Book Summary
"After surviving a turbulent childhood, Mara Foster has finally gained independence and success as a painter. Now in her late twenties, she lives alone, still burdened by a troubled past involving a teen aged affair with an older man and the tragic loss of her college boyfriend. But when Mara meets Hugo, the walls she has built around herself begin to crumble. Despite herself, she starts to fall in love and realizes she must either confront her dark secrets or be consumed by them. And either way, she risks losing Hugo and her second chance at happiness.Written in spare, crisp prose and marked by wry humor,Falling Under is a gripping contemporary urban tale of human weakness, friendship, and hard-earned redemption."
My Review - 4 1/2 Great to the last Drop
A remarkable dark story told in a beautiful lyrical way, I loved the combination. While reading I wondered how many people we encounter day to day with agoraphobia - extreme or irrational fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places. Such a worry addiction, overactive mind that makes her paranoid, unbelievable concept. I really enjoyed this story, I found the writing lyrical, a prose style delicious to my ears, it flowed through my soul, very artistic.
I enjoyed Mara as the main character, she was three dimensional, had different moods, friends, lovers, past-present-future moments for all of them. For some I think this may be an execution problem as you never knew were the next chapter was going to go but it flowed wonderfully in my opinion, you didn't need to figure out what was going on. Mara used sex to get through the hard times, to take away the pain, how this all comes together at the end.... brilliant.
The best part was there is a major mystery twist thrown in, completely caught me off guard and put this novel in a class of its own, I don't know what genre to put it in. This would be a banned YA for sure, there is betrayal, sex, homosexuality, broken marriage, language, it has it all.
And the cover is so eye catching, a favourite of mine. I enjoyed the art story lines. Following the journey of a young art student to becoming a brilliant artist through the scary, losing her mind times also.
I recommend you try this one, really great read and a debut for the author. And the ending, the last sentence, wow. I love the idea that depending on the reader the person at the end is him or him and then you wonder what life would be like for them, brilliant.
