Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

A woman's fear of her husband's former lover, and her terror that his reawakened passion could destroy their marriage, drives this urgent but carefully controlled novel by the author of The Beginner's Book of Dreams . Kate Lurie is a documentary photographer whose films concern ``people who have suffered enormous losses.'' She is newly married to Eli MacKenzie, who is still grieving over the death of his son. Kate herself was for a long time afraid to enter into a binding relationship; now she feels Mac's pulse while he sleeps, sure that ``something so wonderful could not last through the night.'' Mac has told her about his torrid three-week affair with luscious Lida in St. Petersburg, where he was sent by the State Department in 1971. But Kate is unprepared for the shock of an encounter with Lida, who, 15 years after she and Mac had parted, confronts the couple in Brussels and boldly tempts Mac to be unfaithful. Benedict subtly contrasts the distrust and paranoia of the Cold War, when Mac and Lida met, with Kate's jealousy and growing panic. Kate's voice is electric with suspicion and dread as she recounts the incidents that bring her marriage to crisis. But there is a basic lack of credibility in Mac's self-indulgent behavior, and the secret Lida reveals comes as no surprise; in addition, other events seem schematic and predictable. Benedict nicely evokes her settings, however: St. Petersburg's phantasmagorical White Nights provide the background for Mac and Lida's romance; the later lover's triangle is played out in rainy Brussels. And her spare narrative reflects the tension of a frightened woman witnessing what may be the destruction of her happiness. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

These psychologically complex novels are about lonely, bruised women who try to interpret the world through the lens of a camera in the hope of escaping their past.Elizabeth Benedict's last novel was The Beginner's Book of Dreams (1988); her newest is an astute and immaculate tale about Kate Lurie, a documentary filmmaker who brandishes camera and microphone like shield and sword, battling her own sorrow by recording the sorrows of strangers. She meets Mac while working on a film about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mac, many years her senior and an agent for the State Department, has worked all around the world, but his most intense assignment was in Leningrad, circa 1970, where he fell in love with a passionate Russian named Lida. Their steamy and dangerous affair was abruptly terminated when Mac was sent home and subjected to months of interrogation to determine whether or not Lida was a KGB operative. Now, 20 years later, Mac and Kate, cozily married, run into Lida in Brussels. She is as voluptuous and impetuous as ever and dead set on reclaiming her long-lost American. As Kate tries to cope with her fear and jealousy by filming Mac and Lida's feverish conversations, we understand the fluctuating value of memories, the limits of lust, and the courage trust requires.While A. M. Homes' last book, The Safety of Objects [BKL Jl 90], was joltingly bizarre, her new novel is careful, even procedural. To be sure, there's plenty of humor and extreme behavior, but the story focuses on the breakdown of emotional defenses, the surfacing of long-repressed needs, and the realignment of familial relationships. This tale's aspiring filmmaker is Jody Goodman. Her past is shadowed by the fact that her parents adopted her just six months after their nine-year-old son died. Feeling nervous about her future, Jody decides to go into therapy, but her shrink, Claire, has her own problems--such as intensely disliking her sluglike oldest son and finding her home life less than fulfilling. An adoption also lurks in her past; she gave up a baby girl after becoming pregnant as an unmarried college freshman. Is her funny, nervous, and imaginative new patient her daughter? Is their fascination with each other healthy or destructive? What is mothering all about, anyway? Homes has plenty of intriguing insights and even some answers. ~--Donna Seaman

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Elizabeth Benedict is the author of four novels, including Slow Dancing, which was a finalist for the American Book Award. Her short story Feasting was chosen for Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She has taught fiction writing at Princeton University, the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, the New School for Social Research, and Swarthmore College. She lives in New York City.

(Bowker Author Biography)