Wednesday, Apr 1, 2009

Book Review: Disquiet

Author:       Julia Leigh

Publisher:    Penguin

ISBN:          978-0-14-311350-8

Website:      Penguin Books

 Type:         Fiction:Novella

Pages:        121 Softcover

Purchase:    $10.19 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“Olivia arrives at her mother’s chateau in rural France (the first time in more than a decade) with her two young children in tow. Soon the family is joined by Olivia’s brother Marcus and his wife Sophie—but this reunion is far from joyful. After years of desperately wanting a baby, Sophie has just given birth to a stillborn child, and she is struggling to overcome her devastation. Meanwhile, Olivia wrestles with her own secrets about the cruel and violent man she married many years before.”

(Above excerpt is from the cover of Disquiet)

The Review

My friend, Danielle, lent me this book because she thought I may enjoy this novella.  The author’s writing style is very calming despite the unrest and emotional horror of the story.  It’s almost like the reader is lulled into this story, rides along it peacefully, and then BAM!  The reader is hit with a shocker!  Back onto the smooth road and all is well.  WHOOSH!  The reader takes a sharp right hand turn!  And, so it goes until we are finally able to complete the drive and arrive at the destination which is an ending that brings peace back to the reader.  Whew!

I enjoyed this book for many reasons.  First, I love the concept of a novella.  You get more than a short story and you’re not tied into 300+ pages of a story that has a lot of “fluff” in it.  This story was written with as much “fluff” and character development as you needed, however it was true to the story and staying on point.  Maybe a better way of putting it is that the writing was controlled and yet engaging. 

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I am fortunate to be reviewing not only this novella, but another one that I read within the same day.  I liked them both.  But, of the two, I preferred this one.  Therefore, it’s going to get slightly higher marks.  For the genre Fiction:Novella, I am going to rate this book a 9 OUT OF 10. 

My thanks to my pal, Danielle, for the “sweet” read!

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