Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

“The fact that Melinda had been carrying on like this for more than three years gave Vic the reputation in Little Wesley of having a saint like patience and forbearance, which in turn flattered Vic’s ego.”

Take a deep dive, you will not be disappointed!  Apparently, this awesome read is due for translation into celluloid soon and I for one think it will make for an entertaining story. My five minutes of research online uncovered an earlier French cinematic exploration,  Eau Profondes ,  which I’m keen to check out. The new film (currently in production) will, according to IMDB star Ben Affleck and is directed by Adrian Lyne of Fatal Attraction fame, so we shall see the results sometime in 2020. I'm glad I read the novel first because Affleck was far from the man I imagined Vic to be, I envisaged someone weedier and less Hollywood.

The perfect family is often far from perfection. Vic and Melinda Van Allen live in Little Wesley with their daughter, Trixie. The couple inhabit separate bedrooms with Melinda continually flirting with other men, to Vic’s annoyance. Despite being well regarded by the locals and part of the local ,social scene, Vic is somewhat of an unusual character. He appears nonchalant to the locals in relation to his wife’s flagrant misbehaviour. He is a dedicated father to his daughter and somewhat obsessed with his collections of snails.

** SPOILERS LAY AHEAD**

When Melinda’s latest paramour ends up dead in the pool at a party, we are already well aware of who is at fault. As readers we are almost complicit because we’ve dwelt in the recesses of Vic’s mind and witnessed exactly what happened. The relationship between Vic and Melinda deteriorates in such a fashion that the air is thick with suspicion, distrust, hatred and scheming. Not to mention the jumpiness you’d imagine a successful murderer would be plagued by at the thought of being caught out.

When one murder isn’t enough, well that’s when things start to spin out of control and the journey is a wild ride that is a total page turner. The moral of the story, it seems, is that you should avoid sleeping with the wife of a quiet and strange husband, or you might end up in the drink.

5 out of 5 unhappy marriages can get you into deep water.

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

“There’s good news and bad news. It’s shrunk. He’s saved. He’s not. He’ll never be. So like it lump it a short breath’s what you’ve got. Jesus in her blood that minute. Rejoice sacred heart of Christ. But we’ll never be rid do you understand? he says. Shush now she says shush.”

Should you feel, perhaps, that your life is severely missing some misery, then, might I recommend that this is the book for you!

I love language, and I like it used correctly. Certainly there are some exceptions – Irvine Welsh I’m looking at you. In his case, I get that the strange concoctions of new words reflect the accent and place of the characters. Here, in a somewhat similar vein, the pain and torment of the “half-formed thing’ that is our protagonist, expresses herself in a jumble of words that mimic her sufferings and confusion. On an intellectual level, I can certainly appreciate the brilliance of that, as a reader, however, it served to really drive home the muck and despair til I could hardly go on.

If art is something that moves you to emotion, then this is that. Yet, it is hardly the sort of novel you would enjoy reading on a plane for example. I know this from experience. The photo above was taken at the departure gate.

Seriously, turbulence was beginning to become an uplifting experience in contrast to the messed up antics of the book. After a sordid childhood and the Rolf Harris like goings on of her uncle, is it any surprise that the girl is hell bent on self-destruction? Probably not, yet she drags the reader, kicking and screaming at a frenetic pace, querying what fresh horror will appear on the next page.

Now you might think my score is a little savage in light of the book’s critical acclaim elsewhere. I freely admit, I can appreciate what’s going on, without enjoying it and I really didn’t enjoy it. I mean I actually felt the need to shower after it, and hide the razor blades while I was in there. It is bleak, dark, without hope and, in case there was any doubt,… depressing.


2 out of 5 readers of such sad fiction will be forced to take solace in whiskey.