Tony and Susan
Ratings11
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.7
Fifteen years ago, Susan Morrow left her first husband, Edward Sheffield, an unpublished writer. Now, she's enduring middle class suburbia as a doctor's wife, when out of the blue she receives a package containing the manuscript of her ex-husband's first novel. He writes asking her to read the book; she was always his best critic, he says. As Susan reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a math professor driving his family to their summer house in Maine. And as we read with her, we too become lost in Sheffield's thriller. As the Hastings' ordinary, civilized lives are disastrously, violently sent off course, Susan is plunged back into the past, forced to confront the darkness that inhabits her, and driven to name the fear that gnaws at her future and will change her life. Tony and Susan is a dazzling, eerie, riveting novel about fear and regret, blood and revenge, marriage and creativity. It is simply one of a kind. "A superb and thrilling novel...extrodinary." -- Ian McEwan "Compelling...mesmerizing...absolutely irresistible."--New York Times "A perfect and literary puzzle, an irresistible tale anout marriage and murder, both thriling and moving." -- Scott Turow "A page-turner of a literary thriller." -- Sara Waters "Beautifully written, perfectly paced, impressively clever, and ultimately shocking in a way you never see coming." -- Nelson DeMille "Absolutely terrifying, beautiful, and appalling. Parts of it shocked me, and I am not easily shocked." -- Ruth Rendell
Reviews with the most likes.
I first bought this book in 1993 before leaving for uni. It absorbed me right away. Read it 10 years later with the same effect. A brilliant book with a lot of twists. Simply unforgettable.
Tony and Susan is a novel where a woman reads another novel written by her ex-husband, Edward. But it's not as simple as that...
“Putting herself into a special state, like a trance, while someone else (Edward) pretends certain imaginings are real. A question for another time: What am I really doing? Am I learning something? Is the world better, Edward, because of this cooperation between you and me?”
The book-within-a-book is a disturbing tale of fear, murder and distrust. As Susan reads she is drawn in, drawn back to Edward and the memories of the past, imaginings of his present.
She sees reflections of herself in Edward's protagonist, Tony, his weaknesses become hers. She examines herself, her relationships with husband, Arnold and her ex-husband.
I suppose it examines maleness through the female gaze, as Susan reads, yet ultimately it is written written by a man.
Is there closure? Perhaps, in the novel-within-the-novel but not in Susan's musings where the stories continue. Ultimately, Susan's story ends with so many questions. Has she learned anything, will she change anything? The real story continues in your imagination.
“Dear Edward,
I finally finished your novel
Sorry it took so long. Drop me a line if you want my opinion
Love, Susan”
As my dear friend Tatiana Feltrin put it, it's great halfway through, and very huh? from then on.
