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thrifty_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
I tried to read [b:Wolf Hall|6101138|Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)|Hilary Mantel|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1336576165s/6101138.jpg|6278354] but couldn't get through it. Wolf Hall is quite opaque and arduous to read without the reader's knowledge of the time period and characters. This is totally different, almost a psychological thriller.
This creepy novel was a treat to read. It centers around a mother and daughter. The mother believes there are spirits living in the house and is in other ways imbalanced. The daughter is a little slow but has become completely dysfunctional because of her mother. A social worker, her (married) boyfriend, his sister and his wife are also important to the novel. Their relationships are twisted masterfully and are beautifully shown.
I'll be reading the sequel.
This creepy novel was a treat to read. It centers around a mother and daughter. The mother believes there are spirits living in the house and is in other ways imbalanced. The daughter is a little slow but has become completely dysfunctional because of her mother. A social worker, her (married) boyfriend, his sister and his wife are also important to the novel. Their relationships are twisted masterfully and are beautifully shown.
I'll be reading the sequel.
maccymacd's review
2.0
“Give me time,” she said mockingly. “That’s the anthem of the married man. Give me time while I make my excuses, give me time while I sort out my head. Just another week, just another decade, just till my wife understands. Be reasonable, give me time, just till my children grow up, give me time. And what do you suppose time will give to me?”
Evelyn and her disturbed daughter Muriel live together in a small, claustrophobic house, shunning social services or any sort of help from the outside world. When Muriel becomes pregnant, the need for solitude pushes them both over the edge. At the same time Isabel, who works for the Social Services is trying over and over to get into the house to see Muriel, but is never allowed. (I get the impression that Evelyn is suffering from some form of Munchausen By Proxy, because she treats Muriel pretty badly and keeps trying to tell her that she's not well over and over again.)
Isabel then decides to go to an evening class where she meets married man Colin, who begins to fall for her quite hard whilst stuck in an unhappy marriage with his wife Sylvia.
The main question is whether Muriel will ever get the help she desperately needs, and does she even want it?
This is the strangest book I have read in a long time. It's sort of funny, but also it's very dark and the topics raised are a bit OTT. It felt like Mantel was given full reign to write the oddest story she's ever had a nightmare about and couldn't resist peppering it with nasty little moments for added crunch. None of the characters are very nice, so it's almost impossible to warm to any of them. A weird first novel, so strange to think this is written by the same person who wrote Wolf Hall...
Evelyn and her disturbed daughter Muriel live together in a small, claustrophobic house, shunning social services or any sort of help from the outside world. When Muriel becomes pregnant, the need for solitude pushes them both over the edge. At the same time Isabel, who works for the Social Services is trying over and over to get into the house to see Muriel, but is never allowed. (I get the impression that Evelyn is suffering from some form of Munchausen By Proxy, because she treats Muriel pretty badly and keeps trying to tell her that she's not well over and over again.)
Isabel then decides to go to an evening class where she meets married man Colin, who begins to fall for her quite hard whilst stuck in an unhappy marriage with his wife Sylvia.
The main question is whether Muriel will ever get the help she desperately needs, and does she even want it?
This is the strangest book I have read in a long time. It's sort of funny, but also it's very dark and the topics raised are a bit OTT. It felt like Mantel was given full reign to write the oddest story she's ever had a nightmare about and couldn't resist peppering it with nasty little moments for added crunch. None of the characters are very nice, so it's almost impossible to warm to any of them. A weird first novel, so strange to think this is written by the same person who wrote Wolf Hall...
lectrice's review against another edition
3.0
3.5: Slyly disturbing, like other Mantel titles I've read. Definitely not warm and fuzzy, casting a cold dark eye on everyday flawed humanity.
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