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Vanishing Point
Angela Dunnewald’s sense of self, of direction, is fraying. She finds herself lost and alone despite a calendar full of society events, charity meetings, shopping dates, and dinners her aloof husband expects her to attend. Her best friend is a vivacious flirt, but Angela only strays when she discovers a young drifter haunting the grounds of her house. Desire to be intimate unlocks the need for achievement; Angela becomes unrecognizable to her peers and to herself. Legters's new novel offers betrayal, passion, secrets, and truth, all from inside a world that threatens to suffocate to the vanishing point. "The novel boasts some stunning turns of phrase bridging Angela’s thoughts and reality.... A heartbreaking and exquisite story about emotional violence." - Kirkus Reviews
- GenresContemporary
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2017
About the author
E.V. Legters
3 books28 followersE.V. is an author, artist, and teacher. Her stories have appeared in multiple literary journals and her debut novel, Connected Underneath, was published in the Spring of 2016. Her second, Vanishing Point, is due to be released in May, 2017. She is at work on a short story collection and her third novel. For more information, please visit her website.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 24, 2017
The story is one of passion found, love lost, where we witness people drifting in and out. It is one that does not shy away from mistakes, from the lies we tell each other, and most importantly, the ones we tell ourselves. This book’s main strength is its characters, specifically the main protagonist, and the journey she goes on to discover herself.
What I especially liked, in terms of the intersection between characters and plot, was the way the novel continued after the ‘climax’ of the story. It doesn’t offer off a neat resolution. It respects human’s inabilities, limitations, and failures. And for this, we keep reading, because I think in this second half is where Legters shines.
It is in these pages where I see the main departure point from some classics that this novel echoes, such as Lady Chatterly’s Lover and The Awakening. This is where I see the fruition of all the little mentions and clues from before, and the space is afforded to the characters for them to take up the reins of their destiny, even the side ones.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
What I especially liked, in terms of the intersection between characters and plot, was the way the novel continued after the ‘climax’ of the story. It doesn’t offer off a neat resolution. It respects human’s inabilities, limitations, and failures. And for this, we keep reading, because I think in this second half is where Legters shines.
It is in these pages where I see the main departure point from some classics that this novel echoes, such as Lady Chatterly’s Lover and The Awakening. This is where I see the fruition of all the little mentions and clues from before, and the space is afforded to the characters for them to take up the reins of their destiny, even the side ones.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
June 5, 2017
Favorite Quotes:
Lydia, almost as thin as Angela, but with more luxurious hips and breasts, always seems near bursting. There’s an energy about her, some part always in motion. Her clothes, although they fit perfectly, never seem roomy enough.
She stopped arguing about things like this long ago because he takes less notice of her when there’s nothing to notice, and not being noticed can be useful. She’s not afraid of Ross and never has been; she’s afraid for him. She senses he could—someday will—disintegrate, and she never wants to be the reason.
Her miniature crushes are just that, she and the others believe, brief flirtations with young men brought to the club to teach golf or tennis, or the lifeguards who come and go… It’s an outlet, she says, freely admitting her need to be watched, hopefully admired, and reassured she’s still vibrant. She’s only after a certain kind of conversation, she says, a bantering back and forth, foreplay with no complications.
He’d become one of those men who, despite having been identified as having grown pompous, and despite having unreasonable opinions, still wields power. She doesn’t understand how this could be so, when she wields so little.
Her long, dark hair is full of tight curls that shoot out from her head like the endings of nerves.
My Review:
Vanishing Point was a unique, intense, insightfully observant, well-crafted, and emotive tale that kept me riveted to my Kindle. The main character of Angela was a wealthy housewife with all the material possessions, free time, and club memberships one could want. What she didn’t have was her husband’s attention. Angela felt invisible, unheard, and an accessory to her blowhard of a husband. She was so achingly lonely, bored, restless, and discontented, she was unable to focus and was retreating within herself and losing her grip on reality while she quietly unraveled.
The storyline and writing were fascinating and well-paced while fraught with tension, inner turmoil, secrets, vivid visuals, and a lurking sense of impending doom. My muscles and stomach were in knots yet I couldn’t stop reading. I remained conflicted yet empathetic and totally enthralled. While I wrestled with the unusual conundrum of intelligent and enticing characters who were not often likable, I found each one of them extremely compelling and was desperate to know every little thing about them.
I was quickly submerged in the story and had difficulty pulling myself back out when life demanded, and while away from my Kindle I often found myself ruminating and pondering the characters’ issues and dissecting the story while going about my tasks. However, I was not prepared for the story to stop as it written and hours later I am still stewing over the ending, ugh! I have an extremely strong compulsion to track the author down and go all Kathy Bates ala Misery and demand another chapter or three. E. V. Legters is an evil genius, emphasis on the evil for now.
Lydia, almost as thin as Angela, but with more luxurious hips and breasts, always seems near bursting. There’s an energy about her, some part always in motion. Her clothes, although they fit perfectly, never seem roomy enough.
She stopped arguing about things like this long ago because he takes less notice of her when there’s nothing to notice, and not being noticed can be useful. She’s not afraid of Ross and never has been; she’s afraid for him. She senses he could—someday will—disintegrate, and she never wants to be the reason.
Her miniature crushes are just that, she and the others believe, brief flirtations with young men brought to the club to teach golf or tennis, or the lifeguards who come and go… It’s an outlet, she says, freely admitting her need to be watched, hopefully admired, and reassured she’s still vibrant. She’s only after a certain kind of conversation, she says, a bantering back and forth, foreplay with no complications.
He’d become one of those men who, despite having been identified as having grown pompous, and despite having unreasonable opinions, still wields power. She doesn’t understand how this could be so, when she wields so little.
Her long, dark hair is full of tight curls that shoot out from her head like the endings of nerves.
My Review:
Vanishing Point was a unique, intense, insightfully observant, well-crafted, and emotive tale that kept me riveted to my Kindle. The main character of Angela was a wealthy housewife with all the material possessions, free time, and club memberships one could want. What she didn’t have was her husband’s attention. Angela felt invisible, unheard, and an accessory to her blowhard of a husband. She was so achingly lonely, bored, restless, and discontented, she was unable to focus and was retreating within herself and losing her grip on reality while she quietly unraveled.
The storyline and writing were fascinating and well-paced while fraught with tension, inner turmoil, secrets, vivid visuals, and a lurking sense of impending doom. My muscles and stomach were in knots yet I couldn’t stop reading. I remained conflicted yet empathetic and totally enthralled. While I wrestled with the unusual conundrum of intelligent and enticing characters who were not often likable, I found each one of them extremely compelling and was desperate to know every little thing about them.
I was quickly submerged in the story and had difficulty pulling myself back out when life demanded, and while away from my Kindle I often found myself ruminating and pondering the characters’ issues and dissecting the story while going about my tasks. However, I was not prepared for the story to stop as it written and hours later I am still stewing over the ending, ugh! I have an extremely strong compulsion to track the author down and go all Kathy Bates ala Misery and demand another chapter or three. E. V. Legters is an evil genius, emphasis on the evil for now.
June 28, 2017
An intriguing novel - partly because it doesn't fit into a convenient niche. The voice of Angela made me think it was a story of one woman's journey to disintegration at first, and then it became something more. As the alienated characters - alienated from each other and themselves by their secrets - finally admit the truth, the tangled strands of their lives begin to slowly untangle. I liked the ending, it left me with hope that the main protagonists were willing to be happy.
May 19, 2017
In this riveting, moving book set in an affluent suburb, Angela has vanished into a self that barely feels, who goes through the motions in a stultifying marriage. She is a product of parents who want her to be secure and practical; all her choices have led to a life of limited experience and dull, routine, almost meaningless pastimes and obligations. When she improbably--inexplicably, really--lets Daniel, a rootless young drifter, into that life, his ability to break through her boundaries and awaken her sensuality allow her to feel "seen" for perhaps the very first time. Events conspire to show us Angela transcending how she is perceived even by Daniel; she begins to see herself, and a path is opened away from all she had clung to with neither real love or hope, toward a difficult but authentic future. She changes; the people around her change; possibilities that could not exist at the outset seem within reach by the end.
Though often dark, and tinged with the gray tones of depression and quiet despair, there is a deeply touching core to this story that grabbed me and held, and kept me reading. We recognize Angela; or if not, we recognize her struggle to be seen and to ultimately see herself.
Though often dark, and tinged with the gray tones of depression and quiet despair, there is a deeply touching core to this story that grabbed me and held, and kept me reading. We recognize Angela; or if not, we recognize her struggle to be seen and to ultimately see herself.
Read
January 3, 2023This was a DNF. I just couldn’t get into it. It was slow and repetitive. I didn’t care about this woman, her friends, or her hobby. I did keep my copy. Maybe I will revisit it in the future.
*this was a Goodreads win
*this was a Goodreads win
May 14, 2017
Actual rating 3.5
Written in the present, third person narrative and interspersed with flashbacks to Angela's early married life, much of the book is written in a bleak and languidly depressive tone, but it does have an uplifting anticipatory edge and ultimate feeling of hopefulness too.
Evie's characters are well rounded and plausible with flawed, highly complex personalities, all working to their own agendas. I didn't particularly like any of them, far too spoilt, spiteful and full of their own self importance for my liking.
I had a real sense that Angela was, indeed, at vanishing point. Her mental state affected me in such a way that I felt despair and miserable reading about her achingly dull, insignificant existence. There, only to give meaning and purpose for another; for Ross her husband of 19 years; or for her friend Lydia of 12 years in accompanying her to the many committee meetings or social gatherings where no one is interested in anyone but themselves.
Change is on the way when Angela notices a young man in the garden. Ross would call the police insisting on his removal...they don't pay taxes for drifters to endanger them or their property...but Angela doesn't do anything, she is fascinated by his self confidence. He has possession of himself, a surety whereas she has none. What follows is an intense relationship with some pretty heated sex scenes between Angela and her lover which I felt uncomfortable about to begin with. I'd worried, needlessly, that such an emotive plot line was going to descend into a tasteless porn romance. Nothing wrong with 'pornance' except it wouldn't have been in keeping with the start of this book. The sex scenes were tastefully, and sensually written and showed the evolvement of their relationship perfectly. It is within the realms of her relationship with Daniel that Angela encounters an unknown depth of feeling and desire for, and from another, and where the seeds for her empowerment and personal transformation grow.
There is such an elegance and beauty to Legters' style of writing as illustrated here when Angela is comparing Ross' hands to that of her lovers:
"Daniel’s hands are thin, and the skin also fine-grained; she would have expected a carpenter’s hands to be rough and worn, with a callous or two on the palm. Instead, when he touches her, it’s almost as if he weren’t touching her at all; she has the impression of air, and peace.
Ross’s hands have become wide and heavy and obvious. If they grope her in the dark,she stays still, pretending they can’t wake her."
As for Ross, has he not provided Angela with everything 'they' could possibly ever want? Ross is infuriating in his insensitivity to Angela's needs and her desires, in dismissing them as petty and unimportant. He doesn't take anything she says seriously and disregards her almost to the point of not listening to her at all. She'd loved this cherry tree... "Ross had said the cherries dropping stained the flagstone. She came home one day to a stump. She’d loved its blossoms; their first spring in the house, she took a dozen pictures of them, and had one framed for the study. Ross said the flagstones were more important, and that he hadn’t known she cared about it. He never apologized."...Ross never apologises for his actions.
One compromise that Ross had made at the start of their marriage, reluctantly, was to keep a treasured wicker chair Angela had since childhood. Even so, she was still made to feel silly about wanting to keep such a valueless item...as in evidence here:
"The wicker chair is the one thing from her childhood...She spent hours in it growing up, reading, dreaming."...“Let someone have it who really needs it.” When she told him she needed it, ...he said, “doesn’t wicker belong out of doors?” She reminded him that he’d have plenty from the house where he grew up...“Yes, valuable antiques...” “Ross.” He gave in, ..."Beginning with that conversation, nearly everything she wanted gradually became too much work to gain, and so she gave in to more and more, telling herself all these petty things didn’t matter."
His incomprehension as to why Angela should be so ungrateful or unhappy within their marriage frustrated me no end. It was all too easy for me to think that Ross was all deserving of his wife's infidelity. However, even with such an intense dislike of him, that moral part of me still felt he was as much a victim as his wife and entitled to be told the truth. Alas, real life isn't that way so why should it be for him.
Overall, Vanishing Point is a stylishly written literary tale about a woman so conditioned over time to feel undeserving of attention or real consideration in any way that her reaction is to compromise, and comply in order to save others from their own fragility, and of how as a disillusioned housewife she acts out of impulsiveness to embark on an illicit affair.
Fans of Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, and Bernard Schlink's The Reader, will undoubtedly savour this one.
Disclaimer: A complimentary digital copy of 'Vanishing Point' was provided by the author in exchange for an honest unbiased review and to take part in this blog tour.
Written in the present, third person narrative and interspersed with flashbacks to Angela's early married life, much of the book is written in a bleak and languidly depressive tone, but it does have an uplifting anticipatory edge and ultimate feeling of hopefulness too.
Evie's characters are well rounded and plausible with flawed, highly complex personalities, all working to their own agendas. I didn't particularly like any of them, far too spoilt, spiteful and full of their own self importance for my liking.
I had a real sense that Angela was, indeed, at vanishing point. Her mental state affected me in such a way that I felt despair and miserable reading about her achingly dull, insignificant existence. There, only to give meaning and purpose for another; for Ross her husband of 19 years; or for her friend Lydia of 12 years in accompanying her to the many committee meetings or social gatherings where no one is interested in anyone but themselves.
Change is on the way when Angela notices a young man in the garden. Ross would call the police insisting on his removal...they don't pay taxes for drifters to endanger them or their property...but Angela doesn't do anything, she is fascinated by his self confidence. He has possession of himself, a surety whereas she has none. What follows is an intense relationship with some pretty heated sex scenes between Angela and her lover which I felt uncomfortable about to begin with. I'd worried, needlessly, that such an emotive plot line was going to descend into a tasteless porn romance. Nothing wrong with 'pornance' except it wouldn't have been in keeping with the start of this book. The sex scenes were tastefully, and sensually written and showed the evolvement of their relationship perfectly. It is within the realms of her relationship with Daniel that Angela encounters an unknown depth of feeling and desire for, and from another, and where the seeds for her empowerment and personal transformation grow.
There is such an elegance and beauty to Legters' style of writing as illustrated here when Angela is comparing Ross' hands to that of her lovers:
"Daniel’s hands are thin, and the skin also fine-grained; she would have expected a carpenter’s hands to be rough and worn, with a callous or two on the palm. Instead, when he touches her, it’s almost as if he weren’t touching her at all; she has the impression of air, and peace.
Ross’s hands have become wide and heavy and obvious. If they grope her in the dark,she stays still, pretending they can’t wake her."
As for Ross, has he not provided Angela with everything 'they' could possibly ever want? Ross is infuriating in his insensitivity to Angela's needs and her desires, in dismissing them as petty and unimportant. He doesn't take anything she says seriously and disregards her almost to the point of not listening to her at all. She'd loved this cherry tree... "Ross had said the cherries dropping stained the flagstone. She came home one day to a stump. She’d loved its blossoms; their first spring in the house, she took a dozen pictures of them, and had one framed for the study. Ross said the flagstones were more important, and that he hadn’t known she cared about it. He never apologized."...Ross never apologises for his actions.
One compromise that Ross had made at the start of their marriage, reluctantly, was to keep a treasured wicker chair Angela had since childhood. Even so, she was still made to feel silly about wanting to keep such a valueless item...as in evidence here:
"The wicker chair is the one thing from her childhood...She spent hours in it growing up, reading, dreaming."...“Let someone have it who really needs it.” When she told him she needed it, ...he said, “doesn’t wicker belong out of doors?” She reminded him that he’d have plenty from the house where he grew up...“Yes, valuable antiques...” “Ross.” He gave in, ..."Beginning with that conversation, nearly everything she wanted gradually became too much work to gain, and so she gave in to more and more, telling herself all these petty things didn’t matter."
His incomprehension as to why Angela should be so ungrateful or unhappy within their marriage frustrated me no end. It was all too easy for me to think that Ross was all deserving of his wife's infidelity. However, even with such an intense dislike of him, that moral part of me still felt he was as much a victim as his wife and entitled to be told the truth. Alas, real life isn't that way so why should it be for him.
Overall, Vanishing Point is a stylishly written literary tale about a woman so conditioned over time to feel undeserving of attention or real consideration in any way that her reaction is to compromise, and comply in order to save others from their own fragility, and of how as a disillusioned housewife she acts out of impulsiveness to embark on an illicit affair.
Fans of Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, and Bernard Schlink's The Reader, will undoubtedly savour this one.
Disclaimer: A complimentary digital copy of 'Vanishing Point' was provided by the author in exchange for an honest unbiased review and to take part in this blog tour.
May 24, 2017
Angela Dunnewald is merely existing, fading really, into a life that she is a background player in. Fortysomething, married to a high strung attorney who barely acknowledges her, best friends with a woman who makes her be a part of social groups she doesn't fit in, Angela knows something needs to change but she doesn't know how to change it. Until one day Daniel walks into her back yard.
Daniel brings Angela to life and fills spaces she never realized were empty. Suddenly her world is turned upside down, and she's striding a line she cannot balance on forever. This is the story of a woman who's coming to the edge of something, but she can't predict what it is.
This book was a very quick read for me. In my opinion it was just OK--I don't think the characters are ones that will stick with me for a long time.
Angela is experiencing discontent with her life--as any person is allowed to do, no matter what their circumstances--but instead of reaching out to her husband, or her best friend, she turns in to herself for nearly 20 years before she connects with another person. And he's a stranger at that. The way Daniel and Angela meet was a bit creepy and forced, to be honest.
I just felt like the book was always moving towards a conclusion that never really came. There's an end, sure, and Angela gets the shake up she needed, but the journey there was not that notable, to me. This is a quiet story, save for a few moments towards the end. There are no huge outbursts or drama filled revelations; each character seems to take things in a most stoic way. There are also storylines that in the end don't seem to contribute much to the overall plot of the novel.
I can't say I truly disliked Vanishing Point, but there's not one thing I can say I liked either.
Daniel brings Angela to life and fills spaces she never realized were empty. Suddenly her world is turned upside down, and she's striding a line she cannot balance on forever. This is the story of a woman who's coming to the edge of something, but she can't predict what it is.
This book was a very quick read for me. In my opinion it was just OK--I don't think the characters are ones that will stick with me for a long time.
Angela is experiencing discontent with her life--as any person is allowed to do, no matter what their circumstances--but instead of reaching out to her husband, or her best friend, she turns in to herself for nearly 20 years before she connects with another person. And he's a stranger at that. The way Daniel and Angela meet was a bit creepy and forced, to be honest.
I just felt like the book was always moving towards a conclusion that never really came. There's an end, sure, and Angela gets the shake up she needed, but the journey there was not that notable, to me. This is a quiet story, save for a few moments towards the end. There are no huge outbursts or drama filled revelations; each character seems to take things in a most stoic way. There are also storylines that in the end don't seem to contribute much to the overall plot of the novel.
I can't say I truly disliked Vanishing Point, but there's not one thing I can say I liked either.
May 12, 2017
In Vanishing Point, Angela is a bored and almost invisible society wife who spends her time volunteering for charities and sitting on planning committees. She feels largely ignored by her husband and feels like she is wasting away. There has to be something more, right?
The story is well written with beautiful and at times bleak imagery. I could feel Angela's depression and how she was losing herself. Those things were the parts I liked about the book. What I struggled with was Angela herself. I couldn't get behind the choices that she made in order to crawl her way back to the surface of who she was or could be. I wanted to root for this character, but I just couldn't. Infidelity is a huge issue for me. Instead of talking to her husband and trying to make him see her or walking away, she chose to have an affair with a drifter. Repeatedly. I don't care how much of an ass or clueless her husband was, I felt bad for him. No one deserves that type of betrayal. I would have respected her more had she walked away first before she chose to sleep with Daniel. Through her relationship with Daniel, she is able to find her passion and wake up in a way. While I was happy for her transformation, I hated how she got there.
I do urge you to give this book a try. I know it wasn't for me, but I think it is worth checking out. AS much as I had issues with Angela, I was compelled to finish the book. I do look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next.
The story is well written with beautiful and at times bleak imagery. I could feel Angela's depression and how she was losing herself. Those things were the parts I liked about the book. What I struggled with was Angela herself. I couldn't get behind the choices that she made in order to crawl her way back to the surface of who she was or could be. I wanted to root for this character, but I just couldn't. Infidelity is a huge issue for me. Instead of talking to her husband and trying to make him see her or walking away, she chose to have an affair with a drifter. Repeatedly. I don't care how much of an ass or clueless her husband was, I felt bad for him. No one deserves that type of betrayal. I would have respected her more had she walked away first before she chose to sleep with Daniel. Through her relationship with Daniel, she is able to find her passion and wake up in a way. While I was happy for her transformation, I hated how she got there.
I do urge you to give this book a try. I know it wasn't for me, but I think it is worth checking out. AS much as I had issues with Angela, I was compelled to finish the book. I do look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next.
June 24, 2017
This book was written from a perspective of emotion and bodily sensations and driven from point to point by the way the main character, Angela, feels. Angela is a person who has never been given the chance to speak up for herself or to make choices more important than what's for dinner or what kind of china to have at her parties. Until, that is, a mysterious stranger arrives by her and her husband's garden shed.
I liked the way the characters were honestly written, so that you could see more than one dimension about them. I disliked some of the characters' reactions and motivations; but I feel this amplifies the reality of human emotion- we cannot always share the mindset of everyone we come across, and it made the characters less form-fitting or bland than some other books may be.
The ending was unexpected, and seemed to hang on to some unknown thing brewing beneath the surface- continuing the sense of tension and anxiety that this book holds within its pages.
I liked the way the characters were honestly written, so that you could see more than one dimension about them. I disliked some of the characters' reactions and motivations; but I feel this amplifies the reality of human emotion- we cannot always share the mindset of everyone we come across, and it made the characters less form-fitting or bland than some other books may be.
The ending was unexpected, and seemed to hang on to some unknown thing brewing beneath the surface- continuing the sense of tension and anxiety that this book holds within its pages.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews