Customer Reviews

Damage

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Damage is a stunning work of fiction which captures the transformative, compelling power of passionate love. Few authors can portray that ellusive state of suspended animation which anticipates catastropic change. Stephen is completely unaware of the banality of existence that he finds himself in; a state neither alive nor dead. When he meets Anna, his perception undergoes a gestalt-type shift and he at once realizes that things can no longer be as they were. Anna's own warning to Stephen - beware damaged people, for they are the ones who survive - sums up the theme of this novel, in which passion is cast in terms of power and actions inevitablely lead to irreversible and tragic consequences. Reading this novel is analogous to watching a car accident: morbid facination prevents you from looking away, ever aware of the compulsion that it could be you at the wheel at that pivitol moment when the illusion of control is shattered.

"Damage" was another book I bought on a whim because it was on sale. I didn't have a clue about the plot since there wasn't a synopsis on the back and most of the reviews inside were pretty vague.

To begin with, "Damage" is a pretty small book (218 pages) with short chapters and spare writing. Most people will be able to read it in one day if you have nothing else to do.

The book is told in the first person by Stephen Fleming who is a middle-aged politician in British parliament. He leads a very safe, boring life with his beautiful wife Ingrid and two adult children, Martyn and Sally. Everything changes though when he meets his son's new girlfriend, Anna Barton, at a party. His attraction to her is immediate and overpowering. Their affair begins after a few family get-togethers when Anna calls out of the blue and they make arrangements to meet at her place.

From the beginning, you know the relationship won't go any further than the bedroom (if they make it that far), but you get swept away anyways in Stephen's loss of control and growing obsession. Anna seems to remain a mystery, however, even after she confesses the strange death of her brother, who had killed himself years ago because he couldn't have her.

The ending, of course, is tragic and depressing when Stephen and Anna's affair is discovered. The darkness of the book might be a little too much for some, but if you like gloomy, erotic novels, I highly recommend you read "Damage".

Obviously, there are some sex scenes in the book, but they're not raunchy or overly descriptive. The movie scenes, however, are much more graphic than the book's, especially if you see the unrated version of "Damage". So, if you're highly offended by incest and adultery, you probably should just skip this one.

"Damage" was made into a movie in 1992 (aka "Fatale"), starring Jeremy Irons as Stephen Fleming (who I thought was perfect for the part, especially if you've seen him in "Lolita") and Juliette Binoche as Anna Barton. Although the movie follows the same structure of the book, I still didn't think the movie was that good, despite the several other great actors and actresses (Rupert Graves, Miranda Richardson). I can't pinpoint what I didn't like about it; I just didn't care for it. I certainly wouldn't recommend the movie unless you're really into the book or a fan of one of the above actors or actresses. Stick to the book instead.

Ms. Hart knows how to spin a tale from everyday situations. There is the politician - well his settled with his picture perfect family until the arrival of a woman - the woman who his son loves..he falls for her and then begins the destruction...

Quoting one of the lines in the book, "damaged people know how to survive". This is the thread of this richly deep poignant tale of love, lust and destruction.

I read this book at a stage of depression so I really could not relate to it as it makes you feel all the more vulnerable and bare. This book tells things like it is. Well done Ms. Hart!!

Hart manages to do what few authors can-- make a central character capable of drawing disgust and sympathy from the audience at the same time. _Damage_ is reminiscent to me of _Lolita_ and the middle-aged MP is quite similar to Nabokov's Humbert Humbert (small wonder that Jeremy Irons was selected to play both men on film).
The plot is something like this: Stephen Fleming is a bored, stuffed-shirt politician. He is smart and successful with a loving family but he is slowly smothering from his life of routine. When Anna Barton comes along, he is drawn in by how different she is. Anna and Stephen begin a passionate affair quickly and it escalates with even more rapidity. They take more and more risks until finally, Martyn, Anna's fiance and Stephen's son, catches them. Obviously, the game is over and the characters disperse. Anna returns to the only person who can truly comfort her in times of crisis and Stephen loses the outwardly perfect life he once had.
For the most part, this novel kept my undivided attention. I was able to finish it quickly and have read it several times since. Though other novels that deal with forbidden love have been recommended to me, I have not found any that I enjoy quite as much as _Damage_. True, the prose is sparse though not "joined-up" as one reviewer quipped. I am not put off by minimalism in literature or art so I found the unencumbered text to be refreshing. Others will disagree and wish Hart had provided more, but I think all of the necessary details are included with style.

This is probably my favorite modern novel. What I love and find most disturbing is the emotional struggle that the main character (Stephen Fleming) finds himself in. As a married man, with a beautiful wife who I love immensely, I can appreciate the honesty that Stephen's character portrays. Despite my obvious fortune, I too can see the power another woman can yield. The gamble in itself is intoxicating yet frightful in its consequences. Though I don't know if I would ever give in to the struggle, I can see why Stephen ultimately does. The love he has for his perfect life and family are no match for the obsession he has for Anna. This book is much more than a story of one man's betrayal. It's beauty and value lie in the detail the pages reveal of the struggle itself -- The constant back and forth which engages a mind trying to rationalize and convince itself that it can cheat betrayal's ultimate fate. Even in it's darkness, this is ultimately a love story. And despite it's tragic end, I believe that Stephen comes to find himself.

The narrator of "Damage" sets the scene early on, showing the reader how so many aspects of his life were built upon the expectations of others. His work and family life are conventional but he feels removed from his own expectations and indeed from the happiness he feels is not part of his life.

When the narrator meets his son's latest girlfriend, she ignites in him a feeling of extreme connection that makes him feel part of the world again. The ensuing moral dilemma, and its tragic consequences, provide the framework for "Damage." The book is deceptively short, but I found myself pausing at the end of chapters to digest what had been presented. While disturbing, the book is also profoundly sad. The narrator regrets the consequences of his actions but believes that his connection with Anna transcended the limitations of his world.

A thought-provoking read.

To anyone who did not care for this book: it's unfortunate that you do not have the depth to recognize or appreciate the incredible skill demonstrated in Josephine Hart's novel "Damage". Her understanding of a relationship's subtleties and nuances, as well as associated unbridled passions that cannot, at times, be denied, is extremely insightful. She gets it. And at the same time she's also able to very eloquently, yet concisely, articulate an intensely moving story. Kudos to Ms. Hart for an incredible piece. I look forward to reading any and all of her as yet unpublished work.

Not one for picking up a book due to appearance on pop lists, I believe I'd heard buzz about this book in the decade in which it was written. But it was a book I recently picked up to make use of time while en route for travel. It was the title that moved me. And the first couple of sentences, and a glance at other words within. The subject matter was a teaser, as well. I hesitated, as some other reviewers had mentioned, because it promised darkness and the topic of adultery. Obsession. The tone. Was I prepared to hear this story?

Most revealing were the intimacy, intensity, the thoughts, the thought process. The personalization of the narrator to expose himself is like his flash back. Obsession is not a gender, so I related to the truths of it, and any skepticism about emotional veracity flipped with each page. Initially, the story was very proper, almost journalistic in sharing who he is. The emotionless mask before he discovers the damnable gatekeeper who exposes him to the pain behind her mask. Thus comes functionality for his mask, it can become a shield to hide behind. For a time at least, before he must become who he is. Here is a man going thru the motions of life, but alienated from experiencing it with heart and soul for himself. He jumps right in.

I didn't read the book in one sitting. The minimal words were like brushstrokes of a painting, I had to step back and think. The truth of obsession, love. I read the book slowly to re-capture realities I've known. Love, obsession. For better and worse. Heart and soul of first/true love. (And hopefully more to follow after recovery.) The protagonist may or may not recover, as time heels all wounds, it wounds all heels. Though late to the game of love, at least he becomes more whole for having begun to live with love, no matter the variety that's damaged from the start.

From start to finish, the book depicts a circle of life with varieties of love and loss, and associated consequences, for better or worse. The female protagonist starts with a secret love story that ends in tragedy that she willfully struggles to reenact over years to finally control the outcome, pass responsibility by giving choice. She sets the stage, recruits the players, and with the aid of an omniscient conductor, the train wreck takes off for transference or transformation. The tryst room is a reflection of the one-dimensional nature of their relationship. It is barren. Big and empty, where they act out what can only become stillborn love. Could she and Aston have lasted? Would those who claim to love her be able to handle incest? Would Aston be able to handle other lovers? Could Martyn prove the outcome for Aston was inevitable, then or now? With Anna was not to blame for her role. The test, the keys, were in the hands of Freudian Peter, childhood trauma survivor Anna, and Martyn, the transference stand-in for Ashton. Anna brings proper attire for whatever outcome. Is Martyn truly in love with Anna the way she needs, so can consummate her marriage with her new Aston, or can she at least pass the torch of responsibility? Our narrator and his son become the fall guy. Martyn as the trumped rival of what could've been triumph over his father. The father holding the bag. He knew better, but he gave his power to Anna, for a better outcome, but kept the ruling title. He is responsible for his choices within the context. He had not succeeded at experiencing love, never mind good love. And here was his son about to rise above him, to break the cycle of his inheritance.

All love not created equal, invincible, dispensable, but mindful with heart and soul. Possible. What would/wouldn't we do for love? What's the worse that could happen if we did act on forbidden love? Among the life-affirming things, love can be scary, mindblowing, life-destroying, so maybe some tread lightly, because the gift trade may include passing of damaged goods from a wolf, stillborn love, a kind of love we don't want to choose. Adultery? ill-gotten goods with a shelf life. In this case, love was cloaked in adultery with the adultery antey upped for a man's last ditch effort at love. Someone old enough to know better, too young at heart to care, willing to learn. What price love? Priceless to some.

This book is deceptively simple. It's the kind of book you belive is so easy that even you could write it. Trust me, you can't. In fact, Hart couldn't even do it a sceond time, though she keeps trying. What I find most amazing about the book is that Hart writes the entire thing from a man's point of view, and she got it right. Everytime I read the thing, I get all excited and have to start over again. It is so good.

Damage is about a man who married too early, had it too good, and waited too long to sin. Sin is like disease. You need to catch it young to survive and be innoculated the rest of your life. Adults can die of chickenpox or a broken heart. The book reads like a clinician's case study of a man who takes several months to destroy himself by sleeping with his son's fiance. He sees the end coming and wills it. Is he an evil man? His wife, on discovering his affair at first thinks not, then has second thoughts. Evil people take pleasure in the destruction of others or even of themselves. Readers must decide what pleasure the central character takes from the death and chaos he spreads.

Stephen, the "hero" of the piece is a fifty year old high-achiever who falls for what psychiatrists today call a borderline personality woman. Doctors are taught to recognize borderlines by noting that after meeting one, one feels angry and confused and perhaps aroused to passion without being able to describe why. Ancient Greeks sent borderlines to be oracles. Borderlines don't smile much, utter mysterious phrases and seem in control while submitting to some doomed fellow. The 33 year old Anna Barton is the bordeline of Damage.

It is hard to explain how Josephine Hart, the book's author could have so well caught the spirit of the borderline and the feelings of revulsion and dread such women provoke in normal women. Sensitive men with career prospects are the prey of borderlines and though such men usually go to ruin they count the experience of disintegration as the only time in their lives when they felt alive.

Damage will seem incomprehensible to men who dated enough women and listened to enough romantic and mysterious nonsense to to send the Anna Bartons of the world on their way. Few women will like this book because it reminds them of how fragile marriage can be to a man of fifty who showed nothing but warmth and stability for 25 years.

Josephine Hart's prose is simple and in a few lines can create memorable characters. Don't read this book if you are feeling low or just coming off a disruption in your romance.