Customer Reviews

Standing Still: A Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Standing Still," by Kelly Simmons, is the story of a woman who is depressed and anxious in spite of the fact she lives in a lovely home and has three adorable daughters. Forty-year old Claire Cooper worshipped her father when she was a little girl; he was "a hero who made every other man look small, ruinous." Claire resents her husband, Sam, who is often away on business, and she suffers from recurring panic attacks that persist in spite of medication and therapy. Her worst fears come true when, one stormy night, an intruder breaks into her home and threatens to kidnap her six-year-old daughter. She begs him to take her instead, and he complies. What follows is a most unusual abduction. Claire's captor, who is never named, turns out to be a compassionate person who has a good reason for everything he does.

As is so often the case in today's fiction, the chapters that take place in the present alternate with italicized flashbacks in which we learn something of Claire's past. She was a promiscuous woman who went from one lover to another based on superficial attraction ("my friends called me the queen of walking away"); she is hiding a horrifying secret that she prays will never come to light; she abhors her husband's shallowness, penny-pinching, and all too frequent absences. As Claire gets to know her kidnapper, she finds out that he is a man on a mission, and that he bears her no personal ill will. They gradually bond, in a way that often happens in situations of this kind, and their fates become inextricably intertwined.

Kelly Simmons has a clear, fast-paced, and conversational writing style; she injects a touch of occasional humor to offset the novel's dour theme. "Standing Still" is a psychological study of a dysfunctional marriage, and of a woman who is uncomfortable in her own skin. Because of her emotional problems, she is incapable of relaxing and enjoying her work as a journalist or her role as a wife and mother. During her week-long ordeal, Claire is forced to reexamine the past and decide what she has that is worth fighting for. The plot is a bit contrived and simplistic, and does not bear close scrutiny. The book's value lies in its sensitive analysis of Claire's complex personality and its engrossing account of her gradual transformation from frightened victim to a more realistic grown-up, who is able to live with life's uncertainties and imperfections.

Our book group chose "Standing Still" for our February selection. We want more Kelly Simmons! Simmons had us from the first sentence and her skillful use of pace kept us engaged all the way through to the uncompromising ending. The plot was unpredictible and intricately woven. We couldn't put it down and savored each well crafted - but not over written - chapter. Our consensus is that it will make a great movie that we'd each love to see.

Standing Still makes the manageable world you know melt away as the world of Claire's worst nightmares takes hold. In the opening chapter, she is a patchwork of awkward contrasts, bitten and defensive but maternal, sensual and constrained, clever and irrational. At first guardedly intrigued by how brittle and complex Claire is, you will soon become sympathetic to her. You will identify with her dark desire and the terrible intimacy she shares with her kidnapper, as much as you will feel her terror in your guts.

Standing Still leaves you wondering. Claire is by far the best-developed character and yet her husband and her kidnapper are fascinating shadows of real people whose souls you never see. Despite Sam's memorable hair, I think I never saw his face, never looked into his eyes. And her kidnapper is even more enigmatic. One wonders, does her perpetual panic force Claire to know herself so well that she can't really know anyone else?

You'll read this and want more from this author.

I read this book for my book club, and would not have otherwise read it. I don't generally care for light fiction, and books like this are the reason why. I don't understand all of the positive reviews. I could not stand the whiny, neurotic, weak main character. Without giving too much away, the way she is kidnapped, the way she is treated, the reason for her kidnapping, and what turns out to have been the event from her past that makes her on edge are all completely unrealistic and not believable. I was hoping for an interesting analysis of married life, relationships or career vs. family status, since the book claims that "she goes deeper into herself, reevaluating her marriage and her role as a mother, and unburying the source of her crippling anxiety." She does none of this. She whines and complains, and when the alleged "source of her anxiety" is revealed, it is not dealt with or probed at all. It feels very unfinished and unsatisfying on that issue.

One of the reviews on the back of the book is from something called Romantic Times. I guess that should have given me all I needed to know. If you usually read romance novels, you'll probably like this. If you prefer weightier books, look elsewhere.

The first thing that should be said about this book is that it is the most impressive debut novel I have read in a long time. Kelly Simmons' writing is riveting, the prose and the story captivating. In the opening pages, Claire Cooper, alone in the house while her husband is away on one of his constant business trips, hears sounds she cannot identify coming from the one of the upstairs bedrooms where her three children, four, five and seven years old, lie sleeping. When she enters one of the bedrooms, she is horrified to see an intruder with her daughter in his arms. Her instinct is what nearly any mother's would be: she tells him "Take me. Take me instead." And he does exactly that. The reader feels her anguish during the ensuing days, as her nightmare plays out. She spends the following week tied to a bed in a motel, her abductor her only companion. She refers to him throughout as simply "Him."

Claire is now a reporter for a local station, having worked all over the globe before her marriage to Sam, who co-owns a successful p.r./marketing business. Her history is, as she describes it, one of leaving without saying goodbye, whether it is a string of lovers or therapists. She suffers from an acute panic disorder, frequently all but disabling, and her Xanax bottle is never far away. Reflecting on her past before her marriage, she says: "I believed I was in control. I didn't see that I was wasting my youth and grace, doling it out as if it would regenerate. I didn't know at twenty what I knew at forty: that powers of seduction slow to a trickle. Until one day you go into the city in a perfect-fitting pair of jeans, get your hair highlighted, and when you walk back to your car no one's head turns. No, I didn't know I was perishable. But once I figured it out, the world conspired to move up my expiration date. It swatted at me daily with small swords--floods and heights and confined spaces and shadows and creaking floors. Things no one else saw. The pathetic world according to Claire."

Interspersed between scenes before and after the kidnapping are reflections of past days, going back to Claire's childhood, as captured in photos she remembers. But Sam and Claire, it appears, both have secrets. The book is all about, to quote the author again, "the things you don't see coming." Kelly Simmons has a completely fresh voice, and has written a novel of breathtaking originality. Highly recommended.

You will feel the intense rush of this book from the moment you start. It was one of those wonderful reading experiences where you are propelled forward by the artful prose and the desire to truly understand the main character, Claire. Claire is intriguing, fearful, witty, brave, and edgy. That she possesses such an amalgam of qualities you can relate to is what makes the reading experience so spirited. This book is more than just a thriller about an ordinary woman in an extraordinary circumstance. The book's real power is showcasing how we can manage our fears by immersing ourselves in them. The writing is superb, with a tempo that keeps you wanting more. I can't wait to read more from this author - she has crafted the kind of characters you won't soon forget.

Someone breaks into your house, is standing over your child's bed...you can see where this story goes, right? But in Simmons' STANDING STILL, you must prepare for the unexpected, always. This novel immediately grabs you with its fresh perspectives on life, and its sparkling prose. I am in awe of this author's talent, and can't wait for her next book to come out.

Simply do not miss this one!

The story gets a check on all key points, but I really had to think about the ending. Was it good or bad? I still have no clue. It left me with a taste in my mouth and I'm still smacking my lips trying to decide if I like it.

I've heard that a story can either be plot driven or character driven. Simmons has me wondering if she did both as she flipped back and forth from past events to the character's present day dilemma. Whatever the book is or was, it's left a strong impression on my senses.

A powerful first novel. Real characters and situations. Curious about the capitalization of pronoun's use for one main character but after reading the novel, it took only two days, I can understand why the author did it. Exciting, thrilling, suspenseful. Wonderful read.

STANDING STILL is a riveted novel, from first word to last. It flows so well from the chilling opening to the gripping conclusion that it's hard to believe that this is a debut novel. I highly recommend it!