Rating: 
Summary: A Thin Line Between Love and Obsession
Review: This is one of the best dark novels I have read in quite a while. And I love its recurring theme: second chances. After his ex-girlfriend loses her memory, Jonathan takes advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity: Hazel does not remember the loathsome experiences she had with him, and so he devotes his life to her and tries to wipe away the blunder in their past. Obsessed, Jonathan has turned Hazel into a prisoner in his home -- he is afraid of losing her. While Jonathan rewrites their history, an American roofer and an unsuccessful actress cross Jonathan's path -- each of them haunted by unpleasant memories they would rather forget. There are many disturbing scenes in this novel, especially the one in which Jonathan rapes Hazel while she's having a seizure. Margot Livesey's voice is absolutely exquisite -- she has written a wonderful novel filled with dark humor. Also, I love the backdrop of London in the story. I highly recommend this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Far from harmless
Review: What a strange piece of luck a snowy night in north London is for Jonathan, the deeply obsessive lover in Margot Livesey's "The Missing World." A car skids and knocks down Hazel, his estranged girlfriend. He finds her almost comatose and rushes her to hospital. Lo and behold, by the time she regains consciousness, days later, she has completely forgotten how utterly she loathed the man-and the good reasons she had for her loathing. "A new beginning." he thinks and whisks her back home again. Hazel continues to suffer debilitating seizures and Jonathan envelops her in suffocating solicitude. She is grateful, but the reader knows she's in for a rough passage. So begins a keenly heard, beautifully crafted, but ultimately very odd novel. Livesey has been compared to Patricia Highsmith, but to me, the better match would be Jane Smiley. The story unfolds with such frank and cheery ordinariness and stays always within bounds of trendy, but entirely plausible behavior. Yet surreal and menacing strains appear almost at once. In a common suspense novel, guns might be drawn to create drama or characters might be threatened by tough-guy hoodlums. In "The Missing World," Charlotte, an out-of-work actress, finds herself abruptly chucked onto the street by a fickle sister. To Livesey's enduring credit, being homeless in winter London is made every bit as frightening as a set of brass knuckles. But the central vulnerability continues to be beautiful Hazel. Turn by turn, we follow two characters who become drawn into her needy arc. Freddie the roofer finds himself newly energized by a desire to save her. Charlotte is willing to help, but wants to save herself. There are passages of breathtaking treachery and a net seems to draw tight. Ultimately, we get a climax of mild action and escape. But then the lens draws back and we realize that perhaps we don't yet understand this novel after all. In a way, this novel might itself be a sort of seizure. It arises mysteriously and releases storms of energy. Thoroughly eccentric, but completely convincing characters are drawn into brief constellation. Meaningless rituals are enacted with total conviction. And at the heart of the obsession are the bees, humming and rubbing in their winter hive. Finally, just as mysteriously, the events exhaust themselves and the novel, quite literally, collapses onto a couch. Or perhaps the parallel is "Midsummer Night's Dream," which is quoted at several points. "Missing World" has similar viscous jealousies and transporting slumbers. Characters make fools of themselves for love. Ultimately, they awaken and can recall neither the love nor the peril. Only a sense of loss and longing remains. The result is comic, but far from harmless
Rating: 
Summary: I Must Be Missing Something
Review: When I picked up this book, I expected something along the lines of See Jane Run by Joy Fielding, a nice little thriller about a woman who has amnesia. Well, The Missing World is nothing like that. It does have a plot of sorts, but rather than a swiftly running stream,you have streamlets that wander, then merge, then split again.
The reason I enjoyed the book so much was the very diverse characters who Livesey develops. We see these people in their moments of weakness & strength. Sometimes we glimpse them like Mr Early--through a window with no sound to give a clue. Sometimes it is very close, as with Freddy when he suffers from the demons of his past. Each character has a role to play in Hazel's recuperation.
The revelations that come fitfully are maddening in their imcompleteness. Does anybody know the whole story? Does anybody want Hazel to recover & be her own person again? No, the story doesn't have a "happy" resolution, but it is an intriguing book which can be re-read for missed clues & the pleasure of good writing. And how many books can you say that about?
I will be looking for more of Margot Livesey's books.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected, but better
Review: When I picked up this book, I expected something along the lines of See Jane Run by Joy Fielding, a nice little thriller about a woman who has amnesia. Well, The Missing World is nothing like that. It does have a plot of sorts, but rather than a swiftly running stream,you have streamlets that wander, then merge, then split again.
The reason I enjoyed the book so much was the very diverse characters who Livesey develops. We see these people in their moments of weakness & strength. Sometimes we glimpse them like Mr Early--through a window with no sound to give a clue. Sometimes it is very close, as with Freddy when he suffers from the demons of his past. Each character has a role to play in Hazel's recuperation.
The revelations that come fitfully are maddening in their imcompleteness. Does anybody know the whole story? Does anybody want Hazel to recover & be her own person again? No, the story doesn't have a "happy" resolution, but it is an intriguing book which can be re-read for missed clues & the pleasure of good writing. And how many books can you say that about?
I will be looking for more of Margot Livesey's books.
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