From Publishers Weekly
The magnificent excess of emotion that fuels unrequited, obsessional love is the subject of this first novel from the 23-year-old Lau (author, at 17, of the memoir Runaway and later of Fresh Girls and Other Stories). Fiona, 24, is an artist enjoying a successful career until she falls hard for Raymond, a married man in his 40s with "the face of someone for whom making a living means causing hurt to others." Among those whom this smooth-talking, linen-trousered lothario hurts is Fiona, as he alternately entices and rebuffs her. Fiona's dolorous descent into a yearlong binge of emotional masochism is explained by such statements as "love is larger than the bodies and minds of the people it occupies" and references to parallels to her parents' troubled relationship, begging the question of the affair's deeper significance. This is fertile, brambly territory that has been exquisitely rendered by Proust and, more recently, Annie Ernaux, but it strains the talents of a greener writer. Lau excels, however, in brief flares of visceral imagery, as when Fiona describes her lover's body with the painterly eye of a woman too easily seduced by surfaces.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
From Library Journal
What does a mature, intelligent woman do when she falls in love with a stranger, a married man whom she spies across a crowded room at a cocktail party? Not only does Fiona, a sculptor in her mid-twenties, fall in love, she hurtles toward obsession with Raymond, who tells her literally from the beginning that he cannot give himself to her in the way she desires or leave his wife of 15 years. In fact, they never truly consummate their "affair." In this first novel, Lau (Fresh Girls, LJ 2/1/95) examines the addictive, obsessive, gripping nature of love. It is not a pretty picture. Fiona is hopelessly addicted, and, even though she carries on with professional and social engagements, she is unable to shake loose of her addiction. Lau's prose is like cut diamonds?crystal clear, smooth yet penetrating. The beauty of her writing stays with you long after the fascination with her characters wears off. Finally, Fiona accepts what is painfully obvious: the end of the affair. But the emotional damage won't end so easily. This is a disturbing portrait of a disturbed woman, and many readers impatient with Fiona will wonder why the author never sends her to the psychiatrist's office or to group therapy to get some help for her obsession.?Lisa S. Nussbaum, Euclid P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
