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jodar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the first novel by Patricia Highsmith that I have read and I expect it won’t be the last. The understated style of writing meant the grip this poignant story had on me built slowly but steadily, a story of a dysfunctional family and most especially of a woman’s loneliness, longing, obsessions and her futile desire for meaning in a world that often seems indifferent.
The story unfolds largely through the innermost thoughts of the MC, Edith, a seemingly ordinary woman living in small-town 1950s–1970s United States. She seeks meaning through her political writing and later through creative writing and sculpture.
The story unfolds largely through the innermost thoughts of the MC, Edith, a seemingly ordinary woman living in small-town 1950s–1970s United States. She seeks meaning through her political writing and later through creative writing and sculpture.
Edith had constantly to bolster herself by remembering that she didn’t believe life had any purpose, anyway. To be happy, one had to work at whatever one had to work at, and without asking why, and without looking back for results. (Chapter 3)
What starts as a fairly mundane account of the MC’s daily life gradually transforms into a harrowing tale of family betrayals, the drudgery of unfairly imposed caregiving and an emotional sense of failure against her own and society’s expectations. The MC increasingly succumbs to a wish-fulfilling fantasy world at odds with her unpleasant reality.
The MC’s character is drawn with understanding and sympathy. I may have felt frustrated at times with the MC’s inability to assert herself with her husband and son, yet Highsmith helps us to empathise and understand the MC’s desires and fears. The MC does try to keep herself on an even keel:
So the sculpting, amateurish, blundering though she might be as yet, took her away from the dreariness. It was a second crutch, maybe, her diary being the first. One had to live somehow. (Chapter 21)
As the psychological tension builds, the feeling builds too that the novel isn’t going to end well, and that is true. But as I closed the book and think about it again now, I feel that along with the emotionally painful plot, there is more here to consider: the symbolism, perhaps, of past and unfulfilled future filled with both joy and pain; the fragility of personal relationships; and over it all, the meaning of life, if any, whether as an individual, with friends and family or at broad worldwide level.
A sad, unsettling, but wonderful novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence and Murder
esmeb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lvespoli's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jasibasmati's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
3.0
Reading Highsmith when fragile or feeling down is like a bad trip. Well, what I imagine a bad trip would feel like. The book's probably great, but I was in the wrong mood when I read it and man, did it worsen things. It made me incredibly ill at ease and got me into a rare quarrel where I got quite hysterical, I'm embarrassed to say. I don't blame Highsmith. After years of reading her I should know this. Anyway, my point is I can't rate this accurately because just thinking about it makes me shudder, and it should be read by those more robust than me.
molly9900's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sshabein's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At first, I wasn't sure about this one, but then I started to notice how Patricia Highsmith sows the seeds of unraveling in a subtle way. It takes the the idea of an unlikeable, unreliable narrator and makes it a story told close third person from the point of view of an anxious woman and her son. Her son is awful in a variety of ways (though he and his mother are often alike), her ex-husband selfish and distant, and Edith spins herself a midcentury fantasy alternative. It's a really interesting book, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Homophobia