Customer Reviews

The Bridesmaid

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ruth Rendell's books always pack a punch. Or several. And in "The Bridesmaid," Rendell stays true to form, basically. While most Rendell fans recognize her as the author of the fascinating Inspector Wexford series, she also writes other thrillers. She also writes even chillier thrillers under the name of Barbara Vine. Regardless of which nom de plume she uses, it is difficult to find a writer who can explore--even reveal--the psychological pathways with the effectiveness of she demonstrates.

Philip Wardman, destined it seems, meets the mysterious Senta Pelham, an actress, most childlike, at Philip's sister's wedding. Theirs is a relationship that is made in you-know-where. Senta's affections do not come without a price. To "prove" their love, she insists that each of them must kill someone. Not your everyday pre-nuptial agreement, to be sure, and certainly not a characteristic of the genteel English society circles they live in!

Certainly, "The Bridesmaid" is a disturbing work and Rendell sees to it that the reader is not comfortable with the situation. The author's craft and technique are clearly demonstrated here and reverberate with a force that is both chilling and sensational. Queasy too. An uncomfortable--yet powerful--read. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

One of Rendell's greatest gifts is her ability to show what happens when a normal person crosses paths with a sociopath. The hero has no idea what he's met up with because he's too decent to think that way; he and his girlfriend talk past each other in the most chilling way. It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck.

I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer who says the ending is dull and disappointing; it's the most dramatic and horrifying ending I've ever read. The last three pages are a tour de force of writing; it just doesn't get any better. "They [the police] would come for this, though. They'd come for this." Gives me chills every time!

Do yourself a favor--read it!

Philip Wardman is a young man working for Roseberry Lawn Interiors. He is of quiet, sedate character and he hates violence of any kind. At his sister's wedding, Philip meets her bridesmaid Senta Pelham and falls in love with her. She has a white complexion and silver hair thus resembling Flora, the stone statue in Philip?s mother?s garden. Philip's love for Senta grows passionate until one day she claims that they both have to kill somebody to seal their love for each other. And so begins an awkward journey through sick and weak minds, through an emotional, erotic and irrational relationship. Mrs Rendell's novel is appalling, shocking, convincing and relentlessly gripping. Mr William Gaminara offers a respectable performance in this audio book and I enjoyed very much listening to his reading.

Say that you meet a beautiful woman, one thing leads to another, and you find yourself in bed with her quite often. OK, not quite often, but daily. How do you feel about her when passion has been satisfied? Well for one thing the leading lady in this book doesn't always tell the truth, and she seems to have an advanced degree in New Age Speak. She lives in a London slum basement that hasn't been cleaned since Charles Dickens died. Senta also suffers from agoraphobia (actually the least of her mental aberrations), and she gets most of her nutrition from wine and chocolates. Enter Phillip who settles down with her in this squalor, and being that he works as an interior decorator he at least feels obliged to nudge her into changing the sheets every three weeks or so.

Truly I have never met a man whose brains have sagged so far below his belt buckle. I have also never met someone who is able to rationalize a physical infatuation quite like this simple soul. To say that his friend Senta inhabits a dark world is like saying that Satan has a few bad habits.

All in all it's a quite interesting Ruth Rendell tale, and I found it to have a most satisfying ending, although, depraved anthropoid that I am, I kept hoping that constantly deluded Phillip would eventually meet an untimely end by having his head mushed in a garbage disposal. Good book.

This book was typical disturbing Rendell stuff. It kept my interest, but was not as good as some of her other work. She does tend to weave the various bits of the story together, but predictably; no surprises. The end of this was disappointing... it could have been much more dramatic. It was probably too realistic and that is why people didn't like it! The only other thing I did not like is that she really stresses Philip's (main character) aversion to violence, making it sound almost pathological. With this in mind, he does not seem bothered enough by Senta's talk of killing. Someone as sensitive as Philip would have to be wholly turned off by her deranged talk.

Not since Rendell's Master of the Moor have I read a more disturbing, more gripping book by her. Senta Pelham is an enigma; beautiful, amoral, and as not-of-this-world as the statue of the goddess Flora she resembles. The narrative teases us by resisting closure all the way till the last five or so pages; we are never sure about the veracity of Senta Pelham's stories, and like her victim/boyfriend Philip Wardman we keep hoping that the stories are fantasies, especially when these claims to truth become more frightening. If you've never read Ruth Rendell, start with this one. You'll be hooked.

THE BRIDESMAID is, as book reviewers would say, "a compulsive read." It tells the story of Philip Wardman, a young man who falls in love with the intriguing Senta Pelham, who leads them both into a dangerous game: to prove their love for each other, they must both commit a murder for the other person.

The events unfold at a slow and leisurely pace; at first, this appears to be a fairly simple and straightforward story. But Rendell, mistress of construction that she is, has laced it with elaborate red herrings. The pace quickens as the plot skillfully twists and turns.

As usual, the characterizations are excellent, vivid and at times frightening, though the author retains a deep sense of warmth for all of them. Rendell's stately, elegant prose is a sheer pleasure to read, drawing the reader's attention and curiosity naturally forward.

Up until the very last chapter, THE BRIDESMAID is vintage Rendell. The epilogue is something of a disappointment, unfortunately. Absent is the exciting, thrilling climax that the story seems to be building up to. Instead, the novel just seems to end without any interesting resolution, leaving the reader unsatisfied.

NOT MANY THINGS TO SAY ABOUT SUCH A MAGNIFICENT BOOK.THE MORE YOU READ IT THE MORE YOU LIKE IT.YOU WILL THANK ME FOR SUGGESTING IT WHEN YOU READ IT.

Rendell again gets inside the heart and mind of her characters, she knows from the inside out what its like to be obsessed, and shows the gradual pulling-in of peoples lives around their obsession, until, as always the faint whisper of both madness and danger hovers in the air. She is the most marvelous chronicaler of the lives of the disaffected, the too intense, and the ones struggling to make more out of life than just fish and chips, and beer on Saturday nights, coupled with a quick roll in the hay with the nearest available soul. Her compassion towards her characters shines through every book!

This is a captivating journey into the psyche of an ordinary shy fellow who encounters the grip of intense sexual obsession. A downward spiral, to say the least, but the genuine pull of this book is the author's ability to get inside the mind of the protaganist and really experience his inner discussions and the ebb and flow of his rational self versus what this strange woman brings out in him. A great book from a wonderful writer.