The Woman in the Fifth

In my newly found appreciation for the local library (cost cutting tip #1 for me) - I am reading all sorts of not so new releases.

First cab off the ranks was Douglas Kennedy's 'The Woman in the Fifth'. You may remember me reviewing The Moment (here on the blog) a few months ago and raving about his book. So it was with a high level of expectation that I took The Woman in the Fifth home from the library.

Harry Ricks is a man who has lost everything. A romantic mistake at the small American college where he used to teach has cost him his job and his marriage. And when the ensuing scandal threatens to completely destroy him, he flees to Paris. He arrives in the French captial in the bleak midwinter, and ends up having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit, a beautiful, mysterious stranger, walks into his life. But their passionate and intense relationship triggers a string of inexplicable events, and soon Harry finds himself in a nightmare from which there is no easy escape.


I really like Douglas Kennedy's writing - its easy, unpretentious and yet tells an exciting page turning story. This book has all these hallmarks and was easily read in a couple of page-turning nights.


However, about 9/10ths of the way through the book, I was horribly let down. Unfortunately I can't divulge too much because a) it may inadvertently turn you off the book or b) completely ruin the gripping finale. What I will say is that I was very unhappy with where the book went and I'd REALLY love to hear if anyone else has read the book and felt the same way.


I will now hunt down another Douglas Kennedy book (there appears to be quite a few) and see if any of them can live up to The Moment for me.

A mixed bag

I've read a real mixed bag of books lately and whilst on holiday to South Africa so now that I'm back I thought I should briefly mention the ones I loved (there have been a few that I only just got through so I won't bother writing about them as well).

Firstly, The Moment by Douglas Kennedy. This book was a fantastic story about a writer, writing his travel books, his history, his romances, combined with a fascinating insight into life in East and West Germany before the Wall came down.

'Thomas Nesbitt is a divorced American writer in the midst of a rueful middle age. Living a very private life in Maine - in touch only with his daughter and still trying to reconcile himself to the end of a long marriage that he knew was flawed from the outset - he finds his solitude disrupted by the arrival, one wintry morning, of a box postmarked Berlin. The return address on the box - Dussmann - unsettles him completely. For it is the name of the woman with whom he had an intense love affair twenty-six years ago in Berlin - at a time when the city was cleaved in two, and personal and political allegiances were haunted by the deep shadows of the Cold War. '

There were so many parts of this book that I loved - it was very sad as well as stunningly written. It was mostly about not realizing that we are in 'the moment' - whatever that might be and how wonderful it is and the rest of your life can be shaped by it.

I don't want to give too much away as I think its a brilliant book and I highly recommend it to all.

Next post: 'Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness'.