Well-written, exaggeratedly depressing

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	• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Maggie O'Farrell Harcourt, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Well-written, exaggeratedly depressing

This is a well-written book with a family mystery at the heart. A story that starts out gripping and which should be hard to put down. I had never heard of the book nor the author when I bought it, but was intrigued by the blurb on the cover credited to the Times: "Almost ridiculously pleasurable."

After reading it, I believe the blurb should say, "Ridiculously over the top."

WARNING: ***SPOILER ALERT***

Let's see how many things the mystery lady of the book has to endure. Parents don't love her? Check. Beloved baby sibling dies in her arms (while she's home alone): check. Raped at age 16 by man her sister loves? Check. Committed to mental institution by evil parents and jealous sister? Check. Bears child of said rape? Check. Has baby stolen by jealous sister who used to be her closest friend? Check. Lives remainder of life (60 years) in institution? Check. I mean, how about piling it on a little!!! By my count, not one single nice thing happens to this person.

Oh, and let's not forget that the narrator (the mystery lady's granddaughter) just happens to be sleeping with her stepbrother.

Could someone in the world of this book please just be NORMAL??? Apparently not.

Because the writing is good, I give it 3 stars. But really I wouldn't recommend it to anyone to read.

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Haunting tale of a stolen life

Locked up decades ago for such outlandish behavior as dancing, Esme Lennox is finally released when her asylum is shut down. Esme is thrust into the care of her grand-niece Iris, a modern young women whose struggle to overcome her "unnatural" love for her step-brother gives her more in common with Esme than either could imagine. As Iris tries to unravel the mystery of Esme's existence, she learns more (though ultimately not enough) about her hidden family history, information she never obtained from her Alzheimers-suffering grandmother Kitty. The shocking ending packs a powerful punch, and leaves an indelible mark on the reader.

This remarkable novel tells the sad tale of the fate that awaited women who didn't fit society's mold not all that many years ago. Marked, and then punished, by events beyond her control, Esme was locked up at 16 and lived in a virtual prison for her entire life. Iris is also living a life constrained by society's expectations, denying her love of her stepbrother yet unable to form a strong connection with anyone else. The parallel stories highlight the similarities between these two women, but offer hope that Iris will be able to break free in a way Esme never could.

From beginning to end this book made me sad and angry by turns, and maintaining that level of intense negative feeling was draining to say the least. Though the ending was like a punch in the gut, I applaud the author's ability to stay true to the tone of the novel (though I might have wished for a happier ending). I also wouldn't have minded another chapter to fill in at the end, but suspect that would have diluted the power of the narrative. I highly recommend reading this book, but not if you're already having a bad day!

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Indelicate Acts

Maggie O'Farrell's novel is a delicately told tale of indelicate acts. Young and single Iris has a love life fraught with taboos and an ordinary routine that preserves both her independence and her anonymity. When she receives a call from a local mental institution that she is the sole surviving heir of a great-aunt she has never heard of and who has been removed from society for sixty years, her life begins its slow unraveling. The institution is closing, and the mystery woman, Euphemia Lennox, has no place to go. Iris and Euphemia (who calls herself Esme) begin a fragile relationship as Iris struggles to juggle both her need for personal space and her guilt. Meanwhile, Esme has her own goals.

In fine, exact language, this slim novel unfolds through the fractured point-of-views of Iris, Esme, and Iris's grandmother Kitty, who suffers from Alzheimer's. The narrative is structured like a jigsaw puzzle, with bits of information judiciously offered until the whole picture is assembled. Unfortunately, the "secret" behind Esme's confinement and Kitty's guilt is a little too predictable, and the final act of the novel seems somewhat over-the-top and therefore not as satisfying as one might like. Still, O'Farrell's handling of the story and its issues is both evocative and authoritative.

Readers interested in the changing expectations of women may be intrigued by the author's premise that, while gender expectations may change over generations, women who rebel against society's rules still do so at personal cost. Because this book is not told in a straightforward narrative, casual readers may be frustrated trying to figure out what is happening, but readers of more serious fiction will find it both accessible and a quick read. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is a good, but not great, book - the perfect book for an evening or two by the fire.

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Not quite the story I expected

I was drawn to this book because the language of the opening pages was terrific. And the title of the novel is a poignant allusion to Esme's 61 year time in an asylum. Even the way Esme taught her younger self to "disappear" was intriguing. But ultimately I was a bit disappointed by this book. I thought the inherent drama of this story would be in the present: how will Iris come to unravel the puzzle of Esme's imprisonment, what attempts will Esme reveal that she made to free herself of her predicament (oddly, I don't recall any attempts -- her fierce spirit of her youth broken so completely?). Instead much of Esme's story relates to her pre-asylum days and what led up to being committed. So we are cheated out of learning what actually happened in her days in the asylum, lessons learned about herself and the world. And in the present -- I expected to see a final scene of Esme's rage. It doesn't come. So for me the story was anticlimactic. Though I did read it with great interest because I kept hoping to get to that present day catharsis. What is the moral of the story? In some ways this reads more like a long short story than a novel. I didn't experience the transformation of the character. Esme's truer disappearance -- not just the physical disappearance from the world into an asylum -- is the disappearance of her free spirit as a woman who doesn't want to marry and who wants to choose her own destiny. That was the interesting theme for me. I wanted to see more how that disappearance happened on a day by day basis. instead, it was implied more than anything else. It's still a good book. Just not the book I thought it was going to be. That's my take on it anyway.

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A Wonderful Surprise

This book is such a great read. The intertwining stories and the ethereal quality of the characters makes it hauntingly brilliant.
O'Farrell writes extremely well, and she weaves the story of these Edinburgh women, their pasts and their emotions and sanity superbly.
I found it very hard to put this book down, and like many good books, I keep on thinking about it and the characters long after I finished it. I highly recommend this book to others. If you liked the Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, you'll adore this book.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10

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