The House of Stairs
by Barbara Vine | Mystery & Thrillers | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0451402111 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0451402111 Global Overview for this book
Registered by siriradha of Colorado Springs, Colorado USA on 7/28/2006
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Publishers Weekly
Writing as Barbara Vine ( A Dark-Adapted Eye ), Ruth Rendell adds dark, psychological elements to her novels that elude easy categorization as straightforward mysteries. Early on here, she establishes a knot of unknowns: Who is the sad, reflective narrator and what illness might she have? What hold does the tall dark woman called Bell have on her, and what happened at the carefully described House of Stairs in London that sent Bell to prison? The answers are revealed as gradually as an intricate knot is untied. The narrator is middle-aged novelist Elizabeth Vetch who, since she learned of her grim heritage at age 14, has lived under the threat of inheriting fatal Huntington's chorea, which she refers to as ``the terror and the bore.'' Years before, in the late '60s and early '70s, she and Bell and a roster of other beautifully realized people lived in the House of Stairs, owned by Elizabeth's recently widowed, newly Bohemian aunt Cosette. The tale begins when Elizabeth sights Bell in the street and, being as drawn to the woman as she had been before, feels compelled to understand her own reawakened emotion as well as the events that accompanied their parting and caused both Cosette and Elizabeth untold pain. With specific references to its underpinning of Henry James's The Wings of A Dove , Rendell's story is dark and portentous, overly so in the early part, where ominous and significant references drag the action. But soon Elizabeth, with her uncertain future and brave effort to pin down her painful past, takes over. She is, in the end, along with the considerably satisfying mystery connecting those who lived at the House of Stairs, profoundly memorable.
Writing as Barbara Vine ( A Dark-Adapted Eye ), Ruth Rendell adds dark, psychological elements to her novels that elude easy categorization as straightforward mysteries. Early on here, she establishes a knot of unknowns: Who is the sad, reflective narrator and what illness might she have? What hold does the tall dark woman called Bell have on her, and what happened at the carefully described House of Stairs in London that sent Bell to prison? The answers are revealed as gradually as an intricate knot is untied. The narrator is middle-aged novelist Elizabeth Vetch who, since she learned of her grim heritage at age 14, has lived under the threat of inheriting fatal Huntington's chorea, which she refers to as ``the terror and the bore.'' Years before, in the late '60s and early '70s, she and Bell and a roster of other beautifully realized people lived in the House of Stairs, owned by Elizabeth's recently widowed, newly Bohemian aunt Cosette. The tale begins when Elizabeth sights Bell in the street and, being as drawn to the woman as she had been before, feels compelled to understand her own reawakened emotion as well as the events that accompanied their parting and caused both Cosette and Elizabeth untold pain. With specific references to its underpinning of Henry James's The Wings of A Dove , Rendell's story is dark and portentous, overly so in the early part, where ominous and significant references drag the action. But soon Elizabeth, with her uncertain future and brave effort to pin down her painful past, takes over. She is, in the end, along with the considerably satisfying mystery connecting those who lived at the House of Stairs, profoundly memorable.
Journal Entry 2 by siriradha at Acacia Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado USA on Saturday, July 29, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (7/29/2006 UTC) at Acacia Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
I left this in the general vicinity of Uncle Wilbur's Fountain.
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I left this in the general vicinity of Uncle Wilbur's Fountain.
Congratulations on catching this terrific book. I hope you enjoy it. When you finish this book, please click "make journal entry" again and share what you thought about the book. Then, please pass it along for somebody else to read. At that time, you should click “release book” and tell what you are going to do with the book. You could give it to a friend or leave it someplace, like a school, restaurant or wherever you think it might find a new reader! It would be great if you'd join. Then you could track where your books go. If you do want to join, I would be honored if you would use Siriradha- - that's me-- as the name of the person who referred you.
