A review by tabbrower
The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan

dark tense

4.0

Wonderful to me, a hothouse tale gorgeously interested in women. Precise and energetic dialogue (made me want to read his plays), fierce ethical quandaries that never once push it into a morality tale, fucking vivid characters, a remarkable pace for a story about a bunch of people in a house (can't remember a time I enjoyed rotating narrators more), and an uneasiness different than the kind I expected--and all the better for it. Glad Sofia Coppola adapted it because it's exactly the kind of thing that begs to be adapted by her. Love how quickly the reader knows what McBurney is, and how that actually complicates matters instead of settling them. Just a remarkably capable book.