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Going Wrong
TILL DEATH DO US JOIN...Ever since they ran with the same London teenage gang Guy Curran has loved Leonora Chisholm passionately. He was a slum kid, and her parents lived in tasteful Kensington; she went to university while he made his jet-set fortune dealing drugs and sentimental, mass-produced art--but he's always been good enough for her, and once they were lovers. Of course she'll marry him in the end--he's been calling her every day for years and buying her lunch every Saturday. Then Leonora tells him she's engaged to some pasty-faced intellectual. But Guy knows she's being brainwashed by her family and friends--from her snobbish brother and her mother with pointy silver fingernails to her so-superior feminist roommate. Leonora and he belong together...If he can't have her, he'll die--or someone else will.
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 6, 1990
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About the author
Ruth Rendell
461 books1,641 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
January 19, 2020
After an uncertain start, I found this novel rapidly grew on me, and became compelling listening (I got the audiobook).
My initial doubts were twofold. Firstly, the narrative is what I would describe as ‘third-person-first-person’ – so close to the protagonist’s thoughts as to be almost a personal diary, and I doubted this would hold my interest. Secondly, I found the male voiceover a little jarring and harsh on the ear.
But I was wrong on both counts. I omitted to allow for Ruth Rendell’s expertise in creating suspense. And, as the plot unfolded, I realised the narrator had absolutely nailed the author’s anti-hero.
It is a simple tale. Guy, approaching 30 and now a self-made man, lives in denial that his teenage sweetheart Leonora is slipping away from him (indeed, that she has long ago detached herself). Guy’s obsession is exquisitely charted, and his self-delusions cleverly nuanced.
But Guy is a dangerous man. He hails from the back streets; he made his first money through dealing drugs, and has contacts in the criminal underworld. When he becomes convinced that someone in Leonora’s family circle is poisoning her thoughts against him, he begins to lash out.
Jeopardy is never far below the surface. As Guy’s anguish intensifies, the question that grows to haunt the reader is whether Leonora will become collateral damage in his deranged mission to win her back.
My initial doubts were twofold. Firstly, the narrative is what I would describe as ‘third-person-first-person’ – so close to the protagonist’s thoughts as to be almost a personal diary, and I doubted this would hold my interest. Secondly, I found the male voiceover a little jarring and harsh on the ear.
But I was wrong on both counts. I omitted to allow for Ruth Rendell’s expertise in creating suspense. And, as the plot unfolded, I realised the narrator had absolutely nailed the author’s anti-hero.
It is a simple tale. Guy, approaching 30 and now a self-made man, lives in denial that his teenage sweetheart Leonora is slipping away from him (indeed, that she has long ago detached herself). Guy’s obsession is exquisitely charted, and his self-delusions cleverly nuanced.
But Guy is a dangerous man. He hails from the back streets; he made his first money through dealing drugs, and has contacts in the criminal underworld. When he becomes convinced that someone in Leonora’s family circle is poisoning her thoughts against him, he begins to lash out.
Jeopardy is never far below the surface. As Guy’s anguish intensifies, the question that grows to haunt the reader is whether Leonora will become collateral damage in his deranged mission to win her back.
October 3, 2016
In this book Rendell narrows her focus to one character, Guy Curran. Just as he stalks the love of his life Leonora Chisholm, Rendell seems to stalk him through the pages of her book. Curran exhibits an extreme obsession with Leonora, or rather his idea of Leonora, that reminded me of the derangement the Victorians called monomania. Rendell modulates the intensity of Curran's delusions by interspersing bits of backstory into her narrative.
When Guy and Leonora met he was 14 and she was only 11. He was a drug dealer, part of a gang of petty thugs, denizens of one of the housing estates clustered on the wrong side of Holland Park Avenue. She came from a resolutely middle class family, the kind that pride themselves on their respectability. The family lived in one of the cluster of tidy mews houses in Notting Hill. It's obvious from Guy's description that Leonora was just slumming — obvious to the reader, but not to Curran. And now? Leonora is 26, has earned a teaching certificate, is seeing a staid university graduate, and limits her contact with Guy to lunch every Saturday. These are not lavish lunches. She is a vegetarian and eats with a controlled appetite, expresses the occasional controlled smile, and insists on calling their relationship a friendship between old acquaintances. He calls her everyday (she never calls him). Could the message be any clearer?
Curran is stubborn as well as delusional: “He had to make her feel the way she used to feel about him when she passed the block of council flats where he had grown up, a few streets away in Westbourne Park....He thought stoutly, I can make her feel like that again.” (p.2) Unfortunately, Rendell's interest in Curran's deluded thinking was far greater than mine. After a few chapters in, I felt like screaming: “OK, we get the point!” As I continued to read, I hoped she might turn this book into a black-humored farce, but it soon became obvious that was not her intent, although there is a ridiculous scene when he confronts the staid boyfriend whom he learns is Leonora's fiancée. The book had the feel of a padded short-story as Rendell follows Curran from obsession to paranoia to the mindset of a sociopath.
One of the odd elements of the book was that Leonora's family disapproved of Guy more for his impoverished background than his psychological abnormality. At this point, he has accumulated quite a bit of wealth, and is no longer involved as a drug dealer. As their confrontations with him escalate, there are constant references to his lower class origins. Rendell reinforces that point with a detailed recitation of neighborhoods: Where people live, where they've moved to, where they aspire to live. These are all topics of interest to Rendell, and would probably have added interest to readers familiar with London's neighborhoods.
I read this book because I loved the large cast of characters she created in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. This was a very different sort of book. However, I am not discouraged. She was a prolific writer and worked in many literary directions.
When Guy and Leonora met he was 14 and she was only 11. He was a drug dealer, part of a gang of petty thugs, denizens of one of the housing estates clustered on the wrong side of Holland Park Avenue. She came from a resolutely middle class family, the kind that pride themselves on their respectability. The family lived in one of the cluster of tidy mews houses in Notting Hill. It's obvious from Guy's description that Leonora was just slumming — obvious to the reader, but not to Curran. And now? Leonora is 26, has earned a teaching certificate, is seeing a staid university graduate, and limits her contact with Guy to lunch every Saturday. These are not lavish lunches. She is a vegetarian and eats with a controlled appetite, expresses the occasional controlled smile, and insists on calling their relationship a friendship between old acquaintances. He calls her everyday (she never calls him). Could the message be any clearer?
Curran is stubborn as well as delusional: “He had to make her feel the way she used to feel about him when she passed the block of council flats where he had grown up, a few streets away in Westbourne Park....He thought stoutly, I can make her feel like that again.” (p.2) Unfortunately, Rendell's interest in Curran's deluded thinking was far greater than mine. After a few chapters in, I felt like screaming: “OK, we get the point!” As I continued to read, I hoped she might turn this book into a black-humored farce, but it soon became obvious that was not her intent, although there is a ridiculous scene when he confronts the staid boyfriend whom he learns is Leonora's fiancée. The book had the feel of a padded short-story as Rendell follows Curran from obsession to paranoia to the mindset of a sociopath.
One of the odd elements of the book was that Leonora's family disapproved of Guy more for his impoverished background than his psychological abnormality. At this point, he has accumulated quite a bit of wealth, and is no longer involved as a drug dealer. As their confrontations with him escalate, there are constant references to his lower class origins. Rendell reinforces that point with a detailed recitation of neighborhoods: Where people live, where they've moved to, where they aspire to live. These are all topics of interest to Rendell, and would probably have added interest to readers familiar with London's neighborhoods.
I read this book because I loved the large cast of characters she created in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. This was a very different sort of book. However, I am not discouraged. She was a prolific writer and worked in many literary directions.
July 19, 2011
For some reason, I've always tended to avoid British authors. I guess I like to stay in familiar territory, whether in real life or within the pages of a novel. But having heard great things about Rendell/Vine from a friend of mine (thanks Barbara :) I finally gave her a shot. I must confess that I almost put the book down a couple of times for future reading, but then I found myself enjoying it and decided to stick with it. It turned out to be really good!
Told in 3rd-person, Rendell brilliantly gets inside the mind of Guy as he obsesses daily over his unattainable love interest, Leonora. Guy and Leonora met as teenagers and dated throughout their younger years. At some point, she moves on, but he never does. Now in their late 20's, Guy is convinced that Leonora will come around, if only he can figure out who among her inner circle turned her against him. She tries over and over to tell him that it's not going to happen, while at the same time accepting his daily phone calls and a standing lunch "date" with him every Saturday. Guy lives in his own fantasy world and is determined that nothing will stand in their way towards eventual togetherness and bliss, especially when he learns she has taken up with a new guy.
I would call this novel more of a "psychological observance" than a thriller, though it is definitely suspenseful as you wonder when and if things are going to spiral out of control. It's also kind of humorous in parts. Guy is rich and is a snob about certain things, and he's always trying to lower himself to Leonora's level in order to get in her good favor. You will alternately pity him, understand him, and be annoyed by him. Well worth the read!! :)
Told in 3rd-person, Rendell brilliantly gets inside the mind of Guy as he obsesses daily over his unattainable love interest, Leonora. Guy and Leonora met as teenagers and dated throughout their younger years. At some point, she moves on, but he never does. Now in their late 20's, Guy is convinced that Leonora will come around, if only he can figure out who among her inner circle turned her against him. She tries over and over to tell him that it's not going to happen, while at the same time accepting his daily phone calls and a standing lunch "date" with him every Saturday. Guy lives in his own fantasy world and is determined that nothing will stand in their way towards eventual togetherness and bliss, especially when he learns she has taken up with a new guy.
I would call this novel more of a "psychological observance" than a thriller, though it is definitely suspenseful as you wonder when and if things are going to spiral out of control. It's also kind of humorous in parts. Guy is rich and is a snob about certain things, and he's always trying to lower himself to Leonora's level in order to get in her good favor. You will alternately pity him, understand him, and be annoyed by him. Well worth the read!! :)
January 2, 2024
I've not read much of Ruth Rendell but this must be very different to her usual crime writing. A strange but compelling book about one man's lifelong obsession with his teenage sweetheart, it builds up slowly to an unexpected conclusion.
June 28, 2010
Guy Curren has been in love with Leonora Chisholm since they were joint-sharing teenagers. They come from different sides of the tracks but as young teenagers believe they will be together forever. Leonora grows up and grows away from Guy, but Guy is never able to let go of the belief that they are destined for each other. Leonora continues to meet Guy for lunch every Saturday and he phones her every day.
Guy has made good and is a wealthy man but he is unable to shake of his sense that he is not considered good enough for Leonora. He is unable to see that he in some ways has created his own misery and it forever looking for reasons and excuses for Leonora’s movement away from him.
At the beginning of the book it is easy to think Guy is a sad, crazy man obsessed with a woman who is quite clearly no longer interested in him. Her engagement and rapidly approaching wedding to another man creates a dark and disturbing reality within Guy’s mind. Through careful construction, Rendell makes the twisted leaps of logic Guy makes seem almost plausible; and certainly completely reasonable to him.
Guy Curren is a sad character trapped in his own fantasy which Leonora at first seems to tolerate. Rendell manages to create a delicate shift in the sympathy of the reader; Leonora, with the help of Guy’s lover, Celeste’s comments begins to seem manipulative and controlling of Guy and his endless love for her.
I stopped feeling sorry for her as the innocent victim of an obsessive love and started to see her just as needy of Guy and he is of her.
Love is a power emotion and can lead people to irrational acts. Rendell’s message seems to be that we have to treat those who love us, and those we love with respect and integrity. If we don’t, payment is exacted.
In Rendell’s dark way this book looks at love and how it alters forever both those who love and those who are loved. The real tragedy of the book comes in the final few paragraphs when actions committed out of a twisted sense of love permanently and detrimentally affect people beyond the scope of the main story.
A gripping, dark novel which will have the reader’s alliances shift throughout.
Guy has made good and is a wealthy man but he is unable to shake of his sense that he is not considered good enough for Leonora. He is unable to see that he in some ways has created his own misery and it forever looking for reasons and excuses for Leonora’s movement away from him.
At the beginning of the book it is easy to think Guy is a sad, crazy man obsessed with a woman who is quite clearly no longer interested in him. Her engagement and rapidly approaching wedding to another man creates a dark and disturbing reality within Guy’s mind. Through careful construction, Rendell makes the twisted leaps of logic Guy makes seem almost plausible; and certainly completely reasonable to him.
Guy Curren is a sad character trapped in his own fantasy which Leonora at first seems to tolerate. Rendell manages to create a delicate shift in the sympathy of the reader; Leonora, with the help of Guy’s lover, Celeste’s comments begins to seem manipulative and controlling of Guy and his endless love for her.
I stopped feeling sorry for her as the innocent victim of an obsessive love and started to see her just as needy of Guy and he is of her.
Love is a power emotion and can lead people to irrational acts. Rendell’s message seems to be that we have to treat those who love us, and those we love with respect and integrity. If we don’t, payment is exacted.
In Rendell’s dark way this book looks at love and how it alters forever both those who love and those who are loved. The real tragedy of the book comes in the final few paragraphs when actions committed out of a twisted sense of love permanently and detrimentally affect people beyond the scope of the main story.
A gripping, dark novel which will have the reader’s alliances shift throughout.
June 17, 2018
Rendell did well here to start slow and then build up the pace to come to a slightly unexpected finale.
This is the story of an obsessive love of a hoodlum gangster turned entrepreneur, albeit with shady dealings, towards a young middle class girl from a normal family, who had initially been his girl friend.
The lady , Leonora wants nothing more to do with him, has a steady and decent boyfriend whom she is going to marry. Guy, the hoodlum is not ready to accept that Leo loves anybody else and thinks she is still in love with him. He stalks her and makes her emotionally labile. William, her fiance and her huge extended family rally around her and this becomes a game of wits which turn nasty towards the end.
The end was not what I expected and Rendell managed a slight twist to her usual ending.
This is the story of an obsessive love of a hoodlum gangster turned entrepreneur, albeit with shady dealings, towards a young middle class girl from a normal family, who had initially been his girl friend.
The lady , Leonora wants nothing more to do with him, has a steady and decent boyfriend whom she is going to marry. Guy, the hoodlum is not ready to accept that Leo loves anybody else and thinks she is still in love with him. He stalks her and makes her emotionally labile. William, her fiance and her huge extended family rally around her and this becomes a game of wits which turn nasty towards the end.
The end was not what I expected and Rendell managed a slight twist to her usual ending.
October 26, 2011
So when is obession not obession? And how many of the British are snobs? Read this. This is a great book that deals with shifts in belief and trust. It is at once complex and simple. Totally enjoyable.
November 16, 2020
This 1991 Ruth Rendell is suspenseful, laugh-out-loud funny, odd, tricky, paranoid, sad. A man is obsessed with an ex-girlfriend. Sound simple? Maybe. Done before? Plenty of times, but never, I would bet, with such skill and imagination.
July 15, 2020
Again I immersed myself in one of Rendell's arcane novels and read through it rapidly. As usual, she had found a subject seeking her attention. This particular person was Guy Curran, handsome, debonair and very wealthy.His financial gains originally came from the “drug trade”, but he wisely shed that occupation and earned his way by other somewhat shady means. Also bothersome about him was his narcissism and his idea that his taste was impeccable and admired by “important people”.
The most important aspect regarding Guy was that he was madly in love with Lenore. His feelings, thoughts and actions revolved around her constantly. This had become a serious obsession and anyone or anything that stood in his way fed into his severe paranoia. This is the crux of the novel.
I will not report anything further here, but leave it to the reader's opinion. One complaint was that at times the story became repetitious. Also, although I have traveled to England, the constant naming of streets in and around London were confusing. Nevertheless, despite all of this, tension built slowly but surely, until the final pages and the final sentence delivered the crucial blow!
The most important aspect regarding Guy was that he was madly in love with Lenore. His feelings, thoughts and actions revolved around her constantly. This had become a serious obsession and anyone or anything that stood in his way fed into his severe paranoia. This is the crux of the novel.
I will not report anything further here, but leave it to the reader's opinion. One complaint was that at times the story became repetitious. Also, although I have traveled to England, the constant naming of streets in and around London were confusing. Nevertheless, despite all of this, tension built slowly but surely, until the final pages and the final sentence delivered the crucial blow!
January 1, 2013
I read this on our travels back home yesterday. As I started the first chapter I realised that I knew this story. I've never read the book before, but I remember seeing this on the television a lot of years ago. I remembered the bit about the swords, and also what the girlfriend, Celeste, had said to him at the end of the story.
It's about obsession and unrequitted love... if love is the right word as Guy is so keen for Leonora never to really know about his past and all the things he gets up to. Guy and Leonora have know each other since their early teens (They're now kicking on 30). They went out together briefly in their teens, and since then have just been platonic. Except Guy thinks they're still madly in love and destined to be together. He rings her every day, plagues her family and friends to check where she is, and has lunch with her every Saturday - a suggestion that she set up many years ago. Her family and friends can't stand him and find this intrusion into their lives more than annoying. Leonora's now getting married, but Guy won't have it and is determined they will be together.
It's a good portrayal of obsession, although it does grow a little tiresome, so I don't feel like it's one of her best. And yes, Guy is an obsession nutcase, he's not a nice person. He's new rich, having built his empire on less than legal business practices, and is now showy with his money. There is little to like about him. But as far as Leonora is concerned, I feel no sympathy for her what so ever. This has been going on for fifteen years. If she really wanted to break from him she would have told him to sod off long ago. If she really cared for him in anyway, she would have told him to sod off so he could get on with his own life. And if she was really scared of him, she could have brought in the police. But instead she keeps stringing him along for fifteen years as a security net and an ego boost for herself; her family making out that she is the victim and she's too soft on him. Sorry, I don't buy that, I'm with his other girlfriend, Celeste, on that one - Leonora has been using him all these years.
It's about obsession and unrequitted love... if love is the right word as Guy is so keen for Leonora never to really know about his past and all the things he gets up to. Guy and Leonora have know each other since their early teens (They're now kicking on 30). They went out together briefly in their teens, and since then have just been platonic. Except Guy thinks they're still madly in love and destined to be together. He rings her every day, plagues her family and friends to check where she is, and has lunch with her every Saturday - a suggestion that she set up many years ago. Her family and friends can't stand him and find this intrusion into their lives more than annoying. Leonora's now getting married, but Guy won't have it and is determined they will be together.
It's a good portrayal of obsession, although it does grow a little tiresome, so I don't feel like it's one of her best. And yes, Guy is an obsession nutcase, he's not a nice person. He's new rich, having built his empire on less than legal business practices, and is now showy with his money. There is little to like about him. But as far as Leonora is concerned, I feel no sympathy for her what so ever. This has been going on for fifteen years. If she really wanted to break from him she would have told him to sod off long ago. If she really cared for him in anyway, she would have told him to sod off so he could get on with his own life. And if she was really scared of him, she could have brought in the police. But instead she keeps stringing him along for fifteen years as a security net and an ego boost for herself; her family making out that she is the victim and she's too soft on him. Sorry, I don't buy that, I'm with his other girlfriend, Celeste, on that one - Leonora has been using him all these years.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2021
After reading one or two Ruth Rendell novels, a savvy literary consumer trusts whatever narrative direction the master takes while she stretches craven characters beyond their limits in ratcheting suspense. At the start of Going Wrong, several failings of human nature are lurching toward an inevitable, fully avoidable fateful outcome. The descent into delusion is experienced exclusively through the perspective of one character, a fanatically doomed love addict. He is a London gangster risen from the lower classes to a derided financial elevation. Fifty pages in, a skittish reader might wonder, Where are Rendell’s effortless shifts in voice and point of view? Why does Rendell not communicate her twisted reality through the eyes and chatter of the so-called good people orbiting the fatally enamored central bad man? Don’t doubt the author’s hand. Momentum builds, a breadcrumb drops, an identity is inserted to be mistaken for another, an epiphany and a transformation arrive all at once, positioning the main flawed character for a life going forward with meaning and love, and above all redemption. Remember the breadcrumb? It coughs back up to choke out a classic Rendell acceleration of misfortune. Don’t worry along the way; nothing turns out right in Going Wrong.
December 19, 2010
I applaud Ms. Rendell's efforts to delve into people's psyches. In general, people are disturbing. Their ability to rationalize events in a fashion that is amenable to them is downright creepy. We either know someone or have been that someone who has experienced that temporary bit of insanity when a relationship is over and both parties are not on the same footing. At first, I thought Guy took it to a new level, but the genius of Ms. Rendell's writing is that she has brought to life a character that could be very much real. It is not that fantastical.
It was enjoyable to watch the psychopath's mind unfold as the story was told. I thought Ms. Rendell brought the story to a close, but the ending of the book was a bit abrupt and, quite frankly, weak. She had a lot of material that she could have worked with to end the story, but I think she had become bored by that point. I would have rated the book higher had the ending been better written.
It was enjoyable to watch the psychopath's mind unfold as the story was told. I thought Ms. Rendell brought the story to a close, but the ending of the book was a bit abrupt and, quite frankly, weak. She had a lot of material that she could have worked with to end the story, but I think she had become bored by that point. I would have rated the book higher had the ending been better written.
September 4, 2011
And you think you've got problems with your ex.
July 16, 2020
Pretty damn good. Not flawless, but top rank.
March 25, 2021
Words can hardly describe the awfulness of this “mystery” : an awfully feeble plot, awfully flimsy characters, awfully stilted dialogue, an awful lack of suspense and an awful waste of time.
May 16, 2022
I found this utterly compelling. Brilliant narration of the audiobook done by Dermot Crowley.
December 29, 2023
Not a fun book to read. But it was done well.
Guy Curran is an obsessed, delusional near-stalker (except that his target never discourages his daily phone calls and weekly lunch dates). He was a criminal (dealing drugs and working protection rackets) in his younger days, and now he’s a schlockmeister filling British homes with kitschy, phony art. He grew up very poor with a mother who didn’t care about him, so of course he’s materialistic and emotionally stunted. He thinks women should be a bit silly and mad about shopping, and give love and sex in exchange for having money spent on them. His ex-girlfriend Leonora (three years younger, so their relationship wasn’t “legal” at the beginning) is a progressive, feminist, vegetarian, tasteful intellectual who despises his ersatz “art” and doesn’t value all his wealth and possessions and expensive clothes at all. Her mother is a hateful snob. Being American, I particularly loathe snobs like this.
Guy Curran’s mind is not a pleasant place to be for a whole novel. He reminded me of Twiggy’s boyfriend-manager, Justin de Villeneuve (real name Nigel Davies), with his past, his values, and his good looks. But unlike Justin, Guy doesn’t change his name, and he can truly love. Not healthily, but still, he has a romantic heart, damaged as it may be.
Guy Curran is an obsessed, delusional near-stalker (except that his target never discourages his daily phone calls and weekly lunch dates). He was a criminal (dealing drugs and working protection rackets) in his younger days, and now he’s a schlockmeister filling British homes with kitschy, phony art. He grew up very poor with a mother who didn’t care about him, so of course he’s materialistic and emotionally stunted. He thinks women should be a bit silly and mad about shopping, and give love and sex in exchange for having money spent on them. His ex-girlfriend Leonora (three years younger, so their relationship wasn’t “legal” at the beginning) is a progressive, feminist, vegetarian, tasteful intellectual who despises his ersatz “art” and doesn’t value all his wealth and possessions and expensive clothes at all. Her mother is a hateful snob. Being American, I particularly loathe snobs like this.
Guy Curran’s mind is not a pleasant place to be for a whole novel. He reminded me of Twiggy’s boyfriend-manager, Justin de Villeneuve (real name Nigel Davies), with his past, his values, and his good looks. But unlike Justin, Guy doesn’t change his name, and he can truly love. Not healthily, but still, he has a romantic heart, damaged as it may be.
April 18, 2017
A study of obsession. Everything seen from the point of view of Guy Curran, good-looking, rich, young, ex-drug dealer and ex-gang member. He is a flawed character to say the least. His obsessional unrequited passion for his first love, a girl from a different social class who used to hang out with him and his friends and join in their shoplifting sprees as young teenagers, is both unpleasantly controlling and in his case mystifying as he does have a beautiful girlfriend of his own, Celeste, who is much more suitable for him. Leonora, the middle class vegetarian teacher, is not 100% innocent: she has agreed to meet him every Saturday for lunch, and lets him phone her every day, so she has kept him on a string to some extent. Her friends and family appear to Guy to surround and protect her, which you as the reader think might to be a part of his paranoid obsession but which turns out to be true. Leonora's mother talks sense one minute but reveals dreadful snobbery the next. The setting is mainly Notting Hill, which is an area of great social contrasts, and the year is 1989, with many recognisable aspects of 1980s London on view. (In fact one of Guy's legitimate business interests is rather like something done by a more famous financier in his youth at this period). Almost every part of the way the events play out would not be possible in the age of mobile phones, which adds to the sense of the time. Very good.
December 22, 2023
A book about one man's obsession for someone he is constantly fantasising about who he puts on a pedestal unable to see how unsuited they are as a couple although it's perfectly plain to everyone else in their circle. His obsession leads him down a dangerous and very deluded path, but I couldn't understand Leonora meeting up with him and leading him to hope he will win her and not being clear she was about to marry someone else. She wasn't perhaps the nicest person I far preferred the devoted (why)? Celeste.
The characters weren't very likeable and I didn't empathise with any of them, but here and there, I felt a bit sorry for deluded Guy.although the way he constantly stalked Leonora got on my nerves, that and the drinking which must surely have addled his brain.
It was actually a bit of a slow read and quite repetitive, not wildly exciting or entertaining. It was okay, but it was not a huge hit for me. Never read Ruth Rendell before. I'm not sure I'd leap to read another of her books, but we will see.
The characters weren't very likeable and I didn't empathise with any of them, but here and there, I felt a bit sorry for deluded Guy.although the way he constantly stalked Leonora got on my nerves, that and the drinking which must surely have addled his brain.
It was actually a bit of a slow read and quite repetitive, not wildly exciting or entertaining. It was okay, but it was not a huge hit for me. Never read Ruth Rendell before. I'm not sure I'd leap to read another of her books, but we will see.
July 18, 2014
I was kind of disappointed in this book, given my love for the writing of Ruth Rendell. It is the story of Guy Curran, a former drug dealer/street hood who gives up the thug life after giving LSD to a man who dies after taking it. Guy does not quit that life before amassing a fortune, however.
He carries a torch for Leonora who was his girlfriend when she was a child but who is now engaged to another man. Leonora does, however, allow Guy to meet her for lunch every Saturday and she strings him along in other ways, as well. The book has a large cast of unlikeable characters and seems to plod on and on without actually arriving anywhere. The ending is ironic but not terribly surprising.
Rendell still has a way with words and does the best she can to keep the story moving so I stuck with it until the bitter end.
He carries a torch for Leonora who was his girlfriend when she was a child but who is now engaged to another man. Leonora does, however, allow Guy to meet her for lunch every Saturday and she strings him along in other ways, as well. The book has a large cast of unlikeable characters and seems to plod on and on without actually arriving anywhere. The ending is ironic but not terribly surprising.
Rendell still has a way with words and does the best she can to keep the story moving so I stuck with it until the bitter end.
April 13, 2012
I had expected much more of this book. For one thing, I had expected a mystery, because I thought that was her main genre and the edition I have does say "a novel of suspense" under the title. But even putting that aside, I found the book very unsatisfactory. It is hard to explain exactly what I don't like about it. None of the characters are very appealing.
I've read books with unreliable narrators before and have no problem with them. But this is something else. How is the reader supposed to know whether the narrator is unreliable or whether other people are? It seems a lot like it's the other people. Mostly nothing happens and even when things do (when he sets a hit man to work), I knew how it would go wrong long before it happened.
I've read books with unreliable narrators before and have no problem with them. But this is something else. How is the reader supposed to know whether the narrator is unreliable or whether other people are? It seems a lot like it's the other people. Mostly nothing happens and even when things do (when he sets a hit man to work), I knew how it would go wrong long before it happened.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2021
This book is sort of a cross between Romeo and Juliet meets The Talented Mr. Ripley, or so I thought. Rendell pulled a fast one on me obviously. I know I'm weird, but I actually was rooting for Guy to get the girl. Like Tom Ripley, he was dangerous, yet likeable. The duel section was hysterically funny. Rendell was such a versatile and original writer, which is sadly lacking in a lot of the current best sellers.
July 24, 2014
Guy Curran is still obsessed by his teenage sweetheart Leonora, they only have lunch on a Saturday daily phone calls initiated by him. He believes that one day she will be his wife, even when she says she is engaged to be married. Guy thinks there is a conspiracy against him, is he mad or bad?
Another wonderful Ruth Rendell novel.
Another wonderful Ruth Rendell novel.
January 26, 2018
DNF.
The Main character is terrible. I know he's supposed to be like that but still i couldn't get past it. The Women he's stalking was not very likeable either. Also i didn't really the writing style. So clearly this wasn't for me! I put it away after 120 pages.
The Main character is terrible. I know he's supposed to be like that but still i couldn't get past it. The Women he's stalking was not very likeable either. Also i didn't really the writing style. So clearly this wasn't for me! I put it away after 120 pages.
June 8, 2023
My favorite Rendell read
A tour de force description of someone obsessed, someone who won't see reason or reality. Yet he is oddly sympathetic. You like him very much and are sad when he gets in trouble. A wonderful book.
A tour de force description of someone obsessed, someone who won't see reason or reality. Yet he is oddly sympathetic. You like him very much and are sad when he gets in trouble. A wonderful book.
May 7, 2016
not up to her usual standard
May 23, 2019
DNF. uggg, just couldn't do it. So boring.
April 6, 2014
It filled in a wet Sunday
September 24, 2019
Mmmm … ik ga mijn (voor)oordeel over Ruth Rendell toch serieus moeten bijstellen. Dit is nu al het tweede boek dat ik van haar lees en ook hier is het niet echt een misdaadverhaal (zie ook “De prinses”, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
Hier vertelt Rendell het verhaal van Guy Curren, een voormalig boefje die nu min of meer ondernemer is (maar nog niet echt volledig legaal opereert). In zijn jonge jaren had hij een relatie met Leonora. Die relatie is al enkele jaren verbroken door Leonora maar Guy is nog steeds hopeloos verliefd op haar en hoopt haar terug te kunnen winnen en uiteindelijk met haar te trouwen. Zijn liefde is zeer obsessief: hij stalkt haar, spreekt nog regelmatig met haar af, denkt heel de tijd aan haar, zit heel de tijd na te denken over wie van haar familie en vrienden schuld heeft aan hun breuk en fantaseert over hoe hij die schuldige dan zou kunnen liquideren.
Rendell begint traag en verhoogt het leestempo naarmate het verhaal vordert om dan te eindigen met, ja toch wel, een onverwacht einde.
Heel het verhaal wordt vanuit het standpunt van Guy verteld waardoor ik aanvankelijk nog wat sympathie voor hem kon voelen. Maar van zodra het duidelijk wordt dat zijn gedrag niet meer normaal is vermindert dat al snel.
Ook mijn gevoelens ten opzichte van Leonora zijn dubbelzinnig: aanvankelijk denk je dat ze uit sympathie of om “wat ooit geweest is” met Guy blijft afspreken maar uiteindelijk besef je als lezer dat er meer achter zit.
Dus alhoewel ik een rechttoe-rechtaan whodunit verwachtte heb ik toch wel genoten van dit verhaal.
Hier vertelt Rendell het verhaal van Guy Curren, een voormalig boefje die nu min of meer ondernemer is (maar nog niet echt volledig legaal opereert). In zijn jonge jaren had hij een relatie met Leonora. Die relatie is al enkele jaren verbroken door Leonora maar Guy is nog steeds hopeloos verliefd op haar en hoopt haar terug te kunnen winnen en uiteindelijk met haar te trouwen. Zijn liefde is zeer obsessief: hij stalkt haar, spreekt nog regelmatig met haar af, denkt heel de tijd aan haar, zit heel de tijd na te denken over wie van haar familie en vrienden schuld heeft aan hun breuk en fantaseert over hoe hij die schuldige dan zou kunnen liquideren.
Rendell begint traag en verhoogt het leestempo naarmate het verhaal vordert om dan te eindigen met, ja toch wel, een onverwacht einde.
Heel het verhaal wordt vanuit het standpunt van Guy verteld waardoor ik aanvankelijk nog wat sympathie voor hem kon voelen. Maar van zodra het duidelijk wordt dat zijn gedrag niet meer normaal is vermindert dat al snel.
Ook mijn gevoelens ten opzichte van Leonora zijn dubbelzinnig: aanvankelijk denk je dat ze uit sympathie of om “wat ooit geweest is” met Guy blijft afspreken maar uiteindelijk besef je als lezer dat er meer achter zit.
Dus alhoewel ik een rechttoe-rechtaan whodunit verwachtte heb ik toch wel genoten van dit verhaal.
March 5, 2026
So, yeah, Heathcliff whom Catherine in Wuthering Hts referred to when proclaiming, "Nelly, I AM Heathcliffe!" was obsessed with his boyhood girlfriend but that's where the similarities to this novel ends. I only completed this repetitive, boring book because Ruth Rendell can write outstanding thrillers that excel in suspense but reading this offering of hers was wasted time for me.
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