A review by definebookish
The Harpy, by Megan Hunter

challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Trigger warnings for my review, let alone the book itself: violence, abuse, blood, vomit.

A deep purple bruise of a book. Lucy’s husband Jake has an affair with a colleague. In the aftermath, he offers her a means of retribution: she can hurt him three times, physically or otherwise. Obsessed with the harpies of Greek mythology since childhood, Lucy agrees.

I knew this would be an intense read, but I wasn’t quite prepared for its viscerality. Hunter’s prose skates the edge of poetry, sparse and specific and seething. It reminded me a little of Michele Roberts; the blend of contemporary and mythology, the blood-red tang of it, the rustlike aftertaste.

We know from the first chapter that Jake’s third punishment will involve cutting. The first two are equally disturbing, in different ways. So much made me furious on Lucy’s behalf – the way the humiliation of Jake’s infidelity is set at her feet rather than his, the way he makes it clear she’s powerless to make him feel the kind of betrayal he’s inflicted upon her. He’s a smug, casually cruel character, but there’s no satisfaction in seeing him made victim. At times I couldn’t bear reading about it.

The word ‘recommend’ seems irrelevant here. Also the word ‘enjoy’. Writing my thoughts down feels like reviewing the snails at a Michelin-starred restaurant, or the jellied pigeon – they may be objectively exquisite, but I tasted bile. The ending is a little too open for my taste; it felt like petering out, but the rest of it is powerful and intimate and painful. It is exquisite. I didn’t enjoy it. I’d recommend that you make your own mind up.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings