I’m a big fan of the lie of omission. [p. 126]
I have not seen the film, but nevertheless a certain amount of this novel's plot has percolated into my brain: I was aware from the first page that the 'mysterious disappearance' of Nick's wife Amy was Not What It Seemed. With that in mind, I expected to spot all the clues and hints easily. Reader, I did not. The plotting is as precise as clockwork: or perhaps it's a water-clock, a constant drip of significant details.
Neither Nick or Amy are quite what they seem to be: neither of them are as pleasant as the personae they project. Amy is a sociopath (and she abandons her cat, an unforgivable crime in my universe); Nick is an adulterer with a chip on his shoulder. They deserve one another: so in that sense it's a great romance. I do not hold out much hope for their offspring, though.
A fairly quick read though I found myself putting it aside every couple of chapters. The prose is pacy and inventive; the backstory of Amy's other life as the heroine of a series of children's books written by her parents is fascinating and chilling, and might explain Amy; and there are some arresting images.
I am a thornbush, bristling from the overattention of my parents, and he is a man of a million little fatherly stab wounds, and my thorns fit perfectly into them. [p. 333]
Fulfils the ‘A Book "Everyone" Has Read’ rubric of the 52 books in 2023 challenge.
For Shop Your Shelves Bingo, Summer 2023: purchased 02 OCT 2013.
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