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saltycorpse's review
3.0
I mean, Laura Kasischke is the master of writing what appear to be nice books, like 'erotic fiction' and then it turns into mayhem and dark shit. I wouldn't even CALL this 'erotic' so much as 'wow this narrator is delusional and her family sucks, who names their kid Chad? He's probably a rapist.'
Everyone in this book is really unlikable (with the exception of Garrett), which i like. I also enjoy the commentary on how complacent people can become in their little suburban lives and how they justify doing shitty things to each other. But it's schadenfreude in this novel because you're expecting this erotic thriller/romance and really it's just the reality of having an affair, and destroying everything, and finding out everyone else is actually just as shitty as you, and then somehow it ends with a body buried in the backyard, you know, real life shit.
Not my favourite Kasischke book (and the cover/title are tragic), but still a hell of a lot better than any other paperback "romances". I rate this 3 stars against Kasischke's other novels, which rank as some of my favourite books of all time.
Everyone in this book is really unlikable (with the exception of Garrett), which i like. I also enjoy the commentary on how complacent people can become in their little suburban lives and how they justify doing shitty things to each other. But it's schadenfreude in this novel because you're expecting this erotic thriller/romance and really it's just the reality of having an affair, and destroying everything, and finding out everyone else is actually just as shitty as you, and then somehow it ends with a body buried in the backyard, you know, real life shit.
Not my favourite Kasischke book (and the cover/title are tragic), but still a hell of a lot better than any other paperback "romances". I rate this 3 stars against Kasischke's other novels, which rank as some of my favourite books of all time.
oohsarracuda's review against another edition
2.0
It wasn't erotic, and it wasn't much of a thriller (despite being billed as both). Nobody in this book is even remotely likeable...or, really, particularly believable. I didn't understand why any of them were doing what they were doing; at no point in the book were any of the characters' actions sensical. I didn't find the end implausible so much as frustrating. Why two stars, then? It was oddly compelling - I really wanted to know where the story would go; I was compelled to keep reading until I finished, so there's that.
zanreads's review against another edition
2.0
I am so glad I finished this book.. I hated most of the characters but I plowed through it because I hate to give up on a book. I would never recommend it to anyone.
huncamuncamouse's review against another edition
4.0
While this was admittedly melodramatic with maybe 1 likable character, I do think Kasischke is well aware of this and intentionally skirts the line of satire (of the banality of suburban life). Like everything else I've read by her, it's beautifully written at the line level. While not my favorite of the books I've read by her, this one was a fast, enjoyable read.
_pickle_'s review
3.0
An interesting perspective: the decline of a marriage, the crisis about one's identity, and how life might go on after this. The writing is functional if not inclined towards a degree of literary pretension that Kasischke doesn't quite pull off. It really wasn't a thriller, as I was lead to believe it would be.
dissendiumnox's review against another edition
3.0
Mouais, pas vraiment convaincue. L'écriture est top mais l'intrigue, franchement c'est pas le meilleur que j'ai lu de cette auteure loin de là !
briartherose's review against another edition
2.0
This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. It's as if Louise Doughty's 'Apple Tree Yard' and Helen Walsh's 'The Lemon Grove' had a creepy, wayward child. It features themes from both of those books: adultery, revenge, murder, motherhood, ageing, sex. And yet it comes across as more gruesome, uncomfortable, and poorly written than either of them. It's not the worst book I've ever read, it has its good lines, but it certainly pushed the limits of my suspension of disbelief.
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