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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Deep Water (1957) by Patricia Highsmith is an excellent read up until the last 20 pages or so. In the first half of the book not a lot happens but you really get sucked into the failing marriage of Vic and Malinda. Vic is orderly and wanting to save their relationship while Malinda, an alcoholic, wants out so she can live the party life. They live in suburbia where the get-togethers of their friends & neighbors are constant. This setting kind of reminded me of the film No Down Payment starring Tony Randall also released in 1957. Anyways, murder soon enters the story and the second half of the book is very exciting and suspenseful. I had a problem with the last 20 pages though. Without giving away any spoilers I can say the the story-line near the end got hazy and the prose turned into fancy writing. The ending of Deep Water was similar to the ending of Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes where the prose entered fancy-writing-land. This seems to be a common trait of "serious" writers during this '50's era stemming I believe from William Faulkner. Why Highsmith couldn't finish off Deep Water with the same straight ahead prose as the rest of the book is beyond me but I found it (and other books like it) irritating. But, other than that Deep Water is a strong read with the story line keeping you fully engaged till the very end...I recommend it...3.5 outta 5.o....I'll bump it up to 4.0 outta 5.0....
This book is very well written and such that you are endeared to certain characters enough to justify their actions. It isn’t until the end where you question why you cared so much for some characters and were distrusting of others. It took me awhile to get through, and it leaves me with questions which I’ve been told is the sign of a good book but which always seems to disappoint me a bit.
dark
mysterious
tense
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really appreciate Patricia Highsmith's talent for writing stories where I hate all the characters but want to keep reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
"Within about a minute he was asleep. He had a dream of being in church and of seeing the Mellers there. Horace Meller smiled and congratulated him for having murdered Malcolm McRae in defense of his marriage. The whole town of Little Wesley was in church, and everyone smiled at him. Vic woke up smiling at himself, at the absurdity of it. He never went to church, anyway."
Patricia Highsmith is an utter delight. One reads her novels and sees a master of her craft at work. I had never heard of Deep Water before it popped up with glowing reviews on here, and yet it is brilliant. I would be astonished if it was not the inspiration for Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Yet for all that latter book's fame and success, Highsmith's is the better work. There is an absolute and total command of character; Highsmith revels in making the reader identify with the darkness. For she knows that what makes a monster isn't what is there, but what isn't. Vic is a community stalwart and doting father, while his equally monstrous wife we understand to be charming in a more social way. But exploring the depths of Vic's psyche, and his continuous inner dialogue, we find an unsettling moral emptiness.
As an aside, Deep Water is a real Goodreads find for me, as a book that I'd never heard of but which showed up with glowing reviews in my feed.
5/5
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is quite an interesting and quite dark story that follows Vic and Melinda Van Allen as they go through life in a loveless, and fairly likeless, marriage with Melinda taking lovers without any subtlety and Vic just accepting it. Until one day he doesn't and he starts teasing her latest with a small lie, a lie that eventually becomes true as he reaches an oddly calm breaking point. The story is very much character driven with very little actual action but it sucks you in and pulls you along at a surprisingly quick pace. I didn't really connect with any of the characters though as none were particularly charming and all had their odd little nuances that made them quite unlikeable, even Vic who is portrayed as the good guy gone bad irked me (I so wanted him to get a backbone) until about three quarters of the way through when he started standing up for himself. This might have something to do with when the book was written though as societal standards were a little different. Still this was quite an enjoyable read.
Just not into it. Might try again some day
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes