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The Question
Following the great success of Jane Asher’s debut novel The Longing, her second psychological thriller is a compassionate, compelling and beautifully written study of the terrible effect of jealousy on a woman’s life. John and Eleanor Hamilton are middle-aged, wealthy, and settled in their comfortable life in Hampshire and London. John didn’t want children, so instead Eleanor used her energies to help run the company and get involved in the local community. So imagine her horror when, one day, she discovers that her husband has led a secret life for twenty years, in the shape of a mistress and a nineteen-year-old daughter – the daughter that she herself never had. The jealousy that Eleanor feels is all-consuming, driving her to limits she would never have thought possible. Then John, badly injured in a car crash, becomes a victim of PVS – Persistent Vegetative State. Although he is capable of communicating by the tiniest of signals, he has no quality of life. And so arises the ultimate question – and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. Should he live, or should he die? John’s fate hangs in the balance as the three women he deceived and betrayed decide upon the answer.
- GenresFiction
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 13, 2023
"Do you enjoy going to the theatre, for instance?"
"[Crumpets] end up...squidgy."
Meet John and Eleanor Hamilton (such Presidential/First-Lady-sounding names!): a middle-aged, middle-class, childless-by-choice British couple. The opening pages surround, ensconce, cocoon the reader in luxurious comfort. All is well....the kind of "well" that could easily be taken for granted.
Could elegant Eleanor ever be guilty of taking anything or anyone for granted? Well, it does take a few pages for her to stroll through her lovely, lovely home before she starts to feel like something is going wrong. But what? Why? How? It's just a regular day. She has just gotten off the phone after a pleasant conversation with Ruth, her husband John's charming young (attractive, red-haired) secretary. ...
...who, in the midst of bubbling over with her usual enthusiasm, has released a potentially-toxic bubble without realizing it. Eleanor didn't realize it right away either--but what an exquisite depiction of the end of perfection. And it's only the first of MANY exquisite passages. I was reminded of a short story I'd recently read, "The Split Second" by Daphne du Maurier (REBECCA).
Once Eleanor has gotten some sort of hold on this horrifying, horrible situation, she seizes an incredible opportunity and plays fairy godmother to a young girl she might never have encountered otherwise. She proceeds to go all "Extreme Makeover" on this girl in every way she can dream up...but it's not necessarily to the girl's benefit. AU CONTRAIRE! It's possibly to her detriment, and definitely to the detriment of other people. But of course it is; you remember your fairy tales, right?
You just might find THE QUESTION difficult, if not impossible, to put down--in both senses. It WILL hold you captive. And should delicately-woven gossamer bonds loosen at all, you still might not be able to find serious fault with it. There's some strong language, usually as a perfectly-normal reaction to aspects of the situation Eleanor finds herself...realizing that she's in. At first she does resist using certain words she's never found necessary Until Now, but even as her emotions make her more comfortable with such words, she muses humorously about them, like on pages 76 and 255.
But nice language is used splendidly throughout the story. Page 137 finds Eleanor sitting in her kitchen, briefly startled to hear her cleaning lady arrive. What's so startling? She hadn't been sure she was actually in her kitchen, fully clothed and with her hair and makeup done as meticulously as usual; in her state of mind she could just as easily have still been upstairs in bed--or waking up in the guest room at her brother's country place or in her own frilly little bedroom in their childhood home. When she realizes where she is, she says "a silent thank you to her own body for carrying on so bravely without her." But as long as she is (at least outwardly) ready for the day and Carla is reporting for duty, today she can make herself extra-useful by answering a few questions: Eleanor must do some research for her master plan, although to witnesses it will look and sound like an ordinary conversation.
Along the strange new paths Eleanor finds her life taking even as she attempts to re-route it, readers will be regaled with dreamy tours of tastefully-decorated rooms and generous servings of scrumptious-sounding meals as Ms. Asher imbues Eleanor with her own talents and interests. There are also a few graphic descriptions and scenarios, one of which might remind you SIMULTANEOUSLY of a classic American novel and notorious 1990s newsmakers. How many such novels have you read this week?
Even if you've read 100 or 1,000 books about women questioning everything as their worlds are imploding or exploding, how many have been exactly like this? How many of those women have been invented and presented by Jane Asher? Even if all the authors took Writer Advice 101 and Wrote What They Knew, how many could possibly know what Ms. Asher knows in exactly the way she knows it, through her own experiences and through getting inside the many characters she has portrayed on stage and screen? And how many could write this story in the exact way that she has? Discuss!
Previously published in slightly-different forms at Epinions.com and alibris.com.
If you like this, you might like RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES by "Pansy," aka Isabella Macdonald Alden.
Thanks for reading.
"[Crumpets] end up...squidgy."
Meet John and Eleanor Hamilton (such Presidential/First-Lady-sounding names!): a middle-aged, middle-class, childless-by-choice British couple. The opening pages surround, ensconce, cocoon the reader in luxurious comfort. All is well....the kind of "well" that could easily be taken for granted.
Could elegant Eleanor ever be guilty of taking anything or anyone for granted? Well, it does take a few pages for her to stroll through her lovely, lovely home before she starts to feel like something is going wrong. But what? Why? How? It's just a regular day. She has just gotten off the phone after a pleasant conversation with Ruth, her husband John's charming young (attractive, red-haired) secretary. ...
...who, in the midst of bubbling over with her usual enthusiasm, has released a potentially-toxic bubble without realizing it. Eleanor didn't realize it right away either--but what an exquisite depiction of the end of perfection. And it's only the first of MANY exquisite passages. I was reminded of a short story I'd recently read, "The Split Second" by Daphne du Maurier (REBECCA).
Once Eleanor has gotten some sort of hold on this horrifying, horrible situation, she seizes an incredible opportunity and plays fairy godmother to a young girl she might never have encountered otherwise. She proceeds to go all "Extreme Makeover" on this girl in every way she can dream up...but it's not necessarily to the girl's benefit. AU CONTRAIRE! It's possibly to her detriment, and definitely to the detriment of other people. But of course it is; you remember your fairy tales, right?
You just might find THE QUESTION difficult, if not impossible, to put down--in both senses. It WILL hold you captive. And should delicately-woven gossamer bonds loosen at all, you still might not be able to find serious fault with it. There's some strong language, usually as a perfectly-normal reaction to aspects of the situation Eleanor finds herself...realizing that she's in. At first she does resist using certain words she's never found necessary Until Now, but even as her emotions make her more comfortable with such words, she muses humorously about them, like on pages 76 and 255.
But nice language is used splendidly throughout the story. Page 137 finds Eleanor sitting in her kitchen, briefly startled to hear her cleaning lady arrive. What's so startling? She hadn't been sure she was actually in her kitchen, fully clothed and with her hair and makeup done as meticulously as usual; in her state of mind she could just as easily have still been upstairs in bed--or waking up in the guest room at her brother's country place or in her own frilly little bedroom in their childhood home. When she realizes where she is, she says "a silent thank you to her own body for carrying on so bravely without her." But as long as she is (at least outwardly) ready for the day and Carla is reporting for duty, today she can make herself extra-useful by answering a few questions: Eleanor must do some research for her master plan, although to witnesses it will look and sound like an ordinary conversation.
Along the strange new paths Eleanor finds her life taking even as she attempts to re-route it, readers will be regaled with dreamy tours of tastefully-decorated rooms and generous servings of scrumptious-sounding meals as Ms. Asher imbues Eleanor with her own talents and interests. There are also a few graphic descriptions and scenarios, one of which might remind you SIMULTANEOUSLY of a classic American novel and notorious 1990s newsmakers. How many such novels have you read this week?
Even if you've read 100 or 1,000 books about women questioning everything as their worlds are imploding or exploding, how many have been exactly like this? How many of those women have been invented and presented by Jane Asher? Even if all the authors took Writer Advice 101 and Wrote What They Knew, how many could possibly know what Ms. Asher knows in exactly the way she knows it, through her own experiences and through getting inside the many characters she has portrayed on stage and screen? And how many could write this story in the exact way that she has? Discuss!
Previously published in slightly-different forms at Epinions.com and alibris.com.
If you like this, you might like RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES by "Pansy," aka Isabella Macdonald Alden.
Thanks for reading.
September 8, 2014
The plot on this one was a little soap opera-y for me. The plot continued thickening a bit too much with no real actions taken. That said I did appreciate the internal monologue of Eleanor. I thought that Asher handled Eleanor's processing of her revelations very adeptly and largely, realistically. There were extremes that Eleanor went to that seemed a bit drastic, but relatively plausible.
The final drama seemed rushed and maybe not necessary, although as a revenge plot it was quite clever. I guess Eleanor made a good anti-hero when it was all said and done.
A more broad note, I've been noticing authors shifting their narrative voice recently and it's been really throwing me off. It seems like they're being lazy with the narrative voice they've chosen. Depending on the example it can be confusing as well. I can't remember which other book I read recently had this "issue" (Geek Love), but it struck me again in "The Question".
The final drama seemed rushed and maybe not necessary, although as a revenge plot it was quite clever. I guess Eleanor made a good anti-hero when it was all said and done.
A more broad note, I've been noticing authors shifting their narrative voice recently and it's been really throwing me off. It seems like they're being lazy with the narrative voice they've chosen. Depending on the example it can be confusing as well. I can't remember which other book I read recently had this "issue" (Geek Love), but it struck me again in "The Question".
June 1, 2011
very boring
April 1, 2021
I very rarely give up on a book but this one I did @ 15% on my kindle ! I shouldn’t write more as I only dipped my toe in this book but ... it seemed messy & OTT
May 12, 2016
'The white-hot fury of a woman scorned ignites the pages of Jane Asher's clever and disturbing novel.' Daily Mail
It read like a gone wrong Mills and Boon and i am not at all a Mills and Boon fan either. About all I can say about the novel is it truly is disturbing.
It read like a gone wrong Mills and Boon and i am not at all a Mills and Boon fan either. About all I can say about the novel is it truly is disturbing.
August 18, 2009
An unusual story of a wife's revenge on her cheating husband
April 11, 2015
I personally liked this book. It has a very surprising end. It is about revenge and jealousy.
February 3, 2019
To Forgive or Avenge?
This was very interesting, I have to say Eleanor is not someone I can relate to at all - too old for me and makes me think of Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances. But the question of how she will handle her husband’s treachery and whether she will forgive or seek revenge is compelling enough to keep turning those pages. Me, I’d be furious!
This was very interesting, I have to say Eleanor is not someone I can relate to at all - too old for me and makes me think of Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances. But the question of how she will handle her husband’s treachery and whether she will forgive or seek revenge is compelling enough to keep turning those pages. Me, I’d be furious!
February 21, 2019
This book ended very differently to the way it began. Could someone really be so oblivious for so long? Asher begins to build up three characters and then sidelines 2 of them. It was all about Eleanor from start to finish.
January 5, 2020
Wow! That ending.
February 27, 2020
This was a weird story. It could probably really happen. Some people might like how it ended; I did not like the ending.
June 30, 2022
Most of the book was maybe 2 stars, but it has a great and unexpected ending.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews