A Sight for Sore Eyes

Rating:
Summary: Sophisticated Suspense
Review: I highly recommend "A Sight For Sore Eyes" for literate, non-mystery readers in search of an absorbing novel that provides plenty of chills.

Over the last six months I have developed a minor obsession for the dark, obsessive books of Barbara Vine, not "mysteries" but disturbing and suspensful novels, for those like me who don't often read standard whodunits.
I thought I'd try one of the more standard mysteries of Vine's doppelganger, Ruth Rendell, and I was very satisfied with "A Sight For Sore Eyes". In fact, my highest praise for this book is that it reads like, well, a great Barbara Vine novel!

I will say that this book is creepier and more violent than the Vine books. Actually, it's REALLY CREEPY. As usual, the backstories of the characters are detailed and fascinating, opening up onto the present where their actions lead inexorably toward their doom. Rendell's prose is of the highest calibre, and she is devilish in the way she calibrates the expectations that her plotting develops in her reader, in order for her stunning surprises to be effective.
This is a rich reading experience.


Rating:
Summary: One of Rendell's masterpieces
Review: A Sight for Sore Eyes is a crime novel that is also literature; it's a grim fairytale about corrupted beauty, a twisted yet beautiful love-story about two damaged people gradually moving together, with catastrophic consequences. I had read several of Rendell's books before I came to this several years ago, but this one was the first one I fell I love with. Normally, whenever anyone says "I couldn't put it down", that's just a stock sentence to convey some sense of the quality of the book, they don't actually MEAN that they physically couldn't put the book down. True cases are very very rare indeed, and they are nothing to do with physicality. Sometimes, though, books like this do come along, which cause you to suddenly realise it's five in the morning and you should have slept long ago. In these cases, yourself and the book have actually melded, briefly, into a whole. The book is an extension of the self, so remarkable as to almost seem forged in the mind, to seem, perhaps, to be only created as you are reading it. This is such a book. A book that is so gripping, whose universe is so totally convincing that you, in a sense, become it, to the ignorance of all other external stimuli.

It is the story of the lives of a group of people, most notably Francine Hill - who was in the house while her mother was shot by a man at the door, and who hid in a cupboard, only coming out to discover the bloodied body - and Teddy Grex - a young man who comes from a squalid, loveless family, who reveres beautiful objects and fine craftsmanship and tends to ignore the fact that other people exist around him. While, after his parent's deaths, Teddy lives in a world of almost unlimited freedom, Francine is virtually imprisoned by her obsessive, over-protective stepmother Julia. From childhood, they grow into young adulthood, and the two damaged souls somehow find each other, with traditionally Rendellian consequences.

This book is remarkable. It's one of those books that words to describe simply don't exist for. If you are a Rendell fan already, I don't know why you haven't already bought this. If you are new, this is probably a great place to start. It is beautifully twisted, complex and resonant piece of work, and she displays all her talents: Her sharp, ironic, Austen-esque wit, her ability to construct plots which mesh in with one another in a way that leaves your jaw dropped in admiration, her ability to draw a cast of wholly human characters, some of whom are dangerously damaged, and her ability to make the skewed logic of those damaged characters seem so perfectly plausible. Her prose style is so tempered, so plain yet beautiful, that she can convince the reader of anything she wants. We would believe, implicitly, anything she tells us.

The story moves at such a suspenseful pace, the characters collide like comets. There are wonderful touches, here; for example, in one of the final scenes the beautiful diamond ring which Teddy's mother found in a pub lavatory in the 70's, and served as their engagement ring, ends up once again lost and forgotten on the basin in a pub lavatory 30 years later. It is simple, but it's beguiling, wondrous touches like this, of bringing the story of the characters full circle, that make the book sparkle so. There's something bizarre and twisted about it all (especially the remarkably creepy ending!) , yes, but there is also something magical and beautiful in the ruins of Rendell's character's psyches.

I've said very little of all that could be about this book, but there is simply not enough space to expound upon the brilliance of this book. Too, there aren't really enough adjectives - excellent, brilliant, etc - to do it justice. It's a book that should be read by all.

A Sight for Sore Eyes is one of Rendell's masterpieces. It is a piece of fiction so beautifully and impeccably crafted that it almost beggars belief to consider Rendell's craftsmanship of it. Certainly, I feel sure that any Rendell fan will treasure its beauty and beguiling intricacy, as, probably, would Teddy.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping Psychological Thriller
Review: A Sight For Sore Eyes is a tense psychological thriller which is both sensitive and shocking. It is one of my absolute favourite books and when I reread it I am always astounded again by just how good it is. The plot is fantastic and it is amazing how seemingly different parts of the plot converge so all the characters are linked and meet up. The language Rendell uses is simply beautiful and very descriptive.

The characters are believable and masterfully created. Teddy has been neglected by his parents and he grows into a cold, vicious young man who has no conscience. He could have turned into another freakish serial killer straight out of Hollywood but instead Rendell convinces us to do the impossible: actually feel sorry for him and step into his shoes. Francine is smothered by her obsessive step-mother who barely wants her to step outside their house alone. When the two meet and Teddy falls in love with Francine we know that the slide into disaster has begun. The result is, inevitably, murder.

I would recommend A Sight For Sore Eyes to anyone that has a love for psychological thrillers that delve deep into the minds of their flawed characters. I thought that the dénouement was fitting and satisfying and there is even a neat little twist about a subplot in the final pages. Overall this book is highly, highly recommended!

JoAnne

Rating:
Summary: A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES is well-developed but loses tension...
Review: A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES is one of Ruth Rendell's better books in recent years. It follows a formula that has served the author well, most notably in THE TREE OF HANDS--a few individual plot strands that ultimately converge, bringing about chaos in the process.

First there's Teddy Brex, a handsome young man born almost devoid of natural emotion, an empty young man who has come to prize beautiful objects above humans. Then there's Francine Hill, a kind and beautiful young girl who suffers severe psychological trauma after being a witness to her mother's murder. Finally there's Harriet Oxenholme, a middle-aged fading beauty who tries to keep the illusion of youth alive by seducing workers that she hires to perform odd jobs about the house.

Rendell draws the characters gradually into each other's lives logically and with consummate skill. Her writing is deep and intimate as she explores the complex minds of her characters, and also marked by wry humor in the form of social observation. A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES has that definite page-turner quality, and it has style and elegance to spare. Unfortunately, it's also too long, and for length Rendell has sacrificed much of the electric suspense that made earlier triumphs like A JUDGEMENT IN STONE so memorable. Like her disappointing THE BRIDESMAID, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES runs out of steam in the crucial final pages, which should (in a Rendell novel) be the best part. Nevertheless, the novel is still highly readable, still the work of a superior craftsman, and certainly superior to other fiction of its type. A fine read, but it won't keep you awake at night.

Rating:
Summary: Another fine example of classic English mystery from Rendell
Review: After completing the latest mystery by Ruth Rendell, you will actually feel like you have been in Orcadia Place, London. Her talent for drawing you in to the lives of her characters is unmatched in comtemporary fiction. Teddy Brex is a perfect example of the brooding, obsessive antagonist pushed over the edge by the unfortunate circumstances of his life. Rendell's focus on how money, and the lack of it, affects human life is something not covered very effectively by many American mystery writers.

Obsession is often the theme of a Rendell mystery and readers won't be disappointed here. When Teddy Brex sees Francine Hill across the room at an art gallery exhibit, he is immediately and completed transfixed, and nothing on earth is going to keep him away from her. The fact that she is sheltered and overprotected by her stepmother adds to the tension.

As the story hurtles toward its chilling and inevitable conclusion, readers will be drawn into the world of the sociopath. Edgar Allan Poe would gleefully approve.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: All of Ruth Rendell's mysteries are accomplished and absorbing. A few, like this, go beyond the boundaries of genre to rank as serious, insightful literature.

Rating:
Summary: My first Rendell book
Review: Having read all of the P.D. James books available, I've been reading the books by her friend, Ruth Rendell. This is the first one I picked up.

I enjoyed the characters, who are a strange bunch and not very likeable really, and what happened to them. The deaths that occur are not your usual murders with police investigation. In fact only one is brought to the attention of the police. The others are just disappearances of the persons, which no one follows up on, and one apparently from natural causes.

I loved the ending. It would make a good Hitchcock movie.

Rating:
Summary: Who cares about the characters? The author-perhaps too much
Review: Please Note: This "review" contains spoilers. First, a disclaimer. I didn't really read this book - I listened to its Recorded Books version, narrated by perhaps the best reader I've heard. Her assumption of the persona of each character purely by change in tone and inflection was astonishing; although Rendell's great talent is primarily responsible for drawing such complete and disturbing portraits of those who populated her novel, my view of it was shaded by the voice of another besides that of the author.

Perhaps only P.D. James rivals Rendell in the ability to use words to create atmosphere that draws the reader into so real a world one closes the book (or stops the tape, as it were), dazed as if emerging from a dark tunnel and needing some time to adjust one's eyes to the light. Upon finishing A Sight for Sore Eyes I did indeed feel dazed - and somewhat surprised to realize that I missed Teddy Brex! Like him - no, love him - no one could, not even Francine, in the end. But somehow Rendell managed to make him so real that when my life went on without him, it felt emptier with his absence. That's the true horror for me of this book - that I missed him when he was gone; in a way that neither Keith, nor Harriet, nor Julia were missed by anyone - not friends, not family, and certainly not the reader. To feel sorrow at the death of a fictional psychopath is the highest compliment to Rendell's artistry that could be paid.

Unfortunately for the power of the novel, I'm afraid Rendell got a bit too caught up in Teddy's spell, along with Francine's (a character I enjoyed rooting for in her battles with Julia yet whose story paled next to Teddy's in emotional impact). Neither Teddy nor the reader ever experiences the full horror of his deserved though awful fate - the author permits him to fall quickly comatose, thereby avoiding the terror of slow but certain death along-side the corpses he alone is responsible for creating. While irony would be wasted on Teddy, its lack wastes the opportunity the author had to provide the reader with a climactic emotional peak of appalled clarity.

As for Francine - does she realize with horrified disbelief that Teddy has killed Julia, setting her free from tyranny yet ever imprisoned by guilt? No! She never connects the dots, nor wonders why Teddy never tries to contact her again. If Julia's death hadn't been suspicious perhaps this sloppy plotting could have been overlooked, but to throw in a red herring suspect, then drop this altogether without it ever even occurring to Francine to wonder about what happened when Teddy picked her up - one wonders how both the author and her editor could have blown this so badly. And therein lies the only explanation I can muster - Rendell couldn't punish her characters any more than she had already. She became too fond of them - she let them off easy. As a reader who bcame attached to them as well, I sympathize, but by doing so, she blunted the impact of what could have been phenomenally powerful to become merely haunting. However, Rendell's "not quite best" work is still leagues past almost anyone else. This novel still haunts me, perhaps all the more so because it's forever associated for me with the smell of mulch, since I listened to it during the summer while I was outside planting flowers. Each time I walk in my yard, the scent brings back the story. I guess it always will.

Rating:
Summary: A contrived freakshow : disappointing !
Review: Ruth Rendell has kept up her immense writing skills with this great but extremely wrenching account of the tragic life of Teddy Brex and all who cross his dangerous path.

The writing is so excellent that I was continuosuly amazed at Ruth's skill in drawing one into the life of deprivation and shabbiness that Teddy experienced. Yes, I also felt some sympathy for him because of his pathetic neediness which only Francine could fulfill, despite his monstrous deeds.

If you would like to read something really different, with a very satisfying ending just preceded by an ingenious twist try "A Sight for Sore Eyes". You might end up with sore eyes reading this through the night.

Rating:
Summary: One of her best
Review: When Francine Hill listened to her mother's murder when just a small child, the shock caused her to become mute. She recovered after extensive therapy from Julia who eventually married Francine's father making her Francine's full time carer, an occupation which turned into an obsessively protective cocoon. Teddy Grez was the product of a completely non-nuturing childhood with his parents and uncle totally ignoring him, with the reult that this handsome young man became excessively slf absorbed and unable to relate to others. When the beautiful Francine met the handsome Teddy, the attraction was instantaneous and, on Teddy's part, all encompassing, with tragic and frightening results. This has been my favourite Ruth Rendell to date with all of her psycopathic characters and their bizarre compulsions terrifying to say the least!