Caroline Eriksson

Il tema dell'abuso maschile nei confronti delle donne è molto attuale nella letteratura svedese contemporanea, basti pensare a Camilla Läckberg e la sua Gabbia Dorata, filone che avrà un seguito nel 2020, come preannunciato circa una settimana fa dalla stessa autrice.
Il tema dell'omicidio compiuto dalla madre e trasferito sulla figlia, con tutti i danni psicologici che ne conseguono, è chiaramente ripreso dal film 'Marnie' di Alfred Hitchcock.
Ma Greta, la protagonosta del libro della Eriksson, non è una bamboletta anni '50. Nonostante tutte le manipolazioni e le violenze che subisce riesce a mantenere una lucida volontà di chiarezza e di sopravvivenza, nonchè a far prevalere l'istinto materno e il desiderio di protezione nei confronti del figlio che attende dall'amante violento.
La narrazione in corsivo da parte della psicologa/moglie tradita è un altro filo conduttore spesso utilizzato dalla Läckberg per i suoi libri, generalmente per i personaggi passati più per quelli presenti come fa invece Eriksson.
La soluzione violenta e la preferenza per essa costituiscono l'unica nota stonata di questo romanzo che tiene incollato il lettore dalla prima all'ultima pagina, tra suspence e colpi di scena.… (lisätietoja)

Greta, her husband Alex and their daughter Smilla are all together in a boat, rowing across a lake to a small island. They are staying at a nearby cabin and taking an outing together. Once they reach the shore, Alex and Smilla decide to go investigate the island and walk away. Greta stays behind in the boat. Her husband and daughter never return. She waits....looks for them....then rows back to the cabin looking for her cell phone. They're gone. No trace. Greta isn't sure what to do. She feels ill....tries to eat...to sleep a little....thinks about calling the police. Where are Alex and Smilla? As she tries to piece her thoughts together, the chilling truth about Greta and her life begin to take form.

I listened to the audio book version of this novel. At nearly 7 hours long, the audio is excellent quality. Tanya Eby narrates. Her voice is easily understood and she reads at a perfect pace. I listened to the entire book, even though at times I really wanted to DNF and move on to something else. I think if I had been reading the print book I wouldn't have made it to the end. For me, the story is just too disjointed. The strangeness and non-linear story is central to the plot -- it's just how this tale works for its effect. But, I didn't like it. The plot develops too slowly. It took so long for hints about reality to really start coming that I lost interest. The main character comes off as annoying rather than someone I might sympathize with or care about. Her behavior and actions are just too odd. The constant whining, throwing up and strangeness is off-putting. I really struggled to get through this story. Does that mean it's a bad book? No. It just means it isn't for me. And it could also mean that the story lost something in translation to English. I do understand that the story is about a woman's loss of reality and her rambling, disjointed memories and understanding of her life and actions. It just didn't work for me. Too much rambling, confusion and just bizarre weirdness from the main character, not enough coherent story.
… (lisätietoja)

The Watcher by Caroline Eriksson is a recommended "Rear Window"-esque Scandinavian thriller translated into English by Tara F. Chace.

Elena has left her husband Peter during a trial separation and has moved into a subleased townhouse. She's obviously distraught, unsettled, and unable to sleep or unpack. Her sister is trying to help her with regular Friday night dinners and checking up on her. Elena, an author, spends sleepless nights rearranging books in the bookcase. She is also watching her neighbors through the kitchen window. She discovers they are the Storm family, husband, wife, and teenage son, Leo. Soon she thinks something nefarious is happening between the Storms, and Leo, who is stopping by her house to talk to her, is increasing her anxiety about them. She is sure she is witnessing a marriage disintegrating and suspects murder may soon happen. Her watching is also spurring on her creativity, though, and she is beginning to write a new novel. Soon her writing is at a frenzied pitch and something must be coming to a deadly conclusion in both her novel and the neighbors marriage.

The plot unfolds mainly through chapters from Elena's point-of-view, but there are also chapters from the Husband's point-of-view and excerpts from the book Elena is writing. At first it is difficult to see what is real and unreal. The connection between the separate narratives is tenuous and the relevance of their inclusion is unclear, but the correlation becomes more coherent as the plot unfolds. The ending brings clarity to all the narrative threads.

It is an interesting novel and a quick read, although the plot is not unique and the outcome is not unexpected. There are a few plot points that were never completely resolved and I wish they were since they were an ongoing part of the narrative. Elena clearly is unstable and is an unreliable narrator, but this isn't handled quite as successfully in this novel as compared to other recent novels that have utilized this technique. If you enjoyed The Women in the Window, you might want to give The Watcher a try.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Amazon Publishing via Netgalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/09/the-watcher.html… (lisätietoja)