Notes from the Country Club

by Kim Wozencraft

Imprisoned in the Veritas Unit of the Fort Worth Federal Correctional Institution, Cynthia Mitchell is undergoing psychiatric evaluation to determine whether she is competent to stand trial for the murder of her husband. From the inside out, we watch as Cynthia endures the humiliations of prison life and reveals through a series of deeply disturbing flashbacks the escalating brutality in her marriage.
Cynthia dropped her successful career and New York lifestyle to move back to Texas and marry the man who offered a dream of love and family. She believed she was making a new beginning, but her hopes were soon shattered. Notes from the Country Club is a taut and harrowing novel that describes the high-wire act battered women walk every day, living in terror of their lovers and husbands.
Acutely attuned to the language of the violent heart, Kim Wozencraft turns her story on moments of sheer grace and utter panic. This book will speak to anyone whose love has been betrayed and to the degradation that has long been the plight of the battered woman.

Genres: Fiction

205 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

KIM WOZENCRAFT’S latest novel is NEGLECT, from Arcade/Simon and Schuster. Wozencraft is the author of the internationally best-selling novel Rush, which was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. Neglect is her sixth novel.

Her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, Texas Monthly, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous literary magazines and anthologies. She was executive editor at Prison Life magazine and has written for HBO Films. Kim holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University and lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York, where she raised three children. She currently teaches English literature and writing courses at SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Ulster.

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get in to this book. The premise was interesting, but the author did not execute the story well at all. I was not invested in the main character and I was not going to be. I made it to about half way through the book and I still felt like the story hadn't begun, yet. I had to put this book down; there are just way too many books to waste time on one that I'm not invested in.

[Sergio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un romanzo "leggero" nonostante l'argomento tragico: non mi ha entusiasmato fin dalle prime pagine, manca di quel pathos necessario per affrontare un argomento così scottante

[Dee Schwinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that this woman went through much pain and suffering and the way this book was written was her attempt at shedding light on the horror. It seemed to me that the materials in the middle did not mesh with the ending. Also it does not speak well of our prison system and procedures to see if someone is mentally competent to stand trial.

[Connie T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard to get into. Is it the author's writing style or the fact that Cynthia, the main character, is an unreliable narrator and we aren't sure what to believe? The story does pick up and the writing improves towards the end. I would've loved this book if the whole thing was the same caliber as the end.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot better than her later book "Wanted." I felt this one was written much better. While reading this, I felt it could have been someone's biography.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took a long time to get to the point. It seemed like a combination of Girl Interrupted and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.