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ambience's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
maxattack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A slow burn (no pun intended??) that you have to sit with afterwards.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Sexual content, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: War, Violence, and Medical trauma
Minor: Stalking
wynne_ronareads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
small_town_librarian's review against another edition
3.0
A story of an ill-fated love affair with a surprising ending.
baldingape's review against another edition
3.0
If there was ever an ending, I wasn't expecting... It certainly wasn't this.
This book was at times a bit tedious, in fact, at one part I nearly gave up. But something about Patrick McGrath's writing seems to compel me to carry on reading.
I felt Dr Haggard was pathetic and so in him, I guess I actually see myself, with his described short stature and apparent emotional instability.
His absolute adoration for the pathologist's wife at times repulsed me, sometimes bored me to tears.
So, all in all, that's good writing.
This book was at times a bit tedious, in fact, at one part I nearly gave up. But something about Patrick McGrath's writing seems to compel me to carry on reading.
I felt Dr Haggard was pathetic and so in him, I guess I actually see myself, with his described short stature and apparent emotional instability.
His absolute adoration for the pathologist's wife at times repulsed me, sometimes bored me to tears.
So, all in all, that's good writing.
jinjer's review against another edition
3.0
Well, that was different, as my Mom always says when she doesn't know what to say about something.
This book was not my genre, but the writing was good enough it held my interest. But oh Lord...this Dr. Haggard is a piece of work!!!! He is a man obsessed with the wife of a pathologist he works with at the hospital. Beyond obsessed. Obsessed to the point where he really needs to start seeing a therapist.
Dude...she's just not that into you, ok? Get over her.
The book has a nice little twist near the end and it was a quick read.
This book was not my genre, but the writing was good enough it held my interest. But oh Lord...this Dr. Haggard is a piece of work!!!! He is a man obsessed with the wife of a pathologist he works with at the hospital. Beyond obsessed. Obsessed to the point where he really needs to start seeing a therapist.
Dude...she's just not that into you, ok? Get over her.
The book has a nice little twist near the end and it was a quick read.
jatridle's review against another edition
3.0
I always end up glad that I've stuck with Patrick McGrath's books to the end. I seem to enjoy thinking about them after I'm finished more than I enjoyed reading them in the first place. Like with Asylum, fighting through the first two-thirds of this novel was a struggle for me. The narrative, for the most part, focused on a romance that frankly didn't interest me all that much. Reading it often made me feel like I was stuck on a long bus ride next to a love-sick, self-absorbed bore who seems to think his love affair with this woman was infinitely more fascinating than any affair anyone else has ever had in the history of love affairs. And it just wasn't. (I get it. The dude was obsessed. It was the whole point of the book. His passion for her was his "disease." Yada, yada, yada. For my own sanity's sake, though, I'm glad there wasn't any more of it.) Throw in the fact that, at least in his head, he was narrating this tale to the son of the woman he'd had the illicit affair with added a fairly big yuck factor for me at times. Though it was a yuck factor I enjoyed.
Anyway, I stuck with this book because I know McGrath likes to play with perspective. His narrators tend to be unreliable and at least a bit off their rocker-- leaving the reader to grapple with just how unreliable and how off their rocker they are. I'm not going to go into too much detail here. I don't want to give away too much. But, as I was with the other two Patrick McGrath books I've read (Spider and Asylum), by the end of this one, I was impressed.
Also, as with Asylum, I enjoyed the sort of homage he played to the classic Gothic setting with Elgin--the gigantic old house on the edge of a crumbling seaside cliff inhabited only by a crippled, morphine-addicted doctor and his housemaid. Sometimes the waves crashed violently against the shore. Sometimes wind howled through the house's empty old rooms, rattling windows and knocking out panes of glass. It was a nice touch.
Anyway, I stuck with this book because I know McGrath likes to play with perspective. His narrators tend to be unreliable and at least a bit off their rocker-- leaving the reader to grapple with just how unreliable and how off their rocker they are. I'm not going to go into too much detail here. I don't want to give away too much. But, as I was with the other two Patrick McGrath books I've read (Spider and Asylum), by the end of this one, I was impressed.
Also, as with Asylum, I enjoyed the sort of homage he played to the classic Gothic setting with Elgin--the gigantic old house on the edge of a crumbling seaside cliff inhabited only by a crippled, morphine-addicted doctor and his housemaid. Sometimes the waves crashed violently against the shore. Sometimes wind howled through the house's empty old rooms, rattling windows and knocking out panes of glass. It was a nice touch.
ks_reads_stat's review against another edition
5.0
A goddamn perfect book that was written for me specifically. A book I wanted to read my entire life. Inhaled every word and tried to postpone finishing it as much as possible. Nothing describes McGrath’s neo-gothic writing as succinctly as “intelligently perverse with an intense demand on our attention”, with all his academic flaunting and precise vivisection of human psyche and its dark deep horrors of obsessive love.
mslaura's review against another edition
3.0
Ratings (1 to 5)
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Characters: 3
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 3.5
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Characters: 3
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 3.5