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margaretefg's review against another edition
4.0
Terrifying, hallucinatory...Anna trying to escape from her horrible candidate husband and throughout it was hard for me to believe that any of her strange new Maine friends really weren't in league with the dreadful husband, Ned.
lauuwz's review against another edition
4.0
Disjointed and truly strange, but beautifully written and, in my opinion, compulsively readable. The premise of this novel is very ambitious, and it would be remarkable if it were able to deliver on that premise.
Spoiler
Millet spends the first half of the novel ratcheting up the tension with glee, but the denouement is unsatisfying, even muddled; it might be impossible for the narrator to effect any other conclusion. I haven't read anything that cultivates such an atmosphere of dreamy panic: waves crashing on a cliffside off-season motel on the Maine coast, a child unwilling to play with a sheepskin lamb, a disingenuous Bible-thumping politician who may be the devil incarnate, a woman looking down at her toes to find the nails growing. My frustration here is the slipperiness of the story, but I think the story has to be slippery because the world that the narrator lives in is extremely slippery itself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
This starts out as a domestic thriller, turns into a psychological thriller, veers off into the paranormal and ends with a helping of horror. I kept reading to find out where she was going with it all, but it's not really my cup of tea.
elise_is_reading's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
njean927's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
elisetheninth's review against another edition
3.0
Mixed feelings about this one. Lydia Millet's prose is incredibly absorbing, if a little too reliant on interiority (never thought I'd say that!), and there are certainly some interesting ideas in here, but in the end it didn't quite come together for me. The most interesting of those interesting ideas was the exploration of religion as a political tool in contemporary America, which Millet managed to personalize... at least when her narrative didn't wander off in an entirely different direction.
On the whole, I think there was too much of an attempt to explain something that would've been better left a mystery. The pacing also felt wildly off during the last couple of chapters. I'd try another book by this author, though, and that does say something about her readability.
On the whole, I think there was too much of an attempt to explain something that would've been better left a mystery. The pacing also felt wildly off during the last couple of chapters. I'd try another book by this author, though, and that does say something about her readability.
inkylabyrinth's review against another edition
Just not vibing with the writing or particularly interested in the story. I am still determined to find a Lydia Millet book that I will like.
larkspire's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.0