I tried to read this, but it just didn't hold my attention. I wasn't able to finish it -- nothing motivated me to keep reading.

I liked but didn't love this novel. The thesis is an interesting one: we start with a brutal murder, and then gradually move beyond the immediate scene of the crime to connect with the community of connections of both the criminal and victim's families and friends. The issue for me is trying to keep the ever-widening cast of characters in my head as I progressed through the pages. We return to some of the characters, but most fill in the blanks about others' lives that we learn about. I think it is an interesting plot device, but in the end it becomes more confusing than helpful.

I wanted to love this book, but I found it very difficult to follow. I think that the premise is fascinating, especially as it is based on a true story, but the fact is, I can't fairly rate this, since I didn't finish, and I do not plan on picking it back up. I will not be rating this anywhere else but here, because of that.

Hard to follow. And you don't have time to get into liking any of the characters. Just wasn't for me. Seemed to jump around a bit.

Thanks to Net galley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

As other reviewers have previously stated this book was almost impossible to follow and extremely confusing. I had a hard time finishing it but I did because I don't like to leave books unfinished. I would recommend giving this book a try.

The idea to explore people related to the case is interesting, but ultimately the story doesn’t go anywhere and several pieces are left completely unresolved.

Originally posted on The Nerd Daily.

Nothing Can Hurt You is based on a true story and Nicola Maye Goldberg’s debut novel follows the 1997 murder of college student Sara Morgan and her boyfriend Blake Campbell who confessed to killing her. Instead of the traditional novel which may follow a couple of characters throughout the plot, every chapter is a vignette of a different person who is somehow involved in or influenced by Sara’s death. Each new character that is introduced in Goldberg’s novel is unique with details, friends, and family who are only part of their world, and the reader only has the opportunity to meet most of these characters once. References to various characters are found throughout the vignettes so there is a connection to the plot throughout the entire novel.

The novel can be best described as a deconstructed psychological thriller. Goldberg deconstructs the traditional novel by using the plot to connect each of the characters with little to no communication between each other. She forces the reader to rethink what they know and to learn a fresh new way of reading and comprehending a novel.

Each chapter in Goldberg’s novel changes not only the focus character but also the voice of each character, the setting, minor characters, and even the tense. It is clearly apparent that the author took the time and put in the effort to make each character and their life unique, which are all then linked without making any of them sound like the character before. The characters throughout Nothing Can Hurt You are all connected to Sara or the murder of Sara in some way. There are 12 very different and unique characters to tell Sara’s story through their own eyes and it is evident throughout that Goldberg uses her characters to make it clear that society in general views gendered related murders as a normal part of society. Goldberg also uses her characters to discuss how male killers are viewed as celebrities and how the female victims are more likely to be forgotten.

The writing style is incredibly unique and Goldberg is able to create scenery and characters using stunning prose that is as fluid as a rushing stream. Not once throughout her novel does something feel out of place; everything that Goldberg writes is meant to be there. It leaves the reader thinking, and after letting the entire novel sink in, the reader will understand what it is that Goldberg wants to across in her novel.

It is difficult to compare Goldberg’s debut novel to anything else out there because of how unique it is, but if you are a fan of psychological thrillers and feminist writings, then you need to get a copy of Nothing Can Hurt You. After finishing the novel I had to take a couple of days to process everything that happened because it is so out of the ordinary. I am not saying that this is a difficult read, but the reader needs to go into this novel with an open mind and trust that Goldberg knows what she is doing, because she does. She essentially has reinvented what a novel is and how it’s meant to be comprehended. This was a bold move for a debut novel and Goldberg has written Nothing Can Hurt You brilliantly.

This book was disorganized and hard to follow the characters were not well executed and the plot was hard to follow. It seemed like a rough draft. It needed some more development.

This is a hard book to review. I was confused in the beginning, kept trying to keep track of who was who and kept waiting for them to be connected, ie come together with each other at some point. it never happened and eventually gave up trying to keep track of them and just read about all the ways these different people were impacted by the murder. so i ended up enjoying it but felt like it needed a stronger ending, a much stronger ending or maybe that was the point. so it gave me something to think about

Sorry to say this book is a DNF for me. I am halfway through and I am very confused and have no idea what the hell I am reading! Very jumbled writing and way too many characters.

There were both "glows" and "grows" in this novel, in my opinion. Some of the glows would be that the writing and descriptions were detailed and well written. The characters were also well rounded and easy to follow, but the problem also resided in the fact that there were SO MANY characters and they were all telling the same story. Now, I do think that was a cool original idea and it did make the story flow, but man it was exhausting at times. The story of a murder is told by many characters that have come into contact with the victim or the killer.
There is the person who discovers the body, the stepsister, the roommate of the killer, the roommate of the victim, etc. The list is looooooong. I also liked how the author showed the ripple effect of the violent murder of a young woman on everyone who was some way involved. Each character, through whom the story unfolds, has a distinctive voice. While I did not love this style of storytelling, I did appreciate the originality and also the eloquence and lyricism of her writing. I would read her again, I just hope maybe next time there are less characters.

3 for neutral, as I just did not enjoy this book. I did in the beginning, but as it progressed I just kept sitting it down, until finally I decided I would neutrally review and update if able to finish at a later time.

First thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

What a roller coaster of a ride. I never read anything quite like this - I know the premise of the story (and I am not going to repeat in my review) but I kept saying to myself - "Is there a point to this story" and then I found myself saying "I really don't care if there is a point to this story" because I was so engaged in this author's storytelling. It's very hard to explain unless you read it.

There are alot of characters and they all have some connection to the "main" character but its bizarre, haunting, curious, sad and sometimes a bit humorous - truly worth a read.

First of all, I'm a big fan of a book or movie that is based on true events. For some reason, I just like a story that is inspired by real events. I think it makes it all the more interesting and realistic.

This book is about a college student who has died and the events that precipitated the death. The reader is given different perspectives and is offered various voices in the tragic aftermath that ensues. The student who died was a girl, named Sara Morgan and her killer was her boyfriend. All of the reasons and motives are explored within the pages of this novel.

This is a must read for true crime fans and fiction fans who like an occasional deviation from the norm.

This started out sounding like it was going to be a good story. Maybe I should stick to strictly non-fiction, because I got lost in all of the characters and never quite got back to knowing what was what from that point on. I understood the basic story about the college student who was killed by her boyfriend. Then there’s the newspaper reporter who felt it might have something to do with the serial killer of several women. But the melange of characters rotate so much that I couldn’t keep up, until I'd wasted a lot of time, and then it was time to switch to another character again. I read this mostly in one day, so it's not like I dragged it out over weeks and lost the thread of the story or the characters. It just felt like too many balls juggling in the air at one time to me. I’m staying away from fiction with my crime. Just the facts, Ma’am, from now on. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Nicola Maye Goldberg, and Bloomsbury Publishing.

I am not really sure how to review this book. I really wanted to like it but found it increasingly hard to follow the farther I got into it. I don't think that the writing was bad but the plot was just jumbled, at least for me.

This is a rather unique way to tell a true story. It works overall, but may not be everyone's cup of tea. It's complex at times and nuanced at times. Recommended for mystery fans. 3.5 stars.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Nothing Can Hurt You by Maye Goldberg that I read and reviewed.
What can I say about this book except I was confused as hell reading it. I had no idea what I was reading about and what the point the book was besides some girl named Sarah was murdered by her boyfriend named Blake and he got off easy because they decided he was insane and this was how the case came across for a number of people whose lives it touched or some such thing. However, the way the book was written was not done very well and it was a nightmare to figure out. I was ready to trash it from the start but I really did not believe anyone could ramble on like that for an entire book with really no purpose then I could not believe I read the entire thing.
I am sorry but but this book because I still can’t figure out the point only gets one out of five stars.

Completely and totally excellent! I am a new loyal fan of Ms. Goldberg’s. Concise, moving and thought-provoking. I adored it.

This is a hard book to review.
I supposed the book is about a murder of a young lady by a young man on LSD and who had a mental illness.
The story is told by NUMEROUS characters that have come into contact with the victim or the killer.
There is the person who discovers the body, the step sister, the roommate of the killer, roommate of the victim, etc. The list is long and exhausting.

The good: the writing was easy to follow, the characters understandable, and there was a story.
The bad....WAY TOO MANY CHARACTERS! I had to constantly wonder what and who I was reading about.
You did not get a feel for the murdered young lady nor the murderer.

I give the book 3 stars because of the chaos of the story telling, the lack of clear focus of WHO was talking, and the story itself.