Mirror, mirror

by Maria Alvarez

Belle, restless and sleepless, is alone in her vast new house while her husband works abroad. Dangerously idle, she invites the alluring and damaged Tina, a local waitress with a violent boyfriend, to become her lodger – even though she barely knows her. Gradually Belle and Tina grow closer, sharing clothes, secrets, stories of their troubled pasts, and even their fantasies. But as Belle finds herself getting increasingly enmeshed with the younger woman, her presence becomes more and more unsettling. Soon Belle is drawn into a dark, erotically charged world of risk and transgression that she can’t – and doesn’t want to – control. What price will she pay for letting a stranger into her life?

229 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2007

Reviews

[Runi]

Can I write a book review of something that I haven't finished reading?

I bought this book at a big, crowded book fair--where trendy bookstores were practically giving away the books. The blurb said, "Claustrophobic, erotic, voyeuristic... intense and compelling". At 50k-75k rupiah, I bought Mirror Mirror without any further thinking.

And.

The truth is, I've only read the prologue and one page out of the first chapter. From what I've read so far, I assume Maria Alvarez tried to write a beautiful & charming recklessness, judging from her unusual choice of words to describe things.

But the attempt has failed me. The neurotic vocab feels like someone has just discovered the thesaurus and went crazy on it. The way the author tells the story just doesn't grab me.

I might finish the book one day, and change my mind.

But in the mean time, I'll go with my book-junkie boyf's words. If the first five pages of the book are blah, then the rest won't be any better.

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because overall it looked interesting and it was described as "Compelling", intense" and an "sexy paranoia-inducing page turner".

To be honest, I couldn't finish this book. Something I hate doing but when you feel like you're wasting you're time, why finish it?

There were pages and pages of description or 'scene setting' and the authors use of words I found hard to understand and unusual. Maybe it seems I am not intelligent enough for this book, or maybe it is actually dull and very slow.

[Claire]

I really didn't like the style of writing, it seemed quite clumsy and over-embellished. But the story itself had me gripped so I read on just to find out what happened, and ended up really enjoying it.

[V H · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldnt finish this book, something I hate doing. I got about half way before I just gave up, after about 6 months of it lying untouched on the shelf I am bookcrossing it, maybe someone else will pick it up and actually enjoy it