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A review by nina_reads_books
Lioness by Emily Perkins
3.0
The premise of Lioness by Emily Perkins definitely appealed to me but it ultimately didn’t quite hit the mark.
Therese Thorne is the owner of a successful homewares business in New Zealand and she has been married to her much older and very wealthy property developer husband Trevor for decades. Trevor’s adult children have never really taken to Therese despite her efforts but nevertheless Therese feels happy and content with the very comfortable life she leads.
Then allegations of fraud against her husband rock her world and she begins to look over her life with fresh eyes, interrogating the agency she has had and considering whether she is truly happy. As the investigations continue, Therese begins to feel more alone and turns to her downstairs neighbour Claire who is living alone while her husband and teenage daughter are living in another city. Claire seems to have the perfect, carefree, creative life that Therese wonders if she has missed out on. Naturally, everything comes to a dramatic head.
I really enjoyed the writing in this and the focus on wealth, capitalism and female rage that Perkins shone a light on, but I wasn’t particularly convinced by the direction the story took. I could buy Therese questioning whether marrying Trevor with such an age gap had compromised her sense of self and how she critically considered the way that Trevor’s children treated her but her friendship with Claire was odd and didn’t ring true. I couldn’t believe Therese would suddenly turn from a wealthy member of the upper class to a woman who completely lets go and starts engaging in frenetic drug fuelled group dancing! This part of the storyline actually tipped into something so outrageously ridiculous right at the end that it was almost farcical. I love weird books, but this didn’t land for me sadly.
Still I haven’t read Perkins before, and I’d happily give her another go. It was great to read another work of New Zealand fiction as I don’t think we get too many here in Australia.
Thank you to @bloomsburypublishing for my #gifted copy.
Therese Thorne is the owner of a successful homewares business in New Zealand and she has been married to her much older and very wealthy property developer husband Trevor for decades. Trevor’s adult children have never really taken to Therese despite her efforts but nevertheless Therese feels happy and content with the very comfortable life she leads.
Then allegations of fraud against her husband rock her world and she begins to look over her life with fresh eyes, interrogating the agency she has had and considering whether she is truly happy. As the investigations continue, Therese begins to feel more alone and turns to her downstairs neighbour Claire who is living alone while her husband and teenage daughter are living in another city. Claire seems to have the perfect, carefree, creative life that Therese wonders if she has missed out on. Naturally, everything comes to a dramatic head.
I really enjoyed the writing in this and the focus on wealth, capitalism and female rage that Perkins shone a light on, but I wasn’t particularly convinced by the direction the story took. I could buy Therese questioning whether marrying Trevor with such an age gap had compromised her sense of self and how she critically considered the way that Trevor’s children treated her but her friendship with Claire was odd and didn’t ring true. I couldn’t believe Therese would suddenly turn from a wealthy member of the upper class to a woman who completely lets go and starts engaging in frenetic drug fuelled group dancing! This part of the storyline actually tipped into something so outrageously ridiculous right at the end that it was almost farcical. I love weird books, but this didn’t land for me sadly.
Still I haven’t read Perkins before, and I’d happily give her another go. It was great to read another work of New Zealand fiction as I don’t think we get too many here in Australia.
Thank you to @bloomsburypublishing for my #gifted copy.