This was my first foray into the writing of Ruth Rendell, who now apparently publishes under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine, and I was affected to the core by what some reviewers call her finest work. She takes the story of an outwardly successful family—a popular British author, his two beloved daughters, his caring wife—and forges a mystery so infused with sadness and psychological trauma that it can leave no reader unscathed. Gerald Candless is an imposing figure of a man—deep-voiced and towering, with leonine […]
Trauma, memory, and action
The play Blood Sky is ending its run at T. Schreiber Studio. I read the play in preparation for seeing it, but then a cross-country move prevented me from seeing it performed. This was a major loss, because I believe, like many plays, that Blood Sky would really come to life on stage. This is the story of Joley, a 30-year-old woman who is recounting her experiences at 14 and 18. She is played by three different women of different ages; at times, 30-year-old Joley talks directly to the […]
A work of Dickensian depth and breadth
This nearly 800-page novel is a revelation – it is one of the more complex literary works I’ve read in a long time and proved impossible to put down. The Goldfinch tells the story of precocious 13-year-old Theo Decker, who lives alone with his mother in New York City until their unplanned visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the day terrorists decide to blow the museum up. Theo’s mother dies in the disaster, but Theo survives and manages to extricate himself and return […]
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