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Strange Fits of Passion A Novel Anita Shreve Books

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Strange Fits of Passion A Novel Anita Shreve Books

This is a spellbinding tale of suspense, crime and passion told in a most unusual--but extraordinarily effective and compelling--way: through the notes of a magazine reporter, the defendant's notes from prison and then the article the reporter eventually writes. Maureen, a.k.a. Mary, is married to Harrold, and it is not a happy union. He beats her. She puts up with it. He beats her. She gets pregnant. He beats her. She has the baby. He beats her. She runs away. He finds her. I was captivated from the first page to the last. This story of domestic abuse is poignant, frightening and all too real for many women. The ending is surprising (and well done)...not at all what I expected. Recommended!


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Strange Fits of Passion A Novel Anita Shreve Books Reviews

The characters were very well developed, especially Willis and Jack. I did have to go back to re-read some of the characters names to establish who they were exactly. Emily kind of got lost to us as the story moved ahead and so by the time we heard her mentioned again, it wasn't clear to me who she was. This is one of those novels where you can't please everybody. Some readers may not know just how frightening these abusive relationships can be, and no judgment should be made about what or what not a women would do. Just read and enjoy!
I really enjoyed this novel. It's about Maureen, who runs away from her husband Harrold with her baby daughter Caroline. Harrold, a New York magazine writer who is much admired, is a fierce wife beater. Maureen is afraid for her life and her daughter's. They find a small coastal town, St. Hillaire, in Maine. Although she keeps her past a secret, there are many in town who suspect the abuse--Maureen is covered in bruises when she arrives, which she attributes to a car accident. She rents a cottage, and plans to stay as long as she can, hoping Harrold will never find her. She falls in love with a local man, and starts making a new life. However, there are obstacles, of course. It's a very good book and focuses on spousal abuse, which at the time of the story, is not considered as serious as it is now.
Maureen leaves her husband, taking her baby with her, and
takes up residence in a small coastal Maine town. She becomes Mary Amesbury to hide from her abusive husband. The story is told by a magazine writer who interviews those involved and those who observed Mary. Shreve deftly tells the story as a good magazine reporter would do. The end result for Mary and her husband is not in question. It is the telling of the story that counts.
"Strange Fits of Passion" is another powerful page-turner by Anita Shreve, this one detailing a woman's frightening descent into a violent relationship. Although the book includes testimonies by a variety of people about the woman's flight and drastic means of freeing herself from the tortuous relationship, its real power and eloquence lie in the internal thoughts of the battered woman, Maureen/Mary disbelief, self-doubt, accommodation, fear, questions of complicity and, finally, the instincts for survival and to protect her child.

I think "Strange Fits" is brilliant in showing the insidious, manipulative force of an abuser and the confused, panicked thought processes of a victim. It is extremely painful to read at times. One reviewer cited the husband cursing at his infant as the point of no return for Mary. I found most excruciating her succumbing to another rape while thinking "This was not important to me ... I had survived this before."

Shreve is really good at ratcheting up tension, and I can't imagine any readers not sitting at the edge of their seats or biting their fingernails as the story reaches its dramatic climax. The very end of the book is marred, however, by one of those abrupt, unsatisfying endings Shreve sometimes writes that detract from the story or theme that has been so carefully developed. Shreve defuses the power of the story in the last segment in which it's suggested that Mary may not have been entirely truthful and, after all, everything's relative, isn't it? Another reviewer here said it best "...the author seemed to me to get lost on the way to deciding what she wanted to say."

Anita Shreve's descriptive prose can be very beautiful, and her skill at building suspense is unsurpassed by anyone writing today. I just wish her endings were less abrupt and more carefully thought out.
I usually decline to read books involving domestic violence. Having worked with these victims and knowing how frustrating their behaviors are, it is not a topic I choose to read for enjoyment. However, I have enjoyed several of Shreve's books in the past, and I must have somehow overlooked the storyline as a result. I started this book with some trepidation, acknowledging that I could stop reading if it got too difficult for me.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised with this book and with the style in which it was written. The majority of the book is in the form of a reporter's notes of a crime which she compiled from interviewing the main and collateral characters, then the article she subsequently wrote after compiling her information. I don't feel that this is a spoiler, as right from the beginning, you are made aware that a crime has occurred and you can make a pretty good guess what it involved.

This story was extremely atmospheric. I felt like I could envision everything described--the surroundings were a very big part of the story. I could actually picture what it looked like in the wintery, foggy Maine coastal town where the story was occurring. I could feel the cold, biting wind stinging my nose. The author used the "country-style" vernacular, which upped the enjoyability factor for me. The behavior of the main character and the townsfolk was very believable--at no time did I feel I had to stretch my imagination. I found myself being drawn into Mary's plight and looking forward to getting into bed to read each night. I found the ending strangely satisfying and currently find myself thinking back on this story. This is one of my favorite reads of 2013. Who would have guessed?
This is a spellbinding tale of suspense, crime and passion told in a most unusual--but extraordinarily effective and compelling--way through the notes of a magazine reporter, the defendant's notes from prison and then the article the reporter eventually writes. Maureen, a.k.a. Mary, is married to Harrold, and it is not a happy union. He beats her. She puts up with it. He beats her. She gets pregnant. He beats her. She has the baby. He beats her. She runs away. He finds her. I was captivated from the first page to the last. This story of domestic abuse is poignant, frightening and all too real for many women. The ending is surprising (and well done)...not at all what I expected. Recommended!