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Act Of Passion (1946)

by Georges Simenon(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1590173856 (ISBN13: 9781590173855)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

NYRB Classics

review 1: Simenon is one of my favorite authors, not so much for the Maigret mysteries because they are too formula laden, but the novels without Maigret generally are outstanding. This one is a bit disappointing. The writing here, though, is brilliant as Simenon, writing in the first person, realistically presents the disturbed emotions and writings of a doctor who has killed his mistress. One common complaint here is that the doctor is not very sympathetic. Well, he's not but I don't think that is the major problem. I just do not think his portrayal is very real. Towards the end of the book, but not elsewhere, the doctor has outbursts of anger, beating his mistress severely and then eventually throttling her. But this kind of behavior occurs very late in the book and we see ... moreno evidence of any violence from him prior to this. That is very unusual, unreal. Odd that Simenon, who was a crime reporter for years, would not have known that too. So the doctor seems to go completely out of character and completely off the rails. The only likely way that would happen is if the doctor goes completely demented, and he (and perhaps the author) seem to suggest that is the opposite of what actually happened. In contrast, anyone who reads this "letter" from the doctor, would, I believe, have decided he was insane. That too undermines the plot because surely that would have been the outcome in the judicial process. Sort of an odd edition too: the NYReview paperback frequently has margins (on the left) that are out of order, whacky. Was that intentional and a commentary on the doctor?
review 2: I'm not quite sure how to label this. Is it a mystery? I don't think so, though it's about a murder. Well, more specifically it's about a murderer and how (and why, maybe?) he committed murder. Is it a romance? It's ostensibly about love, though not really. It's supposedly love that made him murder his lover. And there are some parts of it that I agree are a good description of love - the need to be near the one you love, not just physically, the need to know and understand and be completely bared to the one you love - but then we get the jealousy, the abuse, the other stuff that has nothing to do with love at all. The bits that are about possession and control. I don't think I understand this story very well, but I think it's one of those that will stick with me a while and disturb me when I'm thinking of something else before fading into the back of my mind and waiting until my subconscious has worked it all out into something that makes sense to me. less

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