A Woman Run Mad

by John L'Heureux

John L'Heureux is a consummate stylist and entertainer, and in A Woman Run Mad he delivers a novel that is part comedy of manners and part psychosexual thriller. Blocked writer, accidental scholar, inattentive husband, all J. J. Quinn wants is peace, and he has gone to buy his wife an expensive handbag to accomplish it. As the bag in question walks out the door under the arm of a beautiful, aristocratic shoplifter, though, Quinn's curiosity leads him deep into mystery and danger. The shoplifter is Sarah Slade, a Boston Brahmin attempting to ditch a past as bloody as Medea's. Compared to Quinn's hypercompetent, Euripides-scholar wife, Claire, the unhinged Sarah is an alluring breath of fresh air -- but, of course, Quinn has no idea of the Pandora's box he's opened. Acclaimed by Newsweek as "witty and literate . . . Grand Guignol for grown-ups," A Woman Run Mad is an unsettling, deeply satisfying novel. "Remind[s] one of Iris Murdoch, or Muriel Spark, or E. M. Forster. Yet A Woman Run Mad is unlike any novel I know . . . unusual intelligence and personality are alive throughout the book." -- Richard P. Brickner, The New York Times Book Review; "Unless you have no interest in passions, the edge of madness, forbidden obsessions, runaway libidos and dangerous desires, A Woman Run Mad will fascinate you, from its title to its perfect final sentence. . . . A thinking man's Fatal Attraction." -- Chicago Sun-Times; "Normality -- as our time understands the word -- and monstrosity are L'Heureux's poles, and he joins them with extraordinary dexterity. . . . The ending is not to be revealed." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review; "A superior suspense story . . . It is the kind of story that might well have appealed to a writer like Patricia Highsmith, a drama of interlocking obsessions." -- The New York Times.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 1988

About the author

John L'Heureux served on both sides of the writing desk: as staff editor and contributing editor for The Atlantic and as the author of sixteen books of poetry and fiction. His stories appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, and have frequently been anthologized in Best American Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His experiences as editor and writer informed and direct his teaching of writing. Starting in 1973, he taught fiction writing, the short story, and dramatic literature at Stanford. In 1981, he received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and again in 1998. His recent publications include a collection of stories, Comedians, and the novels, The Handmaid of Desire (1996), Having Everything (1999), and The Miracle (2002).

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/m...

Reviews

[Tom Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing piece of work

This strange, enthralling story sucks the reader into the lives of four damaged souls and keeps him turning pages in a constant search for understanding. Lost in the Latin phrases and philosophical hypotheses, we share the lives of these people who we will never know.

Extraordinarily well written in a long ago style that today’s airplane thrillers can never match. Extraordinary reading experience.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was L'Heureux's debut novel, but don't let that put you off; he was already an accomplished short story writer and poet. Oftentimes, short story writers and poets can't make the transition to the novel form, but that's not the case here. L'Heureux gives us the story of a husband, a wife, an insane murderess, and her homosexual bodyguard, and more than anything, underneath the gore and glitz, L'Heureux's real intention is to examine the relationships between these people.

There are few authors, in these days when the gods no longer have truck with humanity, that attempt to write tragedy in the classical Greek fashion. L'Heureux takes an inventive out by using insanity as the "god" whose mechanizations drive the narrative, and in doing so bring it closer to classical tragedy than to its modern cousin, metatheatre. It's a risky move, but one carried off extremely well by one of the American masters of letters.

[Charles A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is short - I've read it twice. The first time I was in my 20s and I thought it was great, that it was a compelling story and probably a little 'dirty'. I couldn't put it down.

Reading again 25 years later, I found it to be a mean little book full of unlikable people and unconscionable behavior, with the sole virtue of being short.

I'm glad that the author has had a nice career, I'm sure he's grown as a writer. I'm even gladder that I've grown as a reader.

[Menz · Rating 3 out of 5]

sort of frightening how little sympathy i felt for the husband on the last page. yikes!

[Stephanie Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK read. lots of sexual details.

[Giselle M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mad chase through matters of the heart

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling

[Carmen Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I was in 7th grade, about 24 years ago, a friend showed me this book; we read it, and giggled over the "dirty" parts. The title has always stuck with me, even though I only remembered a very small part of the story. I finally went ahead and bought the book and I really have very little to say about it. It's very bizarre and I'm rather appalled that I read it at such a young age. I was 12 or so. It's a wonder I'm not completely messed up.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by a publisher friend of mine, this is a good, creepy tale of obsession and jilted love. Set in Boston's Back Bay. I read it when I was living in the same neighboorhood. Recommended to horror/erotic thriller fans.

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book. I couldn't put it down. Beautifully written, with an excellent plot and truly intense ending. One of the best books I have ever read.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I like this author.

[Riatingin · Rating 5 out of 5]

lustfully and also terrifyingly gripping...

[Lisa Kinser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible.