The opening line gives warning that this is a strange, dark book. I tried to read it several years ago and didn't get much farther then the first few pages. But for whatever reason, I picked it up again and this time found it compelling.
Sebold is a wonderful writer and I was fascinated by the low key manner in which she dropped in the back story bit by tantalizing bit, allowing the reader an increasing understanding of the narrator's behavior.
Following Sebold's NYT bestselling THE LOVELY BONES, this unsettling look at a family, bound by love and madness, was not popular with many of her fans. Read the Amazon reviews and you'll see what I mean.. Many disliked the protagonist. Quite a few felt betrayed
I don't know. It's not a book I would recommend to everyone. If you're looking for feel-good, this isn't it. But it didn't make me feel Just Awful either in the way that, oh, say, Death of a Salesman does. The ending, while somewhat ambiguous, had a taste of redemption to it. And I found myself enthralled and moved by the daughter whose love and hate of her mother plays out over the course of this novel.
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