Cliffie, her son, drove me nuts throughout the book.Edith’s Diary is compulsive reading. We’d love your help. 0871132966
It's a slow burner to begin with and if I hadn't been aware of its reputation, I might not have gotten past page 50, but it's worth the investment in time.
gamble on a revolutionary satellite telephone system called Iridium. Edith Howland’s diary is her most precious possession. And yet, I am very glad I read it. She invents a happy life. It is essentially a square’s nightmare. Ordinary characters are depicted doing ordinary acts of cruelty, selfishness, or indifference. It makes perfect sense, and that is why its scary.A marvellous novel of domestic unease; this is the kind of book that WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN should have been; a sinister, underplayed and unsettling story of self-deception, self-sacrifice and the guilty, mixed feelings of a woman who feels emotionally disconnected from her son - and for reasons that become increasingly troubling...This book was tedious and bleak, and none of the characters really had any redeeming qualities.
Known for his iconic film roles but also for his regular pieces in the New It was difficult to finish, but since this was my first Patricia Highsmith book, I felt committed, but I will not read another book by her. I find this type of books fascinating, intellectually engaging, but it is hard to say that I liked them. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of "Edith's Ennui" should be the subtitle. It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Edith attempts to remain positive.
The nearest label I could give is "Psychological Drama" where nothing really comes as a surprise once you are fairly sure of the mental makeup of the main characters - Edith, her husband Brett, her son Cliff and an elderly, disabled uncle.
It’s not that the book is atypical of her work, because it’s really not. One evening, while driving home, he sees a pretty young woman framed by her bright kitchen window. Cliffie, her son, drove me nuts throughout the book.Dysfunctional family problems, political causes during the Vietnam War era, and her dreams and fantasies are all carefully written in her diary. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Edith attempts to remain positive. This is my first Patricia Highsmith and I'm hooked. Like many of her protagonists, the titular Edith suffers a fracturing of reality precipitated by pressure to conform to the expectations of others. 40 years after it was first published, Edith's 'fantasies' for a better world still apply. By the end of the book, I was left feeling amazed at the subtle but overwhelming transformation Edith went through. Edith has high hopes that the move to a home of their own will usher in a new life rich in opportunity for herself and famil"Edith's Diary" is a psychological thriller that has as its focus what, at face value, is a typical, middle class family in mid-1950s America. It isn't fair to saddle a book with your expectations, but this isn't what I expected. It was so real and because it was so real, it was unnerving. This is not the thriller or mystery that Highsmith is known for. She takes with her a diary into which she has channeled her inmost thoughts and worldly observations. "Edith's Ennui" should be the subtitle. In a small Pennsylvania town, Robert Forrester is recuperating from a nasty divorce and a Read it and weep.This is quite different from most of Highsmith's fiction in that it's barely a crime narrative at all, more of a literary novel. Her son is incapable of holding a job, and busies himself with drinking and fistfights in the local pubs.