- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (3 Feb 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753818450
- ISBN-13: 978-0753818459
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.4 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 673,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Claude is a middle-aged man unwillingly attached to Mona, a woman obsessed with marriage and respectability. Then one night he meets the exotic Alexandra - regal, tall and spare, skittish and powerfully independent. When her rich friend Diana falls pregnant, Alexandra and Claude agree to accompany her to Diana's house hidden deep in the bayou, where they will assist her with the birth. They are joined by Collie, the housekeeper and Banjo, a drunken old handyman. At the house, Claude hears a disturbing and haunting story of a man similar to himself who was also involved with Alexandra and Diana and was found murdered in a hotel room. This is a gothic and mysterious tale set deep in the heart of the bayou.
About the Author
Valerie Martin is the author of two collections of short fiction and six novels, including Italian Fever, The Great Divorce and Mary Reilly [the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story, from the viewpoint of a housemaid, which was filmed with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. Her most recent book is a non-fiction work about St Francis of Assisi: Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis. She lives in upstate New York.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Couldn't put it down -- Calling Valeria Martin "the female Faulkner" doesn't do her justice... a tour de force to be able to write a sexually charged novel from the male perspective... Gave me much insight into my own dark feelings of sexuality. No coincidence that her most famous work, "Mary Reilly", is based on "The Strange Tale of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson. He wrote, "All men have thoughts which would shame Hell." Martin explores this familiar-but-taboo terrain, uniting us all in the humanity of our deepest desires. This book grows on you, and you will be haunted by it if you're at all fascinated by the mystical nature of sexuality!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Dazzling portrayal of the power of sexual attraction!
9 Mar 1998
Format:Paperback
Couldn't put it down -- Calling Valeria Martin "the female Faulkner" doesn't do her justice... a tour de force to be able to write a sexually charged novel from the male perspective... Gave me much insight into my own dark feelings of sexuality. No coincidence that her most famous work, "Mary Reilly", is based on "The Strange Tale of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson. He wrote, "All men have thoughts which would shame Hell." Martin explores this familiar-but-taboo terrain, uniting us all in the humanity of our deepest desires. This book grows on you, and you will be haunted by it if you're at all fascinated by the mystical nature of sexuality!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Starts Strong, ends with a muddle
31 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was very excited to read this book, after reading the reviews of the author. The book started out strong, with great writing which made it all the more disapointing midbook when the whole thing gradually fell apart, losing momentum, believability, and interest along the way.
It was almost as if the book was written by two different people, and the one that took over in the second half needs to go back to writing school. The characters are not at all developed, their motivations are very unclear and never explained. Plot devices are introduced, for example the double of the author, and then the device is not explored or explained. In several places the narrator foreshadows an event that when it actually happens sinks like a lead ballon.
As an example, the narrator has an attack of fever, (was he set up? was he poisoned?) during which the other characters seem to be menancing him, or something, which is never explained and is not followed through on after he recovers. Actually at this point, the whole book seemed to fall apart. Why does one character want him to deliver her baby? How is he an offering? Why does Alex decide to leave? Why does he decide to stay? Why was Alex even interested in him anyway? Oh, and this was the most non-erotic erotic novel I have ever read.
I can't recommend this book, even though the first 50 pages or so are well written.
It was almost as if the book was written by two different people, and the one that took over in the second half needs to go back to writing school. The characters are not at all developed, their motivations are very unclear and never explained. Plot devices are introduced, for example the double of the author, and then the device is not explored or explained. In several places the narrator foreshadows an event that when it actually happens sinks like a lead ballon.
As an example, the narrator has an attack of fever, (was he set up? was he poisoned?) during which the other characters seem to be menancing him, or something, which is never explained and is not followed through on after he recovers. Actually at this point, the whole book seemed to fall apart. Why does one character want him to deliver her baby? How is he an offering? Why does Alex decide to leave? Why does he decide to stay? Why was Alex even interested in him anyway? Oh, and this was the most non-erotic erotic novel I have ever read.
I can't recommend this book, even though the first 50 pages or so are well written.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A dark and beautifully crafted story...
29 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback
Claude is forty-nine, right smack in the center of middle age. He despises his current lover for her flamboyant personality and patent desperation, but mostly for her age, even though she is around his age. One night, he meets Alexandra--a thirty-year-old barmaid. She fascinates him, intrigues him so that he cannot help starting a lustful affair with her. Uncharacteristic things begin to happen to him afterwards; he quits his job, dumps his middle-aged girlfriend, and shows off his younger girl to his former workmate. But the most uncharacteristic thing of all is that he agrees to travel with Alexandra to meet her friend. They soon embark on a strange and erotic relationship that soon becomes deadly.
This is one dark novel! Claude is unlikable. His personality, while well fleshed out and real, is repugnant from the beginning and you don't feel much sympathy for him. When he begins to feel that he is being played for a fool... well, I felt that he deserved it. Alexandra, on the other hand, is interesting, intriguing and enigmatic throughout the story -- her devil-may-care personality makes her quite unique as well. Valerie Martin is a great writer. Her voice is dark yet poignant, strange but beautiful--shocking and chilling. Daphne du Maurier sprang to mind as I read this book. Martin's male narrative style reminds me a great deal of Du Maurier. All in all, I cannot recommend this unique novel enough. Though slow at first, it takes you to a ride that is sexy as well as suspenseful. Beware of some loose ends and confusing plot devices though.
This is one dark novel! Claude is unlikable. His personality, while well fleshed out and real, is repugnant from the beginning and you don't feel much sympathy for him. When he begins to feel that he is being played for a fool... well, I felt that he deserved it. Alexandra, on the other hand, is interesting, intriguing and enigmatic throughout the story -- her devil-may-care personality makes her quite unique as well. Valerie Martin is a great writer. Her voice is dark yet poignant, strange but beautiful--shocking and chilling. Daphne du Maurier sprang to mind as I read this book. Martin's male narrative style reminds me a great deal of Du Maurier. All in all, I cannot recommend this unique novel enough. Though slow at first, it takes you to a ride that is sexy as well as suspenseful. Beware of some loose ends and confusing plot devices though.
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