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The Cry of the Owl, Patricia Highsmith, Harper & Row, 1962, 271 pp
I have now read five of Highsmith's novels. A few days ago I wrote in another review about the importance (for me, at least) of reading books written by women. Now I have to add that there are all kinds of women writing stories and this author is on the far side of some spectrum.
For one thing, she seems to lack sympathy for human beings or at least she rarely creates characters who are admirable and many, including women, who are despicable. I know this is true in life. None of us, men or women, are always admirable and some are despicable. Thus I must contradict myself and say that she does have a certain sympathy for the despicable and looks deeply into why and how that is. We have writers like that now, but Patricia Highsmith was doing this in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Cry of the Owl includes two spurned men. Robert, who is depressed and adrift after his divorce from a despicable woman and another man who turns hateful after his fiancee takes up with Robert. Just to unstabilize things a bit more, Robert has been lurking outside the window of this other woman's house, being a peeping Tom.
It gets messy right away as the murky motivations of both the men and the women never become quite clear. If I had to live as any one of these people, I would be fearful for my sanity. Robert at least has a couple good friends which I suppose is a sign that he is not despicable but he is unbalanced and weird in an Aspergers kind of way.
I have always been afraid of people who appear insane to me. I try to steer clear of neurotic individuals. I feel these are healthy attitudes but a better understanding of what makes such people the way they are does help alleviate the fear. Besides self preservation, it is also a fear of the unknown.
That is why I read Patricia Highsmith.
(The Cry of the Owl is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
It gets messy right away as the murky motivations of both the men and the women never become quite clear. If I had to live as any one of these people, I would be fearful for my sanity. Robert at least has a couple good friends which I suppose is a sign that he is not despicable but he is unbalanced and weird in an Aspergers kind of way.
I have always been afraid of people who appear insane to me. I try to steer clear of neurotic individuals. I feel these are healthy attitudes but a better understanding of what makes such people the way they are does help alleviate the fear. Besides self preservation, it is also a fear of the unknown.
That is why I read Patricia Highsmith.
(The Cry of the Owl is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
I liked your in-depth book review.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteMy brother-in-law is a big Highsmith fan and keeps nagging me to read her, but I've never really felt the urge. But 2017 is a new reading year and maybe it's time I added her to my list.
ReplyDeleteIf you read her, I would recommend starting with The Talented Mr Ripley. It has plenty of creep factor but not too over the top and then you can decide if you want to go further.
DeleteWhen you said they weren't sympathetic characters you weren't kidding. :-)
ReplyDeleteWould I kid about something like that? No.
DeleteOh is this part of your 1962 challenge? They've made a couple of her books into movies which I've seen but I haven't heard of this one. Considerably dark elements going on in her characters & plots. Mr. Ripley still freaks me a bit.
ReplyDeleteRipley is so unsettling, even more so in the book than in the movie. Yes this is on the 1962 list.
Delete