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The Affairs Of Others (2013)

by Amy Grace Loyd(Favorite Author)

2.79 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1250041295 (ISBN13: 9781250041296)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Picador

review 1: What beautiful prose existed in this book was overshadowed by a constant degeneration into rambling that seemed to have no end. I continued reading out of a vain hope that this book may turn a corner, give me a reason to like Celia enough to have endured her ramblings, but this was never realised. Such a shame, the cover and blurb did much to draw me in, but sadly the content failed to deliver. The moments of true poignancy were just too few and far between to justify the investment of having bought this book and I will think twice from now on when I go to judge a book by its cover.
review 2: This is a tightly packed domestic monologue by an only slightly disturbed woman in her thirties who has already had a husband die and is lost as a result. She inherited en... moreough money to buy an apartment house and the “others” of the title are a strange lot of older folks, younger disturbed males and females and Celia, the landlady who is the narrator. Nothing much happens externally in the novel. Mr. Coughlan, an old seaman, disappears and Celia is distressed because he is one of her favorites. A couple of the women have affairs and, during a party, it appears that Celia is the target of one of them. Celia, in fact, partners with several folks in the novel, of both sexes but with not much guilt. The working out of the details of the lives of the tenants provides the plot impetus for the interweaving stories. Some might say there is too much internalization of emotions and behavior, but that is the perspective that Loyd elected to assume from the start. Celia is a VERY introspective person and suffers much from her intuition and emotional responses to her tenants—almost as if she is auditioning them for roles in her family. Celia is also very horny. She has never adjusted fully to her husband’s death and, though she feels guilty about her feelings, she can’t suppress them for long. This is a gently intense read. Whether you resonate or not to Celia she will make you feel her sensitivity and intense passion. Whether or not that’s enough for a novel that lacks much action is up to you. less

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