It is 1956
in Tangier. Lucy Mason shows up for an
unannounced visit with her estranged friend Alice Shipley. The two had been college roommates and
inseparable friends in Vermont until some unspecified tragedy resulted in their
not having spoken in a year. In that
year Alice married and moved with her husband to Morocco. How did Lucy find her? Why did she come to Tangier?
In
alternating chapters, the two women discuss both the past and the present. Both are unreliable narrators. Alice is emotionally fragile; in Tangier, she
struggles with anxiety and loneliness, and she speaks of “darkness and shadows”
hovering above her “so that at times I questioned the accuracy of my mind, of
my memories” (185). Lucy is more
independent but experiences “a slight fluttering” in her ear which was
diagnosed as “a nervous condition” (24-25). And then there’s her unhealthy obsession with
Alice. Their versions of past events
conflict so the reader is left to wonder who is telling the truth.
The pace of
the first part of the book is glacial.
It is only when the mystery of the tragedy in Vermont is explained that
things pick up. Unfortunately it is then
that the reader’s credulity is stretched to its limits. The villain’s machinations suggest she
possesses exceptional foresight. The
success of her schemes also requires great serendipity, unqualified stupidity
on the part of the police, and extreme gullibility on the part of several
people.
Why is Lucy
is always stumbling? When Lucy first
arrives, she describes stumbling so her knee “connected with the hard, dusty
road beneath” (17). Later she collides
with Alice “so that she fell to the ground, a cry escaping her lips”
(187). Shortly afterwards, Lucy stumbles
again “enough to wrench my ankle so it smarted” (193). And then again, “I lost my balance, falling
to the hard, dusty ground” (204). Alice
becomes equally clumsy: “I jumped at the
sound of her voice, slipping in the process, my already bruised knees
connecting with the hardwood floor” (213).
Yet one of these klutzes somehow acquires both mental and physical
dexterity and becomes a criminal mastermind?
Neither of
the two women made a connection with me.
Alice is the demure rich girl who lets herself be manipulated by the
insensitive cad she married on short acquaintance. Lucy has more spunk but she also does stupid
things like becoming involved with a man who has a reputation as a grifter. Both are emotionally overwrought and
constantly over-analyzing everyone’s facial expressions, gestures, and
words. There’s just too much needless
drama for my liking.
This book
came to my attention because it became the subject of a bidding war in the U.S.
where Harper Collins bought it for a
reported $1.1 million. It has since been optioned for film by George Clooney’s
production company, with Scarlett Johansson billed as the star. It is huge hype for a debut to live up to,
and I’m afraid the book does not. I
almost always prefer a book to its film version but perhaps in this case the
film will be better than the book?
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