didn’t get it.

It wasn’t what I thought it would be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s good to have your conceptions challenged after all. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure it knows what it is either. The premise intrigued me, a woman opening the door to discover a young woman who is accusing her boyfriend, and father of her unborn child, of rape.

It is an interesting and thoughtful read which set my brain whirring especially as the subject matter is quite contentious. It isn’t really a book about whether he did or didn’t do it, it is a book about the pressure of that sort of accusation, what it does to a couple and what it does to a woman who loves a man who is accused of that.

There is a clever narrative structure whereby alternating chapters are written from the point of view of the girlfriend and the professor. They are very different people with her chapters being quite introspective with lots of contemplation of memory and self whilst his are aggressive and obnoxious. At first I found this difference very stark and quite shocking. It is brilliantly written and executed with two clear and distinct voices which is an impressive feat.

There is a certain distance and detachment from our protagonists which is exacerbated by their names never being revealed. The chapters are labelled, Her and Him and the young woman accusing him of rape is referred to as ‘the girl’. I can’t say I found this an enjoyable trope as it kept me outside of the narrative and I struggled to fully connect with either of them. It felt very cold and clinical but then, occasionally there would be some shocking sentences, dropped into paragraphs without preamble. These instances were like a slap in the face, bringing my attention firmly back to the book.

The Girl At The Door is set somewhere called Miden which is a country set up after The Crash (what The Crash is is never fully explained) and seems some kind of utopia. I didn’t fully understand it, but found it intriguing. I like dystopia and actively seek books from this genre out, as I like seeing what humans are capable of in an unknown landscape. The thing is there wasn’t quite enough dystopia for me, the references and language used was abstract and I ultimately felt distanced.

I can’t say that I loved it but, it is one of those books that you can’t get our of your head and which you need to talk about and ultimately it did grow on me. Sometimes books do that. Sometimes you need to take a step back and let the book settle a while. It is a sophisticated but challenging read which I don’t think would suit everyone, but it is a book that will definitely provoke discussion.

I really struggled with this book. It's written in a strange and impenetrable way. It's set in a commune or society somehow separate from the rest of the world, but there's no real back story or explanation for it. I found it frustrating and unengaging. I can see that a lot of other readers have enjoyed it, though, so perhaps it just wasn't for me.

I really wanted to enjoy this. The premise is gripping and I even liked the idea of setting it in a community like Minden. But I am afraid the rest rather eluded me. It all so postured and slow that it quickly became impossible to care what had happened (had the Professor raped his student over a couple of years, or was it a consensual affair?), or indeed what was going to happen as a result. It felt to me that the author had truly revelled in writing it and yet, strangely, it was this energy which made it such an off-putting read. I would have preferred to have just left my comments without having had to leave a star rating.

The Girl at the Door by Veronica Raimo concerns the relationship between the professor and his girlfriend and the society they live in.

Well this is certainly a strange little book and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to say about it. It is a dystopian tale I guess but it was a little odd and....I don't know. I appreciate what the author was trying to do and I did really like the way the book ended. I think maybe I need to think about it some more before I write a full review.

I couldn't get into this and had to DNF it. The style was strange and choppy and the society didn't make much sense as it felt like a semi dystopia being shoved into an attempt at Meaningful Literary Fiction

“The Girl At The Door” totally missed the mark for me. It felt as though there wasn't enough backstory provided to set the scene so I mostly hadn't a clue what was going on.

Oh god.
I was so fucking uncomfortable reading this book. It's shock for shock sakes. Very casually, someone talks about being beaten and slapped around during sex, as well a some dubious consent situations. The whole novel explores a professor (who is an asshole- kudos to the author for getting the perfect voice for 'entitled-pretentious-white-dude-who-teaches-philosophy tone right) who has been accused of rape.. It also takes place in a post-event society where everyone has moved from civilisation to utopia. There's a lot happening here and not enough pages or chapter length to explore it. In fact, the story seems to happen for a few pages, then take a break to be smart, then come back to the story. Perhaps there's something to be said for meaning getting lost in translation or maybe I'm just not intelligent enough but...I didn't get this book. I didn't find it hard-hitting or gripping. It tried on a difficult topic for size and it didn't fit.