![]() I am currently writing a trilogy of books whose genre might be described as suspense fiction. I have also tried to ‘find my voice’ and develop a style that I and hopefully future readers might find both attractive and then compelling. The Woman in the Window provides a template for this on both counts. I absolutely loved the plot and writing style and hope that one day my own words might tell a story that comes somewhere close to this. It concerns a children’s psychologist called Anna who suffers from an anxiety disorder herself, namely agoraphobia. She hasn’t left her New York apartment for some 10 months and spends her time either online advising others with ‘disorders’ or playing virtual chess. She spends her time observing her neighbours and we are drawn into their worlds with her. We assume that Anna is the woman in the window until it becomes clear that she isn’t. Thanks to the Russell family who move in across the road from Anna we become embroiled in a drama that Anna may or may not have imagined, along with a back story that leads back to the source of Anna’s illness. I found the way that the plot unfolds absolutely masterful, perfectly paced, with a truly gripping, unseen climax to it. What I particularly enjoyed was the backdrop of suspense films – especially those of Alfred Hitchcock – such that, by the end, we are hearing lines from characters that may have come from the TV or from Anna’s subconsciousness. I felt as though, rather than looking through a window into her world, I had become a character in the story itself, staring out of the screen, judging my reaction to the next plot twist. Overall, I found the quality of writing outstanding and literally ingested every word and phrase. The book has drawn mixed reviews, which I always find intriguing, and one of the regular criticisms is that characters are too one-dimensional. I think that this totally misses the point in that Anna is not seeing two-dimensional, rounded people anymore than she can put any fat on the virtual personas of those she ‘converses’ with online. This is the nature of her condition and I note that the author has himself struggled with depression and his mental health amid various controversial episodes. He has certainly used that experience to explore that overwhelming feeling of isolation and, hopefully, it has helped him to find a way out of it. I probably won’t watch the film version on Netflix because Anna and her environment are both so perfectly formed in my imagination: quite an achievement for any writer, I imagine. I strongly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys having the psychological norms of ‘self’ challenged.
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![]() I eagerly bought this book, published in 1918, as it is considered by many to be Willa Cather’s masterpiece. Having read it, I don’t feel any closer to greatness. The story is told by the orphan – Jim Burden - who travels to Black Hawk in Nebraska to live with his grandparents, where he meets Antonia Shimerda and her family who have had a much longer journey from Bohemia. Living on neighbouring farms they become childhood friends and Jim is asked by Antonia’s mother to teach her two daughters English. The girls’ father never really wanted to move from his native Bohemia, preferring to spend time with his friends, playing his violin. For him the ‘American Dream’ ends in suicide. Jim’s grandparents move to the edge of Black Hawk where he studies and eventually becomes a lawyer on the East Coast. Antonia’s life has been hard – both working the land and various positions of domestic drudgery. Eventually – after being duped by a fraudster – she marries and has a large family who Jim meets many years later and resolves to remain close to. Almost immediately, the isolation of farmsteads on the prairie and the harsh conditions in which such pioneering families had to survive are paramount, as is the poverty and the ever-present mindfulness of the riches of others close at hand. The descriptive prose is lovely until it becomes so much more wallpaper, waiting patiently to witness some action in the room. Antonia is a tragic figure in many ways. She works extraordinarily hard her whole life and never really gets ahead. Her mother is arrogant and difficult; her father dies; she is abused by seemingly everyone and we are supposed to believe that she ultimately finds salvation in her family, back out there on the prairie. I’m not sure I believe it. Antonia and Jim remain friends though their different paths through life cause them to live world’s apart until they cross once more. I got a sense of strong friendship between the two but never really love – certainly not the desperation of unrequited love. I didn’t really feel strongly about either of them and, once the interest in and admiration of their will to survive faded, so did my interest in the book. I enjoyed the first part of the book and absolutely loved the last chapter. When I’d finished it, I just felt there was so much I had missed in between. In terms of character building and plot development it seemed to meander like a small stream along the floor of a largely forgettable valley: much less grand canyon as great hype. ![]() This was a great, escapist read for me. I loved Janina's (don't call me by that name!) eccentricity, in which, as is so often the case, there was often a rich vein of unmitigated truth. This was especially ironic in that the wealthy owners of the houses she tended to during the cold, dark winter months saw her as batty and nonsensical: merely a reflection of their own ignorance of the real world. I did feel a real sense of place in an area I know absolutely nothing about. The near constant references to those across the border in the Czech Republic were delicious in that it became a neighbouring area on the other side of an invisible border, though the distinction in Janina's head was as acute as black and white. I was intrigued by the loss of her 'lovely ladies' and the underlying animal welfare theme - as much as this was an indictment of human behaviour rather than just the simple love of defenceless animals. I also found the plot mysterious until I got a hint of what was actually going on when she started expressing doubt about herself; her troubled mind. Also accompanied by an increasingly urgent need to find answers in the stars I did wonder whether this was all about referred guilt. Actually, I found the passages explaining astrology rather tedious. This is not due to scepticism on my part as a daydreaming Pisces, more to do with an author telling us what they know about a subject in just a little too much detail. You understand astrological themes. I get it. Please move on. Being influenced by Blake's poetic romanticism through the sun and the stars is fine, and I can understand the appeal and crutch of pseudo-rational explanations for a mind descending into true madness. However, I think this can be achieved without quite so much detail that sometimes put a brake on the flow of the book for me, like a plow hitting harder ground below the topsoil. Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the writing which was beautiful for much of the time and, as I said, a proper escape in terms of time, place and character. |
AuthorI am a fiction writer, currently living in Worcestershire, enjoying mystery dramas, thrillers, poetry, comedy and history. I read a wide range of fiction, also writing book reviews here and sharing on amazon, goodreads and Waterstones sites. Archives
October 2024
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