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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written novel marketed incorrectly, July 20, 2010
This review is from: A Stranger Like You: A Novel (Hardcover)
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Author Elizabeth Brundage definitely knows how to write. Her intelligence and skill with characters shines through on each page but sadly what this book is being marketed as is in no way what it actually is. You see the cover and read the synopsis on the back with the huge letters advertising "a taut and terrifying thriller." The story is described as being about a man Hugh Waters who had written a script that was accepted to be produced by Gladiator Films. When the executive producer who gave the go ahead is replaced by Hedda Chase she quickly cancels the production due to the over the top violence. Hugh decides to teach Hedda a lesson and flies to LA, stalks her and then kidnaps her and locks her in the truck of her car leaving it at the airport parking lot which was the plot of his script. He wants to prove to her that the actions were not implausible as she stated. All this does indeed occur at the beginning of the novel but it is not a starting point of a suspenseful, exciting thriller but rather a premise that leads to deep character studies of a handful of characters and what ends up being more of a thread among them all is not so much Hedda's kidnapping but rather the Iraqi war, the Islam people and the effect war and differing societies have on all people.
Author Brundage succeeds at a high level in her character studies. We have Hugh Waters, Hedda Chase, her boyfriend Tom Foster, the Islam exchange student Fatima and Iraqi war veteran Denny as the main characters. Sadly the way the novel is described and presented readers will be expecting the suspenseful read promised and many will be turned off totally by what is presented for it is not what they had been promised. Had it been described correctly then the proper audience for this intense piece of work would be picking it up for a read. This novel is intense. The characters are very believable, very troubled and all have lives and stories that have made them jaded. We get to know them all fully. Those expecting a thriller will be very surprised by how Hugh just goes on with his life after putting Hedda in the trunk and feels very little about it. It is quickly obvious that he is psychotic and being inside his head actually begins what becomes a character study of many. The way the Iraqi war is added into the plot is actually very inventive. The war is such a part of our culture right now and to read different perspectives on its effects on people is always an intense, necessary read. War and its effects has a great impact on people, their beliefs and how we live our lives. Hedda is presented as very unlikable at first but when we get to know her deeply and why she is the way she is she becomes a very sympathetic character.
The ending tries to return to the thriller theme and it is not a total success. It relies on totally circumstantial happenings which the reader is asked to accept but put those aside and you have a very good novel here. I hope potential readers take the time to sift through the reviews here so they see what the novel is really about. It is an intense, perhaps troubling read with characters that will stay with you. And that person in a trunk. This book is actually about the war and how difficult life and the world can be. Intelligent and very perceptive, I highly recommend this novel but just say please note - it is not a thriller as described on the book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just Missed The Mark For ME, June 28, 2011
It all starts with a Premise!!
Hugh Waters was so excited that he had sold his script. His whole life was about to change. Then a new person was put in charge so the contract was canceled. He believed the new person, Hedda Chase, was wrong when she said "NO!" to his project. So Hugh jumped on a plane to Los Angeles just to talk to her, make her see the script was good.
The conversation didn't go as planned when she declared his story unbelievable. Stressed to a breaking point, Hugh decided to reenact the terrifying ending using Miss Chase as the victim. Now her life hangs in the balance when Hugh plan takes an unplanned turn.
This is story about how far someone may go to fulfill his dreams. Set in the high pressure of life in Hollywood, it is a scary look at just how quickly things can go wrong. I would characterize the story as more intense psychological story than as a thriller.
The characters are uniquely fit together, sometimes at too much of a coincidence to ring true, but the characters themselves are believable with their many faults. Hugh is bored with his life, including both his job and his marriage. I felt sorry for his wife. The character of Hedda Chase is very unlikable so it takes a little work on the part of the reader to become concerned about her fate. The homeless girl showing up at weird times and places gave me pause. Bringing in a character, Denny, an Iraqi war vet adds a sense of current events to the story, but again his actions were confusing at times.
With all that said I did enjoy the book, it just was not what I expected. It was much more psychological as first Hugh definitely suffers a break from reality but it seems all the other characters do as well. This turns into a character study set off by one event that connects it each character to the others.
The way the story itself was written was the part that made it interesting, as it was told from the points of view of three different people and we actually got to read what was in their minds, what they were thinking. To me this saved the book. The characters were well written the plot just seemed forced and contrived.
This is the first book I have read by this author and understand her past novel, The Doctor's Wife, was very successful and received excellent reviews so I will probably add it to my wish list. This one was just a bit off the mark for me.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Plume Books, A Division of The Penguin Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Failed to engage me, February 24, 2011
This review is from: A Stranger Like You: A Novel (Hardcover)
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A Stranger Like You is well written, and its premise of a frustrated screenwriter taking his revenge on the producer who turned him down by forcing her to live the plot she rejected as implausible is interesting and, I think, unique. However, the book was seriously diminished by the fact that I didn't like and could not sympathize with any of the characters.
Hugh Waters, the wannabe screenwriter, has left his wife (unbeknownst to her) and job to stake everything on his screenplay. Soon after arriving in Los Angeles, he begins stalking Hedda Chase, the screenwriter who pulled the plug on the film for which his screenplay had originally been accepted.
Hedda is an ambitious woman who has put everything into her career, enabling her to rise quickly but also requiring that she be willing to make hard, absolute decisions. When Hugh maneuvers his way into meeting her, she makes clear that there is no hope for his screenplay being produced.
Hedda's limited personal life does allow room for her boyfriend, Tom, if only he will commit to her and leave his wife. Hugh, in turn, after blithely informing his wife that he never plans to return from his "business trip," finds a girlfriend in Ida. One rung above him in the Hollywood food chain, she gets paid for her writing, although none of it ends up in production. Meanwhile, Daisy, a homeless rat fancier, and Denny, a petty criminal, find that they're right for one another.
All of the players finally connect when Hugh kidnaps Hedda and abandons her in the locked trunk of a car Denny steals. All of this takes more than half the book to happen, and if I'd found the characters more enjoyable, it would have been an intriguing half. However, ultimately I just did not care what happened to any of them; their bad fortune seemed inevitable, and any good luck, undeserved.
The cover blurb describes A Stranger Like You as a "taut and terrifying thriller about the lengths we will go to, to make our dreams come true." The last half of the statement is explored very well in the book, and is the basis for the 3 stars I give it. The first half is, unfortunately, absent. It is more of a rambling and tepid adventure of a group of characters in which I had no investment, leaving me indifferent to their fates and ultimately, indifferent to the book.
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