Book Review: A Good Person

Book Review: A Good Person

A Good Person by Kirsten King follows Lillian, a young woman navigating her relationship with her four-month love interest, her work life at a young marketing firm, and her friendship with Jamie. However, while reading the book, it quickly becomes clear that Lillian is not the most credible narrator, and as readers we realize there is something deeply troubling about her. Throughout the book you get a deep look into her mind and inner thoughts, and as a murder occurs and all the characters, including Lillian and the police, try to uncover it, those thoughts become darker and darker.

I thought the book was funny. There were moments where I was literally laughing out loud. I also thought it was deeply disturbing.

Lillian constantly made excuses for her bad behavior, shifting the narrative from being a horrible person doing something really bad to a victim that life just happened to. She went to lengths to justify the most horrendous actions, and while every single thing she did was self-serving, and every perspective she had on any situation was selfish, she genuinely believed she was an empath. This exact level of delusion is what unnerved me.

There are characters in my real life who resemble this behavior. They are able to justify any action they commit, and always view things through their own lens, understanding how it deeply impacts them, but never those around them. They live in a constant state of victim mentality, and everyone has to walk on eggshells around them because one wrong word…..

And there goes the giant meltdown.

Lillian herself had moments where she “exploded” on other people in the book, and they also described their fear and shock at the switch of her personality so vividly. It was really relatable.

In the book Lillian was described as a “narcissist with a victim mentality” by her therapist, and this diagnosis almost relieved me, but only momentarily. I had felt that the way Lillian’s brain worked was so diabolical that not only was I worried about what she would be capable of, but also about how rotten she was on the inside. This diagnosis almost made her helpless to her actions. Like she can’t help it, she’s ill.

However, there is a scene in the book where the therapist confronts Lillian with her diagnosis, and Lillian experiences one of those explosions. She instantly starts attacking the therapist verbally and saying the most horrendous things to hurt her. I have a lingering thought, to this day: why did the therapy session impact her so much? Deep down, does she know she’s horrible? Is that why it hurt her? If she does know, then it makes her actions intentional. You can’t write them off as “this person is sick, they are incapable of discerning their actions,” which makes it worse for me.

Somehow, someone knowing they’re horrible seems worse than someone who is delusional and unable to be held accountable for their actions because they are not of sound mind.

It disturbed me in a way I can’t quite articulate. I think there are people like that who exist, and they are the bane of my existence.

Those who bring chaos everywhere they go and cause so much hurt and are so brilliantly deceptive and manipulative and know exactly how to hurt you and what to use to get to you. They are relentless, using every method they have to make it hard for you.

And they take 0 accountability, and they are soooo vehement and sure of themselves it makes you doubt yourself.

They gaslight the f**k out of you, and you genuinely start questioning your own goodness.

You end up apologizing when they have wronged you.

You feel bad for sharing your feelings.

You end up doing more when they have done nothing.

It disturbed me to see the extent of what this type of person could do and justify. I think the book was an exaggerated version of those people, but is it actually an exaggeration? Or, once you have that seed of venom in you, when the right set of circumstances present themselves, you could go to all the lengths & more?

We discussed this book in my book club. While we all had strong thoughts on Lillian’s narcissism and victim complex, most people found the book to be funny and superficially entertaining. I think the intensity I found in the book was because of my personal experiences. And that’s the best part of books: each person reads them differently.

I wouldn’t recommend reading this book, unless you have read every other good book and want something to be consumed quickly.