Customer Reviews

Transgressions

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

 

 

This book starts off very intriguing. Book translator Lizzie starts to notice CD's missing in her house. She thinks nothing of it as her ex boyfriend has a key to the house still. However, once he returns the key and the stereo continues to turn itself on and off and dishes move from the cupboards to the table, she begins to wonder if it's more of a poltergeist problem.

Until the night she wakes up and hears another person breathing in her bedroom.....

The story Lizzie is translating throughout the book is cheap, nasty and degrading, but I found it necessary as an explanation for Lizzie's behaviour. Despite the necessity, I still found the transcript quite boring, and it was only in retrospect that I began to believe Lizzie's emotions at the end of the story. "Mapping the Edge" is a much better book from this author.

Dunant is a pleasant writer with real skills. She does a nice job with her characterization and her plotting--unfortunately, her imagination--well, that's the flaw.

As a member of modern society, I cannot stomach the key scene of the novel. In this scene, our heroine chooses, when confronted with a rapist, to pseudoseduce him instead. Yes, she convinces herself that she controlled an otherwise horrible experience, but Dunant's describing our heroine as aroused and emotionally not affected during or after the assault is pure stupidity. Trying to see it otherwise really doesn't work.

I don't have too much of a problem with the rest of the story, and there's a good climax. Again, however, her response to her would-be rapist at the end shows Dunant hasn't quite thought it through. She needs to read a few true-crime accounts of rape to clue her into the devastation that accompanies every moment during and after that trauma. The story is an interesting concept, but I would read other Dunant novels instead of Transgressions.

Four months ago, Lizzie Skvorecky split from her lover Tom. Since their nasty break-up, Lizzie has thrown herself into her work, translating novels into English. Her current work is a Czech police procedural that she originally found very distasteful, but the cheap porn has since hooked her.

Recently, someone has been entering Lizzie's London flat. Little things like a Van Morrison CD have either been stolen or moved elsewhere in the house. One particular night, Lizzie awakens to see a man holding a hammer sitting on her bed. She manages to seduce the man, but later on learns about the serial "hammer rapist". Though knowing the danger she might face, Lizzie decides to turn the tables and stalk the rapist.

TRANSGRESSIONS is a novel that should have been great but falls just short of the mark. Lizzie is an interesting character, whose motives may seem strange but are well developed and comprehensible. However, the poignant story line is hampered by the intrusions of translated extracts from the Czech novel and Lizzie's own porno additions. Apparently, the talented Sarah Dunant purposely added a poorer writing quality to these sections to keep the overall flavor and authenticity of the books premise. Skip those pages (unless the reader needs a cheap thrill) and peruse the main plot because that is an intriguing cat and mouse thriller.

Harriet Klausner

When I bought BIRTH MARKS, by Sarah Dunant, I thought I have read the best detective book of the world. I haven't read all the detective books of the world, but I know that I really read one of the best ones ever written. After loving so much this book, I couldn't resist but pick another piece of the same writer. And, as she showed me once, Sarah is just one of these authors whose books you're never tired of (although she doesn't respond to your letters if you write her. No problem: one day she'll ask for MY autographs and I won't give any to her! Nobody is perfect. Who cares...) :)

But, much different from the book mentioned, we're not talking about a detective book here. TRANSGRESSIONS is much more than that. It has power, a good plot and, the most interesting of all: it's well written because the writer has criated her own style. She knows exactly how to keep the reader on the edge the whole book, without start to seem dizzy. It's not the kind of summer reading because that's not "just one more novel". It's a triumph.

Marco Aurelio

After reading "In the Company of the Courtesan", I picked up "Transgressions". This book is about as much "literature" as is a Harlequin Romance novel. Not only were the characters cliched and utterly rediculous but, the author seemed to be having some sort of contest to see how many times she could use the words "f%$*" and "nipple" in one book. When the detective delivered the line, "Welcome to law enforcement baby", I quit reading. What 1970's TV cop did she base THAT character on? Unimaginative stupidity is how I'd describe it. All it needs is Fabio on the cover.

I admire Sarah Dunant as an author because she has the ability to flay open her psyche and share it with us readers. In Transgressions this took courage because it is politically incorrect to imply that rape could be so complex as to (under the right circumstances) sexually stimulate the "victim" as well as the rapist. She also explores the complexity of a rapists motives. This isn't the usual binary good vs evil simplicity that most thrillers offer. Here, the author risks our disapproval by taking her protagonist into the shadows along with her tormentor. The subplot regarding a trashy novel that is being translated mirrors the main theme in a fascinating way. This is a very thoughtful novel which asks us readers to explore our own knee jerk reactions to good and evil. In doing this we must confront the possibility that our world may indeed be more of a "Net of Indra" than a simple good/bad cartoon. Dunant spent a most of this book doing what, I think, she does best, which is to deftly psychoanalyze her characters' motives, thoughts, impulses and imagination. She is brutally candid both with herself and with us, her readers. As a man, I enjoy the insights she permits us into the female psyche. This was not a classic mystery thriller. For me it was an invitation to explore that part of the human experience which rarely gets brought to the "party". We all have private thoughts and desires but do not ever reveal them. Dunant does an exquisite job of letting us into her shadow world. Bravo.

After The Birth of Venus and Mapping the Edge, this one is a little disappointing. The psychology of the characters and the prose are powerful, but the plot is weaker, the imagination more mediocre, and the details not as convincing. But I still strongly recommend Dunant. She is enjoyable and gives things to think over. I'd just say, if anyone is still deciding between Mapping the Edge and this one, "Go for Mapping".

I thought I was going to read a smart thriller and Boy, I was surprised. I admit I agreed with most of her thoughts and perceptions but with her being seductive to a rape-intentioned stranger? That was like the inner mad impulse of a female attraction to the wild, unpredictble thing... even too crude.

At one point, I thought Eliza was crazy in inviting him in the first place. Why didn't she just make a move to cunningly seize the weapon and attack him while he was in a trance? Like the woman she created on top of the original translation work would do? Yes, it's true, a woman always fights back but I don't think the fight-back principal was presented well in this story. Her want of the stranger was too obvious to be taken as a revenge or a fight back. Perhaps that the whole point, Eliza didn't know herself well. It is the Dr. Jeckyl and Ms. Hyde problem. The dark side you never want to recognize.

Although this is not my cup of tea, I felt intrigued by the ending. There was a spark of ingenious when you can review the whole story.
Mind you of the many (I mean MANY) the F*** word.

Since I started reading Sarah Dunant some months ago with BIRTH MARKS, I did not know that since then I was missing an important part of my literary life. Sarah is the better crime fiction writer I've ever read. She make us wants to go under the bed and laugh out loud at the same time. I just wonder why she has written so little quatity of books. She's the kind of writer we could keep reading forever. And TRANSGRESSIONS is the kind of book you just can't put down. Excelent plot, excelent characters and everything a reader wants: action, suspense and sense of humor. BUY THIS BOOK!!! You'll never want to stop reading Sarah Dunant.

Also recommended: BIRTH MARKS & UNDER MY SKIN

Love the author Sarah Dunant. Love gently used books rather than expensive new ones. Love Amazon.com for finding this great book for me that I wasn't able to find in my local used bookstore.