Il peccato

by Josephine Hart, Vincenzo Mantovani (Translator)

Ruth, l'io narrante del romanzo, è un mostro di freddezza. Cova da sempre un cupo rancore verso Elizabeth, cugina rimasta orfana a nove mesi e adottata dai suoi genitori, considerata da lei usurpatrice di affetti familiari. Ruth si vota alla sua distruzione: come da bambina le rubava i giocattoli, da grande cerca di ammaliare i suoi uomini.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels, Irish Literature, Thriller, Contemporary, British Literature

155 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1992

About the author

Josephine Hart was born and educated in Ireland. She was a director of Haymarket Publishing, in London, before going on to produce a number of West End plays, including The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorea, The Vortex by Noel Coward, and The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch. She was married to Maurice Saatchi and had two sons. She was the author of Damage. Hart died, aged 69, of ovarian cancer in June 2011.

Reviews

[Jenn(ifer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Sin.’ An unfortunate title for a novel, don’t you think? It brings to mind sad little paperback romance novels or soft porn fictions marketed to women looking for a little titillation (not that I would know anything about that). Josephine Hart’s ‘Sin’ is not pornographic nor is it romantic; it is ruthless. It’s about all of the horrible things that we do to each other out of envy or boredom or desire. “Nothing prepared me for my hungers, which, if not assuaged, would surely devour me.”

This book delves deep into the mind of a beautiful young woman (Ruth) who has everything anyone could possibly wish for. But her obsession with ruining her sister’s life proves to be her downfall. She will stop at nothing to take away any small happiness, including doing the unthinkable. Is it my fault that I do not love where I am loved? That I accepted the gift I should have rejected?

I hated the moments where I found myself reading Ruth’s thoughts and finding myself in some small way relating to them. Hart takes a magnifying glass to all of our ugly parts and dares us to look closer.

[Michela De Bartolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ruth ha un'ossessione: Elizabeth, la cugina che i suoi genitori hanno adottato prima della sua nascita, ed è colpevole di un peccato originale, quello di averle rubato il ruolo di primogenita.
Afflitta da un senso primordiale di possesso, per tutta la vita Ruth studierà Elizabeth, cercando di cogliere la chiave dell'essenza di colei che le ha rubato il posto da protagonista nell'universo familiare.
Perchè Ruth vuole sempre essere al centro dell’attenzione , sensuale, affamata di vita e di passioni, dotata di grande carisma e di un'intelligenza fredda e calcolatrice.
Per questo motivo non riesce a capire chi preferisce l'eterea, quasi sbiadita Elizabeth, un’anima cheta che passa attraverso la vita con la gentilezza , mentre Ruth è l'uragano. Nel desiderio di possederla e di annullarla, Ruth deruba Elizabeth costantemente: dapprima, quando sono ancora bambine, di semplici giochi; ma con il procedere dell'età la posta in gioco si alza sempre più, e a essere oggetto di tentativo di furto sono le persone stesse.
La trama mi sembrava davvero molto interessante, peccato , che sia stata sviluppata in modo superficiale con dialoghi privi di logica .

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I believe now that I was exposed too early to goodness and that I never recovered.”

Sin by Josephine Hart


I read this after reading "Damage" by same author. This book was also great. Another novella, it contains the same tragic, searing prose as Damage.

This book is about the sin of envy. The main characters are Ruth and Elizabeth, two sisters. Elizabeth is almost..perfect. She has no malice in here, not one drop of craftiness or evil, not even cattiness. There is something innocent and untouched about Elizabeth and maybe that is why Ruth, her sister hates her so much.

Ruth is an empty shell. She is the opposite of Elizabeth. She is joyless. Her only motivation in life..the only thing that gives her even a slight feeling of ..well..something..is ruining Elizabeth's life. Taking Elizabeth's things. Anything that belongs to Elizabeth Ruth must have. She is a woman possessed and her possession lies in her need to totally and completely destroy Elizabeth.

As with Damage, Ruth's selfish desires cause events to spiral out of control leading inevitably to tragedy.

While not as great as Damage, Sin is still a fantastic read. Like with Damage it is a novella and can be read quickly. And like with Damage, this intense litle fire cracker of a book will linger long after you read the last page.

[Nood-Lesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pecca, pecca, peccatore

Amelie aveva scritto della gelosia fra madre e figlia, Josephine mette in scena quella fra sorellastre, lasciando che sia la perfida Ruth a raccontarla. Ruth sta Elizabeth come Iriza Legan stava a Candy Andrew. Invece che nella casa di Pony, siamo nella casa dei Baathus che hanno adottato Elizabeth dopo la morte dei suoi genitori in un incidente stradale. Ruth non è ancora nata, quando verrà alla luce, la sorellastra diventerà l’ossessione che attraverserà un romanzo la cui frase migliore è scritta nel prologo:

Esistono molti modi di avere un'infanzia poco felice: Uno di essi consiste nell'essere troppo fortunati

Stiamo parlando di una famiglia dell’alta borghesia inglese con vari possedimenti, la casa che hanno in campagna è di SuperPony, ma non basta, niente basta quando pensi che qualcuno abbia avuto ciò che sarebbe spettato a te soltanto. Candy è di una bontà squisita e questo inasprisce l’odio di Iriza, determinata a sottrarle tutto il possibile. Quando sono piccole le ruba i vestiti, appena crescono si ripassa i suoi fidanzati, mantenendo l’atteggiamento ambiguo dell’invidiosa che odia e ama allo stesso tempo la sua ossessione, che sostanzialmente vorrebbe incarnarla.
Questo è un libro che diventa ad ogni pagina più improbabile, la protagonista ad un certo punto pare non sappia più cosa raccontarci perché ci rassegniamo a considerarla cattivissima e allora vira sulla perversione, perché un vero cattivo deve essere anche perverso.

«Era indispensabile riflettere, Ruth. Queste sono cose solenni.»
«E noi ne abbiamo la piena coscienza. Ma forse non più… pieno consenso.»
«Cosa?»
«Oh, è una definizione. Del peccato.»

Chi parla? Chi risponde? Il libro trabocca di dialoghi come questo che costringono a tornare indietro per cercare di attribuire le battute a chi le ha recitate. Chi ha dato una definizione del peccato, Ruth o l’interlocutore?
Non succede di solito che i malvagi vengano puniti per le loro azioni riprovevoli? Non è ciò che ci aspettiamo dalla giustizia divina? È il genere di romanzo alla Mc Grath, interamente costruito, brutto senz’anima, per colonna sonora non si può permettere neppure Cocciante.
Più o meno a metà ci sono le pagelle dei figli delle due sorellastre con giudizio analitico e comparato. Quasi ho rimpianto la lista dei detersivi suddivisi per destinazione d’uso del vichingo Karl Ove Knausgård, che almeno era coerentemente prolisso; ma se scrivi un libro di 150 pagine, fatto di frasi paratattiche e discorsi diretti di cui è difficile stabilire la paternità, perché metterci dentro quattro pagine di pagelle?
Se leggerete il libro avrete la risposta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MkTQ...

[Dawnelle Wilkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josephine Hart's "Sin" was the most inconsistent and frustrating book I've read in a long time. Brilliantly spare and concise, Hart's prose was (at times) surprisingly good. She drops these perfect little phrases throughout the text but she won't let them lie! For lack of a better term, she doesn't "leave the power with the punch." I found myself wanting to smack her and yell "WHY?! Why did you keep going? Leave it alone. If was perfect the way it was." The text becomes an aggravating pattern of tiny explosive phrases intermixed with these purple prose-y unnecessary expository crap.

But while the writer-me was gritting my teeth through page after frustrating page, the therapist-me was wiggling with excitement at the best literary depiction of antisocial personality disorder I have ever read. In Ruth, Hart has created character that is both relatable and completely alien. The reader identifies with her jealousy, her rage, her desire to destroy the epitome of what she is not and can not have. But her nearly complete lack of empathy and feeling towards her "family" is disturbing and, to most people, hopelessly depressing.

From a clinical point of view Hart's novel is nearly perfect. From a literary point of view (and one must necessarily judge all fiction from this point of view) Hart's novel fails. Not miserably but it still fails.

It's not successful.

At all.

[Yeah, I did that on purpose.]

[N. Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author is just not for me. After being disappointed with Damage I thought I'd give her a second chance. If you see my review of the first book, you might wonder how similar this review is to my review for Damage. That's because Sin just seems to be a repackaging of that first novel, with a few gender changes and plot re-arrangements. Stories of deep, dark emotion, without the depth required for satisfying character development. Adulterous affairs that lack passion, sex without intimacy, and the writer's clumsiness at handling tragic death, which in both novels is (unintentionally) reduced to trivial events. It seems Ms Hart has trouble writing these death scenes, and her attempts at this appear sophomoric.

I find her prose bordering on pretentious, again with an imagery that I find esoteric, even affected.
"But what blinds us to our unpredictable past?"
The incongruous juxtaposition of 'unpredictable' and 'past' risks stopping the reader in his/her tracks. It did to me. I can only assume the meaning is that our memories are often distorted, but she could have used a better adjective, as 'the past' is irrelevant in the context of 'prediction.' This sort of heavy-handedness abounds throughout.

I don't contest that there are some paragraphs written with poignancy and elegance, but they were not enough to carry the novel to satisfaction.

[J Jahir · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
cuidado, ¡cuidado con la envidia!
bien dice la biblia que es el pecado capital más grave de todos porque es el que más envenena el alma. pues independientemente de que lo diga la biblia, lo cierto es que es un sentimiento muy peligroso. Ruth sentía celos y envidia de elizabeth, su hermanastra. Tanto es así que empezó a estudiar su comportamiento y comenzó a tener una obsesión por ser como ella y arrebatarle todo lo que ella tenía creyendo que elizabeth le había quitado su lugar. El libro me gustó, me pareció interesante, aunque muy centrado en ruth, habría sido mejor que la novela fuese un poco más larga mezclando el puntos de vista de elizabeth, pero no estuvo mal. creo que el propósito del libro fue mostrar lo peligroso que puede ser para alguien cuando te dejas llevar por este sentimiento y no se corrige desde pequeña, gracias a él es que surgen las enemistades eternas. El final sí es bastante inesperado, además de otra tragedia que envuelve a las familias.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say I'm glad I didn't have to read any of this in public. With SIN printed across the front, a plain black background and a rather yonic illustration of a calla lily, there is no way anyone (these days) would have expected it to be anything other than erotica. It isn't, though. This novel is actually the story of Ruth, obsessed by lifelong jealousy of the woman raised as her sister (adopted - actually her orphaned cousin). Like the narrator herself, Sin is terse, cold and never quite gives everything away. It is an intriguing, compulsive read which virtually demands to be finished in one sitting, but while Hart's writing is gripping, her characters are more difficult. Ruth is straightforwardly and deliberately awful, a ruthless manipulator without scruples, but smug, boring Elizabeth isn't likeable either. I never felt like I really got what I wanted from this story, and I have encountered more in-depth, complex versions of these characters in Harriet Lane's novels Alys, Always and Her, both of which I would recommend over this.

[Ginny_1807 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uno dei libri più sciatti, pretenziosi e inutili che abbia mai letto.
Probabilmente pubblicato sulla scia del successo di "Il danno", ne riprende in modo addirittura patetico gli spunti più tragici amplificandone i difetti, con esiti artificiosi e sgradevoli.
La prosa, più che scarna ed essenziale, è banalmente emaciata.
Ha un pregio: è breve e finisce presto.

[Anshu Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of two sisters- one light, one dark. A tale of obsession, of hate and of identity. A short book, it can be finished in one sitting. Prose is light, crisp but ultimately very purple.

"And if I'd never met her, would I have been good?" Ruth asks. "Did she create me? Or I her? Did I dream her? Am I Elizabeth? Now?"

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me just begin by saying that Josephine Hart is phenomenal at minimalist writing. It's a quick read, a short novel, with a sparse amount of words, but boy, do those words pack a punch. Her words have enormous power and Ruth is an unforgettable protagonist. In reading this novel, the reader becomes Ruth--a shadowy, peripheral figure who is never completely whole as long as she is gripped in her obsession with Elizabeth. This novel held me from the first sentence and I have never been able to forget it. It reminds us that we are but fragments; that we steal and mould our identity from those who surround us and their opinion of who we are. It is one of the best novels of "obsession" I've read to date. The character of Ruth outshines Elizabeth because of her darkness; Elizabeth falls flat in comparison. Ruth's darkness, her eternal quest to capture that about Elizabeth which she will never be able to capture, is a captivating look at the individual's quest to be whom it cannot; an empty search for fulfillment. Again, Ruth is captivating simply because she is on the fringe & will never be whole. She is always trying to capture the essence of another without fully developing her own sense of self.

[Nicholas Luckett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whirlwind read. I picked this up at 10am and in between a little work, I finished this by 4pm. The tone is captivating and makes you 'feel' the book more than anything else.

There is no great narrative to this story. Honestly, there is almost no story at all. Instead it's a easy shell for the exploration of a woman who was born, as she believed, in second place. At first I wanted to dismissed it as a fairly shallow (although haunting) study of a trouble woman, but that shallowness, may in fact be one of it's greatest strengths. Without explicitly defining the main character Ruth's answers, we are left to fill the open ended questions on nature, character, longing and suffering with ourselves. It's quite interesting to 'feel' a character like this.

Even if there is no great narrative, I guarantee that Ruth, as a character will stick with you. Probably not in an overt way. You will forget the characters name and probably even what book she is from, but you will carry the knowledge of this character around with you and see her in other people, and yourself, from time to time.

(probably more often if you are a prick like me)

[Ian Kirkpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to re-read one of my favourite novels, Josephine Hart’s “Sin”. It is an astonishing achievement and is one of the many novels that I really wish I had written. It is short enough to be devoured in a single sitting but like a wonderful meal leaves you hungry for more.

Hart’s writing is a revelation with her short sentences and tautly controlled plot. The story is magnetic and ruthless and will hold you in its thrall until its tragic conclusion.

In Ruth Garton and Charles Harding she depicts the “ordered deceit” of two obsessives and the trail of devastation that their affair leaves in its wake. Ruth is a chilling piece of characterisation as the malevolent psychotic sister to Elizabeth, determined to wreak revenge on her “perfect” sister.

Hart’s prose is hypnotic and powerful. Her addictive recipe uses simple ingredients and combines them into a lethal cocktail, and I find myself totally intoxicated.

[yvonnelesenundso · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Später dann die Gerichtsverhandlung, Ermittlung im Falle Tod. Nutzlos. Denn der Tod begeht immer den perfekten Mord. Er ist noch nie überführt worden. Er kommt in so vielen Gestalten. Verkleidet als Krankheit. Als Unfall. Als Gewalt. Das Rollenverzeichnis ist endlos. Er ist grausam, komisch, makaber, wild, zärtlich. Er agiert hinter den Kulissen. Im vollen Rampenlicht. Er verbirgt sich. Schnellt dann urplötzlich aus seinem Versteck. Er ist pathetisch. Genial. Trivial. Aber immer, immer trägt er den Sieg davon."

[Tittirossa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brutto libro, scritto solo per essere venduto sulla scia del successo del primo (Il danno, a sua volte risibile ma già meglio di questo).

(le invidiavo solo l'Agenzia di Pubblicità e la galleria d'arte del marito)

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's maybe more about karma than sin. Ruth thinks many sinful thoughts over many years. She plans and wishes for sinful outcomes, but her actual sinful actions are pretty much limited to an affair with her sister's husband, in which he is at least as much to blame as she is. The great tragedies in the book are not of Ruth's making, though the ways that the tragedies play out in the lives of the survivors are largely brought about by Ruth or at least by the dynamic of Ruth's relationship with Elizabeth. Maybe sin is a thing that exists as much or more in thought and intention as in action. I don't think that I buy that as a principle of moral philosophy but it certainly makes the title fit, and in the end it is what Ruth thinks about herself.

Elizabeth is a fascinating character. We see her at first as nothing more than simple bland goodness symbolized by her washed out blonde more or less good looks and her paintings of the sky, which may or may not show a glimmering of talent, but we learn later that she is much more complex than than that. The bland blonde good girl is just the surface presentation. She accepts the role that life has thrust upon her, but she even as she becomes and personifies the role that she plays, she understands that it is a role, and she understands equally well the dark evil twin role that has been thrust upon Ruth. It turns out that Elizabeth is a multifaceted personality, and Ruth who sees herself as smart and complex is really the simple one with her monomania about Elizabeth. Ruth is only able to appreciate Elizabeth's complexity at a point where it is far too late for Ruth to do anything about it. In some ways learning that Elizabeth is a person of more substance than Ruth ever suspected only deepens the attraction/repulsion that Ruth feels for her.

Like Elizabeth, Ruth mostly accepts and becomes the role that life has thrust on her. In Ruth's case there are more and deeper moments of regret, but who would not regret being compelled to take the role of the evil, hating schemer?

The male characters are all pale reflections of the women. Only Charles has any substance to him. He exhibits some of the same dichotomies that we see in Elizabeth and Ruth. He is both loving and scheming, faithful and betraying, kind and ruthless, but still he is a washed out pastel next to the bright colors of the women. When he first appears, he comments on women as the center of the universe, with men on the edge. The rest of the story shows how astute that observation was.

The book is written in an oddly elliptical style. It is as if it was Ruth's diary, with short chronological entries from her point of view and with words left out where they were unnecessary to her understanding of her own thoughts and feelings. I frequently had to pause to reread sentences or sometimes half pages because I missed something or the explanation of what had happened seemed incomplete. The missing information was almost always there, but often was subtly expressed so that it was easy to miss. It made the reading a bit difficult at times, but in the end I think that it was a smart choice that fit the story and that helped me to get inside Ruth's head.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I became interested in Josephine Hart's books in the mid-1990s after her first novel "Damage" was adapted to film. I read several of her books in a row from my public library. They are not great literature. Hart always seems to write about people who ruin their own lives and the lives of others because of their obsessions and relentless pursuit of dark desires. They're melodramatic brain candy, but I enjoy them.

This one tells the story of Ruth, who is relentlessly jealous of her foster sister, Elizabeth. Ruth's obsession is trying to understand Elizabeth and also simultaneously trying to secretly ruin her. But Ruth's obsession, of course, also hurts her eventually.

I couldn't remember if this is one of the Hart novels I read in the 1990s, but I got to a pivotal scene about two-thirds of the way through and did remember that scene very clearly, so I must have read this back sometime between 1993 and 1995. I enjoyed this a little less the second time around, mostly because my taste in literature has evolved since my late teens/early 20s, but it still fit the bill for a short, easy read, a little bit of decadent pleasure.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josephine Hart, like Pat Barker, writes about dark emotions and drives that shape the lives of not only her protagonists (if one can find a true protagonist in her novels) but their families. I am in awe of her talent. Minimalist prose (she makes Hemingway look like Dickens...) is the perfect frame for these explorations of the darkest of all emotions and of human frailty---and cruelty. You cringe as the plot develops yet you can't look away. This book and her other novel, Damage are two of my favorite books this year and I can't wait to read Oblivion.

[OldSoul23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Envida , es una historia pequeñísima, pero ,sin embargo contiene lo suficiente para hacerte estremecer , al encontrase con tantos sentimientos y acciones viscerales.
No es más que una exploración a través del lado oscuro de los seres humanos.
En todo el libro se mantuvo una tensión e intriga, pero sobre todo como su titulo, envidia y obsesión por poseer la vida de otra persona.
No conocía a esta autora , y me ha gustado su estilo, ojala encuentre mas de sus obras.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a sophomore slump for Josephine Hart, I think.

I've read and enjoyed all of her other twisted little novels: Damage, The Reconstructionist, Oblivion, The Stillest Day. Sin just isn't quite up to par, somehow. Maybe there's a bit too much going on; I think the other books limit the perversions and passions on which they focus, to greater effect.

It's the story of two sisters, one light, one dark. One good, one bad. The good little blonde girl is actually not a true sister at all. She's a cousin orphaned in infancy, raised by the bad little dark girl's parents as their own.

When the two girls are small, naughty, jealous Ruth filches Elizabeth's trinkets and toys. As they grow up, Ruth covets and seduces Elizabeth's lovers, until she finally sets her sights on Elizabeth's adoring husband. Ruth can't make any inroads, however, and before her campaign can meet with either success or definite failure, Elizabeth's husband dies, leaving her with a young son (the only male in Elizabeth's orbit left for Ruth to cultivate).

Ruth marries as well, and also has a son. And then into the pale, sad sister's mourning comes a new man. His initial interest is in the family publishing business, but soon his attention shifts to Elizabeth, which turns Ruth's attention on him. When the family patriarch dies of a heart attack, Ruth seizes the opportunity to plunge into an affair with the man who only recent became Elizabeth's second husband.

The two embark on a lengthy affair, one the allows Ruth to give full rein to her obsession with Elizabeth as she wears and deploys the items she continues to pilfer and hoard -- a silk slip, a pair of black pumps, etc.

The affair continues, and the families teeter and totter along. Ruth's husband is close to leaving her, but she pulls him back. Her brother-in-law tries to break off the affair, but she plots to draw him in again.

Then tragedy radically alters the landscape. On a weekend visit to the family manor, Elizabeth's son tries to swim in the lake (a bid to impress his Aunt Ruth). He suffers an asthma attack in the water, and Ruth's son plunges in to try to save his cousin. The thrashing panicked Steven clings to his cousin and pulls them both beneath the water. Both boys die.

Ruth's husband decides that any other pain will be dwarfed by the grief they all share, so he announces to Elizabeth that her husband and his wife have been having an affair. Elizabeth rejects her husband, and retreats to live alone in Scotland.

Ruth's husband leaves and her lover returns, but she is not satisfied by what would seem to be her victory at last of the more favored child. She turns more and more to the items of Elizabeth's she has hidden away, wearing her clothes and even buying a blonde wig. Finally, she is compelled to seek Elizabeth out.

Elizabeth is living quietly at her cottage, painting and being romanced by a very young man. Ruth tries to continue her hatred of Elizabeth, but she breaks down in tears, vomit and urine. Elizabeth washes her, puts her to bed, and then dresses her in her own clothes. Ruth wearing Elizabeth's clothes again, this time freely given by Elizabeth. And finally the dark sister seems to relinquish some of the obsessive jealousy and hate that have shaped her entire life.

"And if I'd never met her, would I have been good?" Ruth asks. "Did she create me? Or I her? Did I dream her? Am I Elizabeth? Now?"

But then I was never ambitious. Few people are. Perhaps there is in us some inherited, ancient knowledge. The majority do not desire the world--knowing on some primitive level that it disappoints. They are quite content to let the blind few pursue their path to wisdom. And to watch those trapped by genius forced to sacrifice themselves, and those trapped by talent to emulate them. Much better to be in the audience, watching the actors find the surprise ending.

[Michael Markowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the author's terse style of getting into the main character's scheming mind. Considering how short this book is, it's surprising how much ground is covered -- her life is presented in snapshots that read like a biography, a romantic heist and an in-depth exploration of morality.

That said, some things are notably left out, and perhaps that's intentional for the reader to speculate. For me, I might have enjoyed this book even more if I better understood some of the narrator's motivations. There's a coldness to her, which makes her intriguing, but she's not shallow, so I'd like to know more about why she's out to get her sister, and hold on to certain men in her life and let others go. Her relationship with the children in her family seems especially difficult to navigate.

Overall, I was fascinated by this tale. There's something about a good, clever psychopath, especially when they're in for the long con, and life itself proves to be the ultimate roadblock to their twisted plans.

[S.O. Lessey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Masterpiece on the premise and intricacies of Sibling Rivalry. Josephine Hart carries the reader down many a dark alleyway of the mind in what I consider one of the best first-person novels I have come across since Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was captivating, riveting, and sometimes challenging to assimilate about the extent to which Ruth tried to upend her orphan sister Elizabeth. The plot snowballed from minor seeds of hate and envy into gargantuan leaps of Ruth taking over Elizabeth's life, which didn't seem fair, but it was enough to keep me vested in the entire story and see it to the very end. Definitely worth the read.

[María Greene F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really mean book, poetically written. Liked it a lot, even though the title in English it's terrible (read it in Spanish). "Sin" just doesn't go with the spirit of it. Ruth couldn't care less about sins.

[Bobby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off interesting and odd... then just gets odd... then sort of goes foolish.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hart creates some of the most depraved, evil characters & yet you are completely invested in their journeys. Obsessed.

[Kaylyssa Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be my favorite evil narrator ever

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel that the the story had real potential that it didn’t live up to. The author was too abstract for my taste.

[MM Suarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We are here to add to the sum of human goodness. To prove the thing exists. And however futile each individual act of courage or generosity, self-sacrifice or grace, it still proves the thing exists."

I fell under the spell of Josephine Hart when I read her book "Damage", there's a mediocre Netflix limited series titled "Obsession" based on it out there but I'd say read the book instead. I had a hard time finding "Sin", but got lucky and found it from a used book seller, it is also about obsession of a different kind but no less entrancing. Once falling under the spell of Hart's prose, it is hard to let go, she just pulls you into her dark protagonists until your are left exhausted. Just my taste and I'm a little strange, but if you normally like this type of novel, give this author a shot.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn. I’m not sure how much I actually enjoyed this while reading, but when I’m teetering between 3 and 4 stars, my metric is always “will I still be thinking about this book a few months from now?” and I had to go with yes.

Love a book that assures me I was better off as an only child.