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fusskins's review against another edition
3.0
Well, this was a fucking slog. I was expecting more of a Gothic horror piece along the lines of "Spider" or " Asylum," but this turned out to be more a psychological portrait of people I really didn't care for. It was well-written and full of interesting period detail, though, so 3 stars for not completely disappointing me.
tobesmagobes's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. It's no "Asylum" but Patrick McGrath at his worst is better than most authors at their most exquisite.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
3.0
Overwrought psychosexual drama in 1960's Manhattan sounds like a lot of fun, but somehow wasn't. Not that it's bad by any means, but I expected more. It's a feverish dissection of a bad marriage between an older professor and a young woman. Sidney and Constance are equally fucked-up, although Sidney doesn't realize it. Her blatant Daddy issues kind of overshadow his own hang-ups. Deep dark family secrets are hinted at, but when they are finally revealed the effect isn't shocking, exactly. So Constance has a dysfunctional family? Whose members lie and keep secrets? Who doesn't? I'd be much more interested in reading a sequel about Howard, Sidney's son from a previous marriage. The poor kid will grow up to be magnificently maladjusted and make some lucky woman a wretched husband.
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
Read a little flat to me, though there was potential as both Constance and her sister were interesting characters. The male characters felt one-dimensional and I expected the realtionship between Constance and Henry to be more detailed and nuanced.
mslaura's review against another edition
4.0
Ratings (1 to 5)
Writing: 5
Story: 4
Characters: 5
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 4.5
Writing: 5
Story: 4
Characters: 5
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 4.5
samstillreading's review against another edition
5.0
Constance is one of those books that throws you straight into the action, where you can make the choice to sink or swim. It’s a thinking person’s book where part of the pleasure is in joining the dots by yourself. Let me give you an example – no time period is revealed for this book, but the characters make mention of Penn Station being torn down. Hmm, you think. When did that happen? Or, you might think, didn’t Don Draper mention something about that in Mad Men? So you decide that this book is set in the 1960s – but really, given the topics covered, Constance is relevant to any time period.
Constance didn’t have an easy childhood. She and her sister Iris were brought up in a crumbly old mansion in the country. Life became isolated further when their mother died. Constance has always found her relationship with her father fraught with an undertow she can’t understand while Iris is the light of his life. So when Sidney, an older lecturer, steps into Constance’s life, she’s eager to marry him to find a true father figure.
Initially, life with Sidney is great. Then Iris moves to the city and things begin to unravel. Constance meddles in Iris’s love affair and then her father drops a bombshell that explains everything but tries to destroy Constance in the process. Constance falls apart, not knowing where she stands. Her relationship with Iris becomes tense and awkward. Eventually, tragedy strikes on multiple occasions and Sidney needs to save Constance from herself. Will he succeed or will Constance drown herself in her sorrows?
I loved this book. Told from the first person point of view of Sidney and Constance, it gives differing views of events that happen. Both characters are marvellously flawed – Sidney with his need to teach and protect Constance, yet can’t write the words he feels and Constance, whose mood starts to swing wildly as the novel progresses. Who is telling the truth? Who is caught up in their own fantasies? Initially, I felt inclined to disbelieve Constance due to the tragedies that had befallen her – perhaps she was mentally unwell. But sometimes, her pouring out of emotion rang painfully true and yet other times I felt her plan was to torture Sidney for loving her. I felt the Sidney had the best of intentions initially, but later I felt he was trying to make Constance weaker than what she was so that he could keep her in the marriage. In between all of this is Sidney’s son, Howard, from a previous marriage. His reactions to the arguments, drinking and general unpleasantness that occurs between Sidney and Constance are probably the closest thing to truth that the reader gets.
McGrath evokes a wonderful Gothic-like setting when describing Constance’s family home – it reminded me of something out of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. You can almost feel the dank and damp surroundings and the ghosts hovering in doorways. It provides a suitably spooky backdrop to all the tragic things that happen there, making them seem even more horrific.
While the ending (at a dusty, deconstructing Penn Station no less) is somewhat hopeful, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between the marriage between Don and Betty Draper. Will Constance, Sidney and Howard survive the city and each other?
A wonderfully creepy and morose book that had me captivated, Constance is well worth reading, especially if you enjoy Richard Yates’ work.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Sydney for the copy of this book.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Constance didn’t have an easy childhood. She and her sister Iris were brought up in a crumbly old mansion in the country. Life became isolated further when their mother died. Constance has always found her relationship with her father fraught with an undertow she can’t understand while Iris is the light of his life. So when Sidney, an older lecturer, steps into Constance’s life, she’s eager to marry him to find a true father figure.
Initially, life with Sidney is great. Then Iris moves to the city and things begin to unravel. Constance meddles in Iris’s love affair and then her father drops a bombshell that explains everything but tries to destroy Constance in the process. Constance falls apart, not knowing where she stands. Her relationship with Iris becomes tense and awkward. Eventually, tragedy strikes on multiple occasions and Sidney needs to save Constance from herself. Will he succeed or will Constance drown herself in her sorrows?
I loved this book. Told from the first person point of view of Sidney and Constance, it gives differing views of events that happen. Both characters are marvellously flawed – Sidney with his need to teach and protect Constance, yet can’t write the words he feels and Constance, whose mood starts to swing wildly as the novel progresses. Who is telling the truth? Who is caught up in their own fantasies? Initially, I felt inclined to disbelieve Constance due to the tragedies that had befallen her – perhaps she was mentally unwell. But sometimes, her pouring out of emotion rang painfully true and yet other times I felt her plan was to torture Sidney for loving her. I felt the Sidney had the best of intentions initially, but later I felt he was trying to make Constance weaker than what she was so that he could keep her in the marriage. In between all of this is Sidney’s son, Howard, from a previous marriage. His reactions to the arguments, drinking and general unpleasantness that occurs between Sidney and Constance are probably the closest thing to truth that the reader gets.
McGrath evokes a wonderful Gothic-like setting when describing Constance’s family home – it reminded me of something out of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. You can almost feel the dank and damp surroundings and the ghosts hovering in doorways. It provides a suitably spooky backdrop to all the tragic things that happen there, making them seem even more horrific.
While the ending (at a dusty, deconstructing Penn Station no less) is somewhat hopeful, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between the marriage between Don and Betty Draper. Will Constance, Sidney and Howard survive the city and each other?
A wonderfully creepy and morose book that had me captivated, Constance is well worth reading, especially if you enjoy Richard Yates’ work.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Sydney for the copy of this book.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
iwanttoreadallthebooks's review against another edition
2.0
This was pretty terrible. I'm being generous with my 2 star rating.
shieymn's review against another edition
2.0
La narrazione alterna due punti di vista contrapposti, quelli della protagonista Constance e del suo borioso marito. Lui è convinto che lei sia una nevrotica senza speranza, lei pensa che il proprio padre sia la causa di tutti i mali e che il marito ne sia una replica soffocante. Tutto sommato non c’è altro.
La protagonista è abbastanza simpatica, insofferente per partito preso, un po’ punk. Non è chiaro se l’autore abbia inserito il punto di vista esterno, focalizzato sul marito, pensando di oggettivare le informazioni; senza dubbio è riuscito a creare un personaggio abbastanza irritante da giustificare il perenne fastidio di lei. La storia è priva di riferimenti temporali, ambientata a New York ma in una dimensione irreale, come una favola inquietante. Purtroppo è tutto qua, e raggiunta la metà il romanzo ha già dato tutto quello che aveva da offrire. Si trascina alla conclusione perdendosi in inutili tramacci familiari che rovinano l’atmosfera misteriosa costruita nella prima parte.
La protagonista è abbastanza simpatica, insofferente per partito preso, un po’ punk. Non è chiaro se l’autore abbia inserito il punto di vista esterno, focalizzato sul marito, pensando di oggettivare le informazioni; senza dubbio è riuscito a creare un personaggio abbastanza irritante da giustificare il perenne fastidio di lei. La storia è priva di riferimenti temporali, ambientata a New York ma in una dimensione irreale, come una favola inquietante. Purtroppo è tutto qua, e raggiunta la metà il romanzo ha già dato tutto quello che aveva da offrire. Si trascina alla conclusione perdendosi in inutili tramacci familiari che rovinano l’atmosfera misteriosa costruita nella prima parte.
liloud0626's review against another edition
1.0
"Gothic." Pretentious is more like it. Just not good at all.
sunnid's review
2.0
I am trying to remember why I picked this up; even more importantly why I didn't put it down. Soap opera overload.
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