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La Femme du Ve
Jeté hors de chez lui par sa femme, loin de sa fille et renvoyé de son poste de professeur d'université, Harry Ricks n'a plus grand-chose à perdre. Réfugié à Paris, ses seules perspectives sont d'aller au cinéma et de tenir le plus longtemps possible avec ses maigres économies. Sans le sou, il découvre bientôt, lui l'intellectuel américain, une ville sordide, celle des marchands de sommeil, des clandestins et des combines louches. Aussi, quand il rencontre Margit, femme élégante et sensuelle, il plonge avec délice dans le jeu de séduction dont elle édicte les étranges règles. Un jeu troublant, plein de plaisir, de mystères, et, ce qu'Harry ignore encore, de dangers...
409 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 18, 2007
72 people are currently reading
1368 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Kennedy
132 books1,188 followersDouglas Kennedy was born in Manhattan in 1955. He studied at Bowdoin College, Maine and Trinity College, Dublin, returning to Dublin in 1977 with just a trenchcoat, backpack and $300. He co-founded a theatre company and sold his first play, Shakespeare on Five Dollars a Day, to Radio 4 in 1980. In 1988 he moved to London and published a travel book, Beyond the Pyramids. His debut novel The Dead Heart was published in 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 403 reviews
March 17, 2019
”I wanted to get it all down on paper; a record of what happened----just in case something did happen to me---- and to try and convince myself that I was not living in a state of permanent delusion. But why should you accept this story as given? It’s just a story----my story. And like all stories, it isn’t, in the pure sense of the word, true. It’s just my version of the truth. Which means it is----and isn’t----true at all.”
Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas, two actors I enjoyed watching interact in the movie.
This all started, as do many things, with just a happenstance. I was home over lunch and was just skimming through the channels for something to watch while I munched down on the salad I’d so industriously chopped, when Kristin Scott Thomas filled the screen of the TV. She had just opened her door to let Ethan Hawke walk into her apartment and he was trying to kiss her. She leaned her face away from him, but we hear her unzip his trousers. We can only see their faces as she proceeds to give him a helping hand. . She never lets him touch her until he...uhh...well you know. I watched about twenty minutes of the movie before I had to return to work. I caught other slices of the movie at different times as it was rotating on HBO, SHOWTIME, or STARZ so I was starting to piece together the plot.
Instead of watching the movie as it was intended to be watched, from start to finish, I decided to read the book first.
Ok, so I knew the twist of the plot from my almost sacrilegious piece meal viewing of the movie. My apologies to the director. He deserved better from me, but if I hadn’t used a part of his movie as a mere diversion, as I masticated my salad, who knows when I would have finally gotten around to reading Douglas Kennedy.
Harry Ricks is a college professor at a small university in Ohio. He teaches film studies and what makes a teacher really good is when they are absolutely crazy about what they teach. He loves films and he uses that love to connect with his students. He soon achieves tenure just as his wife’s career starts to circle the drain. She is not happy with herself and she is certainly not happy with her husband.
Harry has jumped through all the hoops. He got married, had a kid, and had landed a reasonably high paying job. Just as he is reaching the reward part of his life, everything starts to unravel. We all contribute to our own demise and Harry is no exception.
He may have pulled the trigger, but others wired up the bomb.
In the aftermath, Harry finds himself the subject of a media witch hunt and the recipient of the full, scathing, condemnation of his colleagues. What hurts most of all is his own daughter telling him she doesn’t want to ever see him again. It isn’t a difficult decision to leave the smoldering, crumbling remains of his life behind and catch a plane to Paris.
Harry falls into a Yves Klein blue painting seeing the layers beyond blue paint.
A lifelong dream, reached under the wrong circumstances. He does not take enough money with him and soon he is on the verge of destitution. He is truly Down and Out in Paris. He is living in the part of town where only the most recent, most desperate immigrants live. He doesn’t have a work permit so his only avenue for sustaining himself is to take a night job watching a warehouse. It would allow him all the time in the world to work on his novel.
Five hundred words a day.
He knows he is working for criminals, but can justify it to himself by remaining ignorant about what actually goes on in the warehouse. Who are these people he buzzes into the building late at night? He puzzles on it, but does not let curiosity kill the cat.
Oh, and his neighbor Omar, the man who can’t go to the bathroom without leaving essence of Omar on every surface, is blackmailing him over…”And her smoky, raki-coated mouth tasted...well, smoky and raki-coated.”
**Sigh**, it is always hard to distinguish properly between what are self-destructive decisions and what are opportunities for illicit pleasure.
And then he meets Margit. ”The moonlight brought her into focus. She was a woman who had some years ago traversed that threshold marked middle age, but was still bien conservee. Of medium height with thick chestnut-brown hair that was well-cut and just touched her shoulders. She was slender to her waist, with just a hint of heft around her thighs. As the light crossed her face, I could see a long-healed scar across her throat.”
She lives in the Fifth arrondissement. She is strikingly handsome rather than beautiful with a sexuality that burns a man down to the essentials. She challenges the moral, uniquely American, complexities of his guilt. She provides a lifeboat in what is quickly becoming a cesspool of grasping hands trying to pull him under.
With this muse, this intellectually challenging muse, he begins to write a thousand words a day. He starts to feel like a man again. His creativity blossoms.
She limits how often he can see her. As each day passes between meetings, his anticipation becomes a thinner wire vibrating at a higher and higher frequency. The only way to release this tension is to touch her, to hear her voice, to for a few hours possess her.
People who threaten Harry, and there are way, way too many of those, start to have...well...unusual mishaps.
The movie Contempt starring the always lovely Brigitte Bardot and the always menacing Jack Palance was one of the movies that Harry went to see in Paris.
This is my first Douglas Kennedy, but it will most certainly not be my last. One of the interesting differences between the film and the book is that the movie does not convey the humor that is prevalent throughout the book. I actually snorted a few times while reading the book which happens whenever I’m surprised by unexpected humor. Kennedy also does a wonderful job of exploring and sharing Paris with us. He has written a few travel books and the talent for describing a place in a tantalizing fashion was most assuredly on display. Harry might be down and out, but the beauty of Paris certainly lessened each new catastrophe.
This book basically hit on all cylinders for me. I identified with the character and his circumstances. I’ve never had my career actually become a house burning to the foundation situation, but I’ve had some brushes with potential disaster. He makes bad decisions, but so do most people. Harry is simply colossally unlucky. His unwise decisions have the worst possible outcomes. He loves French films, an endearing trait, and spends every moment possible escaping from his life to the flickering screen of a movie theater. If I had been a tad more unlucky I could have found myself in Paris watching French cinema, rubbing shoulders with Turkish gangsters, and making love with a sexually explosive, alluring, Hungarian intellectual.
Wait...did I say unlucky?
Well, you’ll have to read the book to see just how unfortunate a windfall such as that can be. The twist is marvelous.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas, two actors I enjoyed watching interact in the movie.
This all started, as do many things, with just a happenstance. I was home over lunch and was just skimming through the channels for something to watch while I munched down on the salad I’d so industriously chopped, when Kristin Scott Thomas filled the screen of the TV. She had just opened her door to let Ethan Hawke walk into her apartment and he was trying to kiss her. She leaned her face away from him, but we hear her unzip his trousers. We can only see their faces as she proceeds to give him a helping hand. . She never lets him touch her until he...uhh...well you know. I watched about twenty minutes of the movie before I had to return to work. I caught other slices of the movie at different times as it was rotating on HBO, SHOWTIME, or STARZ so I was starting to piece together the plot.
Instead of watching the movie as it was intended to be watched, from start to finish, I decided to read the book first.
Ok, so I knew the twist of the plot from my almost sacrilegious piece meal viewing of the movie. My apologies to the director. He deserved better from me, but if I hadn’t used a part of his movie as a mere diversion, as I masticated my salad, who knows when I would have finally gotten around to reading Douglas Kennedy.
Harry Ricks is a college professor at a small university in Ohio. He teaches film studies and what makes a teacher really good is when they are absolutely crazy about what they teach. He loves films and he uses that love to connect with his students. He soon achieves tenure just as his wife’s career starts to circle the drain. She is not happy with herself and she is certainly not happy with her husband.
Harry has jumped through all the hoops. He got married, had a kid, and had landed a reasonably high paying job. Just as he is reaching the reward part of his life, everything starts to unravel. We all contribute to our own demise and Harry is no exception.
He may have pulled the trigger, but others wired up the bomb.
In the aftermath, Harry finds himself the subject of a media witch hunt and the recipient of the full, scathing, condemnation of his colleagues. What hurts most of all is his own daughter telling him she doesn’t want to ever see him again. It isn’t a difficult decision to leave the smoldering, crumbling remains of his life behind and catch a plane to Paris.
Harry falls into a Yves Klein blue painting seeing the layers beyond blue paint.
A lifelong dream, reached under the wrong circumstances. He does not take enough money with him and soon he is on the verge of destitution. He is truly Down and Out in Paris. He is living in the part of town where only the most recent, most desperate immigrants live. He doesn’t have a work permit so his only avenue for sustaining himself is to take a night job watching a warehouse. It would allow him all the time in the world to work on his novel.
Five hundred words a day.
He knows he is working for criminals, but can justify it to himself by remaining ignorant about what actually goes on in the warehouse. Who are these people he buzzes into the building late at night? He puzzles on it, but does not let curiosity kill the cat.
Oh, and his neighbor Omar, the man who can’t go to the bathroom without leaving essence of Omar on every surface, is blackmailing him over…”And her smoky, raki-coated mouth tasted...well, smoky and raki-coated.”
**Sigh**, it is always hard to distinguish properly between what are self-destructive decisions and what are opportunities for illicit pleasure.
And then he meets Margit. ”The moonlight brought her into focus. She was a woman who had some years ago traversed that threshold marked middle age, but was still bien conservee. Of medium height with thick chestnut-brown hair that was well-cut and just touched her shoulders. She was slender to her waist, with just a hint of heft around her thighs. As the light crossed her face, I could see a long-healed scar across her throat.”
She lives in the Fifth arrondissement. She is strikingly handsome rather than beautiful with a sexuality that burns a man down to the essentials. She challenges the moral, uniquely American, complexities of his guilt. She provides a lifeboat in what is quickly becoming a cesspool of grasping hands trying to pull him under.
With this muse, this intellectually challenging muse, he begins to write a thousand words a day. He starts to feel like a man again. His creativity blossoms.
She limits how often he can see her. As each day passes between meetings, his anticipation becomes a thinner wire vibrating at a higher and higher frequency. The only way to release this tension is to touch her, to hear her voice, to for a few hours possess her.
People who threaten Harry, and there are way, way too many of those, start to have...well...unusual mishaps.
The movie Contempt starring the always lovely Brigitte Bardot and the always menacing Jack Palance was one of the movies that Harry went to see in Paris.
This is my first Douglas Kennedy, but it will most certainly not be my last. One of the interesting differences between the film and the book is that the movie does not convey the humor that is prevalent throughout the book. I actually snorted a few times while reading the book which happens whenever I’m surprised by unexpected humor. Kennedy also does a wonderful job of exploring and sharing Paris with us. He has written a few travel books and the talent for describing a place in a tantalizing fashion was most assuredly on display. Harry might be down and out, but the beauty of Paris certainly lessened each new catastrophe.
This book basically hit on all cylinders for me. I identified with the character and his circumstances. I’ve never had my career actually become a house burning to the foundation situation, but I’ve had some brushes with potential disaster. He makes bad decisions, but so do most people. Harry is simply colossally unlucky. His unwise decisions have the worst possible outcomes. He loves French films, an endearing trait, and spends every moment possible escaping from his life to the flickering screen of a movie theater. If I had been a tad more unlucky I could have found myself in Paris watching French cinema, rubbing shoulders with Turkish gangsters, and making love with a sexually explosive, alluring, Hungarian intellectual.
Wait...did I say unlucky?
Well, you’ll have to read the book to see just how unfortunate a windfall such as that can be. The twist is marvelous.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
December 3, 2013
I was quite enjoying this one, before I knew what was going on and it was all suspenseful and mysterious, and then it was revealed (I'll not say, spoilers!!) and it went rapidly downhill, got very far-fetched, and I have to say, I pretty much lost all interest, as it was just too annoying!
September 27, 2021
What a strange tale….the first 200 or so pages were intriguing and captivating, but then the story took a ridiculous supernatural turn.
May 19, 2011
Two stars.
One because I have just been to Paris and loved all the references to places that are so fresh in my memory, I loved the feeling of recognition in the book.
The other star? Because it was actually compelling reading and kept me amused on the long trip home. An easy read, nothing complicated.
Did not like the sudden change of genre when the supernatural element was introduced, and the ending.....well it wasn't an ending for me. I wondered how the author would wind up his scenario, and felt this rather unsatisfying to say the least.
One because I have just been to Paris and loved all the references to places that are so fresh in my memory, I loved the feeling of recognition in the book.
The other star? Because it was actually compelling reading and kept me amused on the long trip home. An easy read, nothing complicated.
Did not like the sudden change of genre when the supernatural element was introduced, and the ending.....well it wasn't an ending for me. I wondered how the author would wind up his scenario, and felt this rather unsatisfying to say the least.
March 3, 2023
Penniless and homeless, Harry Ricks arrives in Paris as a broken man, running away from the debris of his life; he manages to scrape out a living as works on his book. He falls for the mysterious Margit Kadar, and sees her as the light at the end of the tunnel, only to find that there's more to her than meets the eye.
An intriguing and well written thriller hiding what I would consider a tale of the supernatural. Douglas Kennedy is an exemplary story teller. 6 out of 12, Three Star read.
2008 read
An intriguing and well written thriller hiding what I would consider a tale of the supernatural. Douglas Kennedy is an exemplary story teller. 6 out of 12, Three Star read.
2008 read
August 12, 2012
I couldn't put this book down. It had a great mix of love, lust, suspense and a bit of personal drama thrown into the mix. I had no idea where this book was going to take me when I starte, as it began with a man moving to Paris to rebuild his life after a broken marriage and lost job. Blah, blah blah and so the fabulous story begins.I found this book was very well written, a really well paced novel and the 2 main characters were excellently and believably portrayed. I highly recommend this.
October 17, 2013
This is well written. Really well written. Books are about people, and relationships, and this lets you inside.
The quality of the writing is a five, but the weak ending lost it a star.
The quality of the writing is a five, but the weak ending lost it a star.
February 6, 2017
What a story. Completely different from what I expected, but I enjoyed reading it.
June 14, 2013
I am almost relieved to read the other reviews on this site of Douglas Kennedy's latest novel - I wondered if it was just me who found the ending to this book rather pointless and bizarre.
I have read lots of Douglas Kennedy's novels and loved them all, as others on this site state they are always really insightful, show a great depth of understanding of his characters and always follow a really strong storyline. I was really excited to begin The Woman In The Fifth, the dust jacket of the book outlines a plot that sounds really promising as an American college professor trying to escape his complicated life in Ohio moves to Paris to begin again and meets a Hungarian woman there who he begins a relationship with.
To be fair at the start of the book it begins really well, Kennedy builds his characters well and I was really enjoying the book. The last 8 or 9 chapters however are almost like they come from a totally different book, suddenly we go from a novel about the observations of life and our characters in Paris, to one about some woman who is a figment of the main characters imagination (or not - I'm still not sure) who's been dead for years and who goes around murdering people who have done the main character wrong.
I probably would chance reading another Douglas Kennedy novel again but another one like this and I think it would be my last!
I have read lots of Douglas Kennedy's novels and loved them all, as others on this site state they are always really insightful, show a great depth of understanding of his characters and always follow a really strong storyline. I was really excited to begin The Woman In The Fifth, the dust jacket of the book outlines a plot that sounds really promising as an American college professor trying to escape his complicated life in Ohio moves to Paris to begin again and meets a Hungarian woman there who he begins a relationship with.
To be fair at the start of the book it begins really well, Kennedy builds his characters well and I was really enjoying the book. The last 8 or 9 chapters however are almost like they come from a totally different book, suddenly we go from a novel about the observations of life and our characters in Paris, to one about some woman who is a figment of the main characters imagination (or not - I'm still not sure) who's been dead for years and who goes around murdering people who have done the main character wrong.
I probably would chance reading another Douglas Kennedy novel again but another one like this and I think it would be my last!
April 18, 2009
Never judge a book by its cover!! That's the lesson I learned. I saw the cover and read a bit of blurb on Amazon about it and thought this was gonna be a forgettable romantic bore.. I was surprised! It was easy to get into the story and while it was an easy-read, I thought it was well-written... no cheesiness or predictability. I was a bit disappointed that it turned out so weird.. but the author even handled that well and it made me want to keep turning the page. It got quite exciting!!! I don't think there was any need to go into graphic details about Margrit's murders though.. bleurgh!! I just scanned those pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
April 15, 2020Review to follow
August 24, 2018
https://georgette60.blogspot.com/2018...
Βιβλίο που μπορεί να θεωρηθεί και θρίλερ,που δεν κουράζει και που το θεωρώ καλό μυθιστόρημα.Ωραία ανάλυση και καταγραφή της ψυχοσύνθεσης του ήρωα και η σύγκρουση ανάμεσα στην αγάπη,τη δουλειά,το εγώ είναι μερικά από τα γεγονότα που ενώ θέλει πράγματα ασυμβίβαστα δεν μπορεί να διαλέξει ή έστω να μοιράζεται,μπλέκοντας έτσι σε ένα λαβύρινθο και προσπαθώντας να βελτιώσει την πραγματικότητα
Βιβλίο που μπορεί να θεωρηθεί και θρίλερ,που δεν κουράζει και που το θεωρώ καλό μυθιστόρημα.Ωραία ανάλυση και καταγραφή της ψυχοσύνθεσης του ήρωα και η σύγκρουση ανάμεσα στην αγάπη,τη δουλειά,το εγώ είναι μερικά από τα γεγονότα που ενώ θέλει πράγματα ασυμβίβαστα δεν μπορεί να διαλέξει ή έστω να μοιράζεται,μπλέκοντας έτσι σε ένα λαβύρινθο και προσπαθώντας να βελτιώσει την πραγματικότητα
August 19, 2011
Haunting and violent tale of lust and loss.
When your wife and your boss, who have been carrying on an affair, conspire to destroy your career, a flirtation begins and ends in scandal, your daughter despises you and will not see you, and reporters hound you no matter where you are, what do you do? Fly to Paris and start over.
Harry Ricks arrived in Paris, checked into a hotel, immediately became ill, and spent the next ten days with a mercenary hotel manager who fleeced him for everything, including a doctor’s charges. The night desk clerk helped Harry and, when asked where he could go, offered to take him to the tenth arrondissement, the Turkish quartier, and help get him into a room down the hall from his own. The hunted have no other choices when they want to hide.
Harry’s problems were just beginning to settle down when he attended a salon and met a woman that fills him with lust and desire and a sense of hope—until people he knows, people who have wronged or hurt him are founded murdered. Someone is looking out for Harry and will stop at nothing to remove the obstacles in his path . . . but who is it?
Paris evokes gauzy dreams of romantic walks along the Champs Elysees, a cozy tête-à-tête at a sidewalk café while sipping café au lait or a glass of wine, chestnut trees in bloom, and warm rains that nourish the soul. Douglas Kennedy sets Harry down in Paris in the midst of winter, broken and alone, and proceeds to strip Harry of everything and drowns him in fear and loneliness, dragging him down to the depths of Parisian society. Each chapter of Harry’s life is an exercise in the despair of degradation.
When Harry meets Margit Kadar, he believes things are turning around and Kennedy continues to drag Harry even farther down into depths he never imagined were possible. There is a sense of the thriller in The Woman in the Fifth (the fifth refers to the fifth arrondissement in Paris) that glimmers with a surreal element that turns dangerous. Margit Kadar is the Cheshire Cat: a lovely intelligent woman of the world with a sad history and razor sharp claws she does not hesitate to use -- on other people or on Harry.
I expected a tale of woe and redemption with Harry a modern day Job, and there are elements of Job's catastrophic downfall in Harry's tale. What I got was the terror of a man who thinks he is losing his mind only to find out his worst nightmares are fairy tales compared to the life he is forced to live.
Kennedy succeeds in recreating Alice in Wonderland and Job's tale and spinning it on the edge of a straight razor while Harry tumbles endlessly down the rabbit hole. Rich with metaphor and highlighted in dark and bloody colors, this taut thriller dances close to madness in a surreal world one step removed from our own world.
When your wife and your boss, who have been carrying on an affair, conspire to destroy your career, a flirtation begins and ends in scandal, your daughter despises you and will not see you, and reporters hound you no matter where you are, what do you do? Fly to Paris and start over.
Harry Ricks arrived in Paris, checked into a hotel, immediately became ill, and spent the next ten days with a mercenary hotel manager who fleeced him for everything, including a doctor’s charges. The night desk clerk helped Harry and, when asked where he could go, offered to take him to the tenth arrondissement, the Turkish quartier, and help get him into a room down the hall from his own. The hunted have no other choices when they want to hide.
Harry’s problems were just beginning to settle down when he attended a salon and met a woman that fills him with lust and desire and a sense of hope—until people he knows, people who have wronged or hurt him are founded murdered. Someone is looking out for Harry and will stop at nothing to remove the obstacles in his path . . . but who is it?
Paris evokes gauzy dreams of romantic walks along the Champs Elysees, a cozy tête-à-tête at a sidewalk café while sipping café au lait or a glass of wine, chestnut trees in bloom, and warm rains that nourish the soul. Douglas Kennedy sets Harry down in Paris in the midst of winter, broken and alone, and proceeds to strip Harry of everything and drowns him in fear and loneliness, dragging him down to the depths of Parisian society. Each chapter of Harry’s life is an exercise in the despair of degradation.
When Harry meets Margit Kadar, he believes things are turning around and Kennedy continues to drag Harry even farther down into depths he never imagined were possible. There is a sense of the thriller in The Woman in the Fifth (the fifth refers to the fifth arrondissement in Paris) that glimmers with a surreal element that turns dangerous. Margit Kadar is the Cheshire Cat: a lovely intelligent woman of the world with a sad history and razor sharp claws she does not hesitate to use -- on other people or on Harry.
I expected a tale of woe and redemption with Harry a modern day Job, and there are elements of Job's catastrophic downfall in Harry's tale. What I got was the terror of a man who thinks he is losing his mind only to find out his worst nightmares are fairy tales compared to the life he is forced to live.
Kennedy succeeds in recreating Alice in Wonderland and Job's tale and spinning it on the edge of a straight razor while Harry tumbles endlessly down the rabbit hole. Rich with metaphor and highlighted in dark and bloody colors, this taut thriller dances close to madness in a surreal world one step removed from our own world.
January 16, 2015
This is a pointed critique and does reveal some of the plot so do not read further if you haven't read 'The Woman in the Fifth'. There are many reviews on this site already concerning the general plot and characters so, fellow readers, look elsewhere if you want to know more about those. My concern lies solely with Kennedy's depiction of females in this novel: you'll surmise their reoccurring characteristics below pretty quickly and how they relate to the main character, Harry Rick.
Susan Rick (wife of the protagonist) - She's the nagging, cheating, emasculating, bitter and vicious other half. Given her characteristics, poor Harry Rick is driven to pursue a liaison with one of his eighteen-year-old college students, thirty years his junior.
Shelley Sutton (the eighteen-year-old college student) turns out to be mentally unstable and a complete fantasist. Poor Harry!
Harry Rick's mother, a bitter and mean alcoholic, blames her son for the loss of her career. Poor Harry!
Yanna Sezer, the abused and bitter wife of the Turkish bar owner, has a one-night stand with Harry (at her prompting because he's so irresistible), gives him an STD and a death sentence if her husband finds out. Poor Harry!
Margit Kadar, the mysterious femme fatale, begins an affair with the obviously irresistible Harry and ends up exerting total control over his life. She's the most the bitter and twisted, the most vicious and unstable, the most emasculating and dominating female character. Poor Harry!
Do I feel sorry for poor Harry?
No.
I regret having read a novel with such a poor characterisation of women.
Susan Rick (wife of the protagonist) - She's the nagging, cheating, emasculating, bitter and vicious other half. Given her characteristics, poor Harry Rick is driven to pursue a liaison with one of his eighteen-year-old college students, thirty years his junior.
Shelley Sutton (the eighteen-year-old college student) turns out to be mentally unstable and a complete fantasist. Poor Harry!
Harry Rick's mother, a bitter and mean alcoholic, blames her son for the loss of her career. Poor Harry!
Yanna Sezer, the abused and bitter wife of the Turkish bar owner, has a one-night stand with Harry (at her prompting because he's so irresistible), gives him an STD and a death sentence if her husband finds out. Poor Harry!
Margit Kadar, the mysterious femme fatale, begins an affair with the obviously irresistible Harry and ends up exerting total control over his life. She's the most the bitter and twisted, the most vicious and unstable, the most emasculating and dominating female character. Poor Harry!
Do I feel sorry for poor Harry?
No.
I regret having read a novel with such a poor characterisation of women.
October 6, 2010
A ghost story that is uncreepy and/or unfunny is usually going to be uninteresting. It might have been more creepy if I had known it was supposed to be a ghost story from the getgo but otherwise its not even really hinted at until late in the book. There's some note of it in the cover flaps but I don't always read those and didn't this time.
I'll give the book high marks in that if you and your friends have read it offers a lot of bar fodder for "what ifs" and "what would you do?"
Lowest marks goes to the author's inconsistent morality. The woman in the fifth lives by what would seem a very strict code and then completely breaks it near the end. And for all the talk in the book about how Americans see everything black and white, its the American who can't tell the difference between good and evil and the Europeans who seem quite comfortable leveling their own personal judgements.
Speaking for myself in the "What would you do categoy"... sounds like a good deal to me.
I'll give the book high marks in that if you and your friends have read it offers a lot of bar fodder for "what ifs" and "what would you do?"
Lowest marks goes to the author's inconsistent morality. The woman in the fifth lives by what would seem a very strict code and then completely breaks it near the end. And for all the talk in the book about how Americans see everything black and white, its the American who can't tell the difference between good and evil and the Europeans who seem quite comfortable leveling their own personal judgements.
Speaking for myself in the "What would you do categoy"... sounds like a good deal to me.
October 24, 2023
Acabo de terminar la lectura y... no sé lo que he leído. Han sido varias fases las que he experimentado en la lectura, a pesar de que han sido solo 3-4 noches enganchada al libro. Al comienzo, esperaba más de lo que me enamoró de Douglas Kennedy (en "Isabello por la tarde" o "El discreto encanto de la vida conyugal"). Cuando al protagonista empiezan a ocurrirle cosas "raras" (ese trato en el primer hotel en el que se aloja, por ejemplo), me pareció una especie de exageración surrealista que me costó digerir. Después estuve un buen rato disfrutando de las evoluciones de Harry en París, a pesar de que no entendía casi nada de las decisiones que tomaba. Y el giro final, directamente, me dejó tan descolocada que solo puedo decir eso, que no sé lo que he leído. Tres estrellas por inquietante, que para mí siempre es una característica positiva en un libro.
January 23, 2018
What an addictive read. The writing isn't anything eloquent, almost Hemingway-esque in its clipped simplicity ("There was a hallway. It was white. There were chairs. I sat down." kind of thing) but zipped along. This was definitely not the glossy and sweet version of Paris, but rather a grungy, depressing, dark version in the margins. Like "Down and Out" mixed with a little Law and Order and some magical elements that surprised me.
I finished it just as I was coming down with the flu, which was interesting given that the first 30 pages were the narrator suffering through the flu. His descriptions of the fevered illness played out on me in almost exact detail, malheureusement.
I finished it just as I was coming down with the flu, which was interesting given that the first 30 pages were the narrator suffering through the flu. His descriptions of the fevered illness played out on me in almost exact detail, malheureusement.
January 30, 2016
One of those rare 1-star reads that I manage to finish because it is *at least* written in a way that encourages me to complete the story for the sake of it. Not a fan of the book mostly for subjective reasons. Also, I wish I had known how graphic this was before I ventured on to reading it, because otherwise I wouldn't have.
December 3, 2008
A friend of mine leant me this and I would never have picked it up by myself (judging a book by its cover and all that) but I actually really enjoyed it.
An American who is lost in life finds himself in Paris, living in poverty and working in the miserable job of an illegal immigrant (the book is very sharp on the squalor of those shadowy workers.) At a party he meets an older lady and enters into a curious romantic arrangement with her. But then an acquantance dies, and everything is turned on its head.
The prose style is unobtrusive and keeps the reader turning pages like the best kind of Airport thriller.
An American who is lost in life finds himself in Paris, living in poverty and working in the miserable job of an illegal immigrant (the book is very sharp on the squalor of those shadowy workers.) At a party he meets an older lady and enters into a curious romantic arrangement with her. But then an acquantance dies, and everything is turned on its head.
The prose style is unobtrusive and keeps the reader turning pages like the best kind of Airport thriller.
August 27, 2016
I am a huge Douglas Kennedy fan. Having read the reviews on this book, one stating "If you loved 'In Pursuit of Happiness' you will hate this," I approached this with a feeling I might not like it. How wrong! I totally loved this. I didn't expect the direction it took, very dark and compelling reading. Far fetched? Or perhaps possible? The Woman in the Fifth will stay with me, while other woman fade into oblivion. If you are a DK fan, please don't be put off by the many negative reviews. Try it for yourself.
January 24, 2009
Being a fan of Douglas Kennedy I expected great things from this but was disappointed. The book began brilliantly and I loved the portrayal of Paris but, as soon as the supernatural element was introduced I felt that Kennedy went too far off piste. His ability to create a sense of time and space is extraordinary but he never got to grips with the horror/suspense element. The story lost credibility at the end
April 16, 2014
This is the first Douglas Kennedy book I've given away, and I've read them all. I got so fed up with this one I gave up halfway through; it's all so dreary and I just couldn't sympathise with the main character at all. If you are new to this author don't let it put you off his earlier novels as they are so enjoyable. Try "The Job" or "The Big Picture" instead and don't waste your time on this one.
Sorry Douglas...you could do better...and you have!
Sorry Douglas...you could do better...and you have!
March 11, 2020
First half = 5 stars.
Second half = 1 star. WTAF was that??!
Second half = 1 star. WTAF was that??!
December 26, 2019
This started off well, with its neurotic hero being in situations that had an air of danger about them, and other people were either dying unexpectedly or being seriously injured…and then the woman arrived in the story and the whole thing went into this odd philosophic conversation stuff between bouts of having sex which turned the pace that had been set to sludge.
I know some reviewers on here loved it to bits, but there were a number saying that the thing seemed to veer off course; apparently the ending turned out very oddly with some supernatural element to it. Which rather put me off it. It’d already started to skim anyway.
I know some reviewers on here loved it to bits, but there were a number saying that the thing seemed to veer off course; apparently the ending turned out very oddly with some supernatural element to it. Which rather put me off it. It’d already started to skim anyway.
November 11, 2020
Audiolivre. Si ce livre n'avait pas été en audio avec un narrateur à la voix aussi agréable, je ne suis pas certaine que j'eusse eu l'envie de terminer ce roman. Le destin de notre protagoniste m'a laissé indifférente et je déplore une fin qui me semble loin d'être terminée... comme si l'auteur, que j'apprécie habituellement, ne savait pas trop où emmener le récit et a opté pour une astuce de débutant afin de conclure l'intrigue... bref, bof.
July 22, 2023
2.5
This took a surprising turn which just didn't appeal to me.
This took a surprising turn which just didn't appeal to me.
July 20, 2017
I liked this book very much, although i'm still a little mindfucked after finishing it.
January 8, 2018
An odd book. An American academic loses his job and his marriage as a result of a scandal that forces him to flee the USA for a new life in Paris, where he has ambitions to be a writer. Harry Ricks has arrived with just the contents of a suitcase and little money, so takes up residence in a grubby room in a seedy apartment in a poor part of town. To make some money, he accepts a job as a night watchman, guarding premises which are being used for something illegal, maybe for making snuff movies, but he never finds out. He uses the lonely hours from midnight to 6am to work on his novel. This routine goes on until he meets a mysterious Hungarian emigre, Marjit Kadar, with whom he strikes up a relationship, visiting her apartment in the 5th Arrondissement every three days from 5pm till 8pm. Harry's life goes completely off the rails when he is accused of murder and in trying to use Marjit to provide him with an alibi, at page 295 the book goes crazily into Stephen King/ teen Vampire territory, when we find out that Marjit died 20 years ago. So what exactly is going on? Sadly, this shift in tone from the grim reality of being down and (nearly) out in Paris to a fantasy novel, where Harry strikes a devils bargain to continue seeing Marjit twice a week in return for Marjit using her all-seeing spiritual powers to turn Harry's life around, is all a bit silly and the last 100 or so pages of the novel are a bit of a let down. I've no idea what the author was thinking off but this plot development fits very uneasily with the rest of the novel, which uptil then I had enjoyed. Try reading it, see what you think!
October 3, 2011
*** Three stars for the first 3/4 of the book; * one star for the ending:
I was lucky to win this from a Goodreads/Atria Books giveaway. I've read another book by this author and own two others by him -- I liked him so much after reading one book, I picked up the other two at the Borders going-out-of-business-sale. I had high hopes for this book and they were met for the first 3/4 of the book. The plot was interesting, the characters were dark, creepy, mysterious, likable and hatable. I couldn't read fast enough when the plot picked up in the second half and Harry's world was about to come crumbling down around him (again). Then, it got weird. I don't want to spoil it (even though some reviews already have), but I'll just say that the Woman in the Fifth is not who I thought she'd be. At All. I liked that she was mysterious. I liked that as a reader you begin to see things before the character Harry does. I liked that I was suspecting her of wrong doing. But, I didn't like WHY these things happened and WHO/WHAT she was. So, I gave it three stars because I liked most of it. I think there needs to be a rating for "disappointing" or "good start, bad ending." I'll still read the other books I have by this author. But I just don't think I can whole-heartedly recommend this one. Sad because he is a talented writer.
I was lucky to win this from a Goodreads/Atria Books giveaway. I've read another book by this author and own two others by him -- I liked him so much after reading one book, I picked up the other two at the Borders going-out-of-business-sale. I had high hopes for this book and they were met for the first 3/4 of the book. The plot was interesting, the characters were dark, creepy, mysterious, likable and hatable. I couldn't read fast enough when the plot picked up in the second half and Harry's world was about to come crumbling down around him (again). Then, it got weird. I don't want to spoil it (even though some reviews already have), but I'll just say that the Woman in the Fifth is not who I thought she'd be. At All. I liked that she was mysterious. I liked that as a reader you begin to see things before the character Harry does. I liked that I was suspecting her of wrong doing. But, I didn't like WHY these things happened and WHO/WHAT she was. So, I gave it three stars because I liked most of it. I think there needs to be a rating for "disappointing" or "good start, bad ending." I'll still read the other books I have by this author. But I just don't think I can whole-heartedly recommend this one. Sad because he is a talented writer.
January 1, 2016
Unusual story about an American college professor whose life has gone horribly wrong, so he escapes to Paris. Various disasters befall him and he finds himself living in an immigrants bedsit and working as a night watchman for some very shady characters. He thinks that things are looking up when he meets Margrit, an older Hungarian woman, and they begin an affair, but her dark past comes to influence events.
It's hard to say more without giving away the plot; I found the cover image quite misleading - I was expective a redemptive romance but this was much darker, almost a thriller, featuring a very dark side to Paris that one doesn't often read about. Harry is very passive and a bit useless, which makes him an atypical hero, which makes you feel sorry for him without liking him, as he gets himself into more and more trouble by his own stupidity. I think it's a good book but didn't exactly enjoy it, I just wanted to get to the end to find out what happened. I liked the writing though and will read more from this author.
It's hard to say more without giving away the plot; I found the cover image quite misleading - I was expective a redemptive romance but this was much darker, almost a thriller, featuring a very dark side to Paris that one doesn't often read about. Harry is very passive and a bit useless, which makes him an atypical hero, which makes you feel sorry for him without liking him, as he gets himself into more and more trouble by his own stupidity. I think it's a good book but didn't exactly enjoy it, I just wanted to get to the end to find out what happened. I liked the writing though and will read more from this author.
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