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Amazon Sales Rank: 7629
Publication Date: 2009-03-31
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1565125967
Type: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 291
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Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.
With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.
Average Rating: 
Review: 2009-11-20
clean sheets
The best thing about this novel was the title; the next best thing was the dust cover. After that it was all down hill. Newspaper reviews gave me a good summary of the plot lines, but nothing prepared me for how hilariously badly this book was written. So awful, I couldn't put it down! Everyone, whether they are drunk, desperate,angry,lonely,regretful,uncertain, poisoned, strange, silent....still thinks mostly about sex and/or is mostly wantonly and lustfully engaged in it! Expertly! Passionately! Usually on clean sheets. After awhile you begin to notice that the author is quite preoccupied with "clean sheets". "Clean sheets" seem to pop up on every page except when once or twice the sheets are soiled. Clean sheets are of paramount importance to every character in this book. Many sections of the book are awkwardly written,but near the end awkwardness crescendos to loopy heights. A sentence 5 lines long begins "He was a dessert that was too rich" and ends by describing him "buried beneath the black earth, already frozen over". Was he really a frozen Twinkie? As the book comes to an end,the heroine imagines a flower garden. Actually, she imagines a long and complicated list of flowers, their stems,colors,scientific names,countries of origin, and even imagines some that suddenly fill the air "with a perfume that was like a kind of fainting". I am waiting to find out that this book was written as a gag by 4 college roommates.
Review: 2009-11-16
surprising
I picked this off of the shelf with no preconceived notions, had not heard of it at all.
Once opening, I could not put it down.
This novel is beautifully written with rich language and complex characters.
It was also surprisingly suspenseful and sensual.
Review: 2009-11-15
Wow! Blown Away By This Dark, Desperate Tale
This was a (very) dark, often disturbing tale that I just couldn't put down. I started it one night when I was actually feeling quite tired, thinking I'd read a few pages and drift off, and ended up staying up for hours to finish this uniquely scintillating story.
This is a nothing-is-as-it-seems tale (the book has an almost Grimm's fairy tale feeling) set in early 20th century, rural Wisconsin. Truitt, a rich, bitter man, who long ago lost his wife and children, advertises for a "reliable wife." What he gets is Catherine Land, who has her own tragic past and, it seems from our first glimpse, less than pure motives for the marriage.
The story wanders amongst the past and present but is never far from the darkness, and perhaps even madness, that can possess human beings. Yet, somehow, the author still draws his three extremely flawed, deeply tragic protagonists in such a way that the reader can sympathize, if not approve of, each them. The perspective shifts from character to character, but the narrative never feels forced or confusing as it slowly, tantalizingly allows the reader to view each of these disturbed souls and how they became so very, very broken. (To give you a feel for the tone, the book is interspersed with details--most of them based in fact--of horrific acts of violence spurred on by madness, poverty and the darkness of a long Wisconsin winter ... all prefaced with the flat retort, "such things happened.")
Despite the pitch black themes that permeates this story, it's not a sad book, per se, though anyone would be hard pressed to describe it as uplifhting. The writing is vivid and all-out spectacular, painting unforgettable word pictures. This tale is a can't-be-missed true masterpiece!
Review: 2009-11-14
I tried to love this book . . .
I felt like I wanted to like this book but couldn't pull it off.
First of all the style of the prose was inefficient. That's the best word for it - this is the opposite of, say, Hemingway. Something is stated in one sentence and then it seems like the next sentence states nearly the exact same thing. And then the third sentence . . .
The other problem is the plot. I don't want to give anything away but the characters, all of the main characters, made choices and took actions that a rational people would never make. Nearly everything that happens after the first few chapters of this book is implausible. Just one (SPOILER ALERT) example - why would a guy who knew his wife was slowly poisoning him just casually accept the situation, continue drinking the poison, and joyfully advise her to "just don't let me suffer too much at the end?"
Finally I didn't like or empathize with any of the characters in the book, and could see no reasons why any of them liked one another. Especially Antonio - he didn't say or do one interesting or likable thing; but the other main characters seem head over heels for him.
One interesting thing about this book: I selected it, in a hurry, from the shelf at the library thinking I had never heard of it. But when I entered it into my Shelfari page I discovered it was already "on my shelf." What? Am I becoming demented? Have I read so any novels I am forgetting that I've read them already?
No - it had been on my "wish list." I then recalled that I had heard the author being interviewed on NPR Weekend Edition, and that I thought the author was a fascinating person. I'm sorry to say the book was a disappointment.
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Amazon List Price: $23.95
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