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krobart's review against another edition
3.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/day-1255-the-blunderer/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/day-1255-the-blunderer/
quixotic's review against another edition
4.0
RIP patricia highsmith you would have loved policy of truth by Depeche Mode
jamesthesnake's review against another edition
4.0
really good book about a stupid man who wants to kills his wife but she dies before he can muster up the courage to do it, but gets blamed anyway, and a guy who did kill his wife but gets away
ravenmount's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
gjmaupin's review against another edition
3.0
Clearly skilled writing but Highsmith’s bleak worldview just doesn’t click with me.
trisha_thomas's review against another edition
3.0
The perfect murder or serial killer? Our MC has a very frustrating wife. She's constantly arguing and tearing him down. He can barely be around her but he keeps telling himself he loves her. Casually reading the newspaper, he sees the story of a woman who was murdered on a break from a long bus ride. The police suspect the husband but have not arrested him.
He becomes intrigued. Did this man kill his wife? Is he getting away with it? From there, the pieces fall in to place. His own wife takes an unexpected bus ride and she disappears from it - only to be discovered at the bottom of a cliff. Did she jump? Did he or someone else push her?
This story was so odd. The police officer was just awful and was hard to read. I know I need to put him in context of the time and era, but his violence and intimidation with the gun was horrible.
He becomes intrigued. Did this man kill his wife? Is he getting away with it? From there, the pieces fall in to place. His own wife takes an unexpected bus ride and she disappears from it - only to be discovered at the bottom of a cliff. Did she jump? Did he or someone else push her?
This story was so odd. The police officer was just awful and was hard to read. I know I need to put him in context of the time and era, but his violence and intimidation with the gun was horrible.
sloatsj's review against another edition
3.0
This annoyed me upstairs and down. Talk about a blunderer. Highsmith is a solid writer and this kind of tension is her thing, but it's not mine.
kurtwombat's review against another edition
5.0
My first Patricia Highsmith and I loved it. The story starts with the perfect murder. Existing perfectly, it is admired and maybe emulated. Maybe not. Where your sympathies are at the beginning will not be where they rest at the end. The reader is constantly forced to re-evaluate--as characters distance themselves from each other, eventually you will do the same. The perfect life seems only a breath away….but instead each breath blows it further out of reach. A constant un-nerving unraveling of proper lives amidst improper thoughts. At first the title seemed awkward and ill-fitting but as the story went on, each chapter added brush strokes darkening the title until it fit perfectly by the end . Marvelous ending that shocked and left me a little bit sick. But in a good way.