Customer Reviews

To Die For (Signet)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

There is no doubt about it. This story screams Pam & Greg Smart at you. The infamous teacher who got her high school lover to kill her husband takes a starring role in this book. Pam Smart is called "Suzanne Marretto," and her tastes run to the high school crowd.

Suzanne convinces her underage lover to kill for her and he does so willingly. She teams up with the lover, his friend and a lonely, overweight girl who has not found her niche among her peers.

Suzanne did some incredibly stupid things. For example, she videotapes the kids hanging out at her house after her husband is killed; she has sex with the young boy while the girl waits downstairs. It is like she wants to be caught and is waiting to be called on her bizarre behavior.

Joyce Maynard did a sterling job of telling this story and it is an honor to her writing prowess that this work reappeared in movie form with a very stellar cast.

Joyce Maynard is here to stay. I have loved her works since I was in high school and many of her articles have appeared in TV Guide and other mainstream magazines. She really has a flair for place, voice and character development.

As a creative writing teacher and an author myself, I recommend this book to all those aspiring writers who want to learn characterization. Maynard, I feel, has the best ear in the business for dialogue, and I stand in awe of what she has done in this book. She has chosen to evolve her plot via a series of small monologues spoken by the various characters, and the result is riveting. Here you see clearly that every character has their own agenda, and yet in telling their version of the truth, the reader is able to piece together what actually occurred. An utterly masterful job! Characters are drawn by not only WHAT they say, but HOW they say it. Here, diction and word choice are handled with such delicacy that it left me stunned. Her teenagers speak like teenagers (yet are distinct, too, one from another), and although her cast of characters is large, never do the individuals become stock characters. They always retain the uniqueness of the individual. -- Patricia Anthon

Loosely based on the life of the New Hampshire schoolteacher (Pam Smart) who seduced two teenage boys into killing her dull husband, To Die For is a fun novel that fictionalizes a much talked about crime that made headlines a few years ago. Another case of where the book is much, much better than the movie (although the film by Gus Van Sant- starring Nicole Kidman as Suzanne, Matt Dillon as Larry, Casey Affleck as Russell and Joaquin Phoenix as Jimmy- did have its good moments), To Die For is easily one of my favorite books. Such a great book that it's inspiring me to maybe write a fictionalized story based on that lethal Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher.

Anyone who would read this book and think it was just a novelization of the Pam Smart story probably watches too many movies of the week on LifetimeTV. This book takes the idea of what happened in the Smart case and uses it as a skeleton to write a sharp and darkly funny FICTIONALIZED look at our society's obsession with television and celebrity.When this book was turned into a movie, a local t.v. station ran an interview with Pam Smart who was uspet about her portrayal in the film. It wouldn't have come as such a surprise to her if she had bothered to read the book. And why would she be upset if she didn't care about fame (or rather infamy)? Don't read this book and wonder how much of it is about Pam Smart but read it wonder how much of it is about our country, our neighbors and ourselves.

After being a fan of the movie 'To Die For' with Nicole Kidman for many years, I decided to finally read the book on which it was based. The book did not disappoint me. Although it turns out the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book, there is a lot in the book that got left out of the movie (obviously, you can't put every little thing from a 300+ page book into a 2-hr movie). There's a lot of rich detail in the book and the voices are so clear and pitch-perfect for the characters. I really, really loved reading this and it's become one of my new favorite novels.

I've re-read this book several times. There is one thing that annoys me - the character Suzanne states, in a comparison, that Heather Locklear has brown eyes - and of course, Heather Locklear has BLUE eyes. Except for that glaring discrepancy, the book is an enjoyable escape into the world of a spoiled, self-centered psychopath. Joyce Maynard's writing flows and carrries the reader along effortlessly.

What a Great book!!! It would definitely have to be among the best I have ever read. It's presented in a fresh, unique way and has great characters. I saw the movie first and it does not do the book justice.

When I finished reading this book, I put it down and said, "Wow. How can a person commit such a crime"? She seemed to be a lovable person with the most wonderful husband. BUT she was only missing the one most important aspect of her life. Good Book!!!

Maybe you have to be a writer to appreciate the breathtaking talent that went into the writing of this book. It is an incredible feat to be able to sustain multiple points of view as gracefully and altogether believably as Ms. Maynard did here. I can only admire her achievement.

Why doesn't this author write a book of her own? Does she have any imagination? Any idiot could take the Pam Smart story and change the names and a few things about the characters. It's a shameless copy of the real story, and Pam Smart should be suing this author!