What is it about : Our hard-done-by Carter had the bad-luck of poor company and was wrongfully caught up in a scam where he was made the scapegoat because he carelessly signed off a few of the invoices. He then spent six years in jail, tortured by the prison guards, resulting in deformed thumbs on both hands; during his term, he mixed with friends and foes from all walks of life and even once got away with murdering an inmate. Carter's life turned for the worse when he returned home to find his wife involved in an ill-fated affair with his best friend.
Some thoughts after having read the book : The story was told in no fanciful, dramatic and gory fashion but rather read like a prisoner's journal - you know in prison, I was tortured, I made friends, I helped out, I ate, I exercised, I was visited by my wife, I watched movies, I behaved, I rioted, I was beaten up and all that sort of things. But the most niggling and incredulous aspect of the whole story was that Carter had the immense patience and clear head about his wife openly admitting she was still seeing and sleeping with Sullivan, Carter's best friend AFTER Carter was out. Carter was like saying - right, let me just sit down and think about all this and I would go later over to Sullivan's house and talk him out of bonking you dear; and meanwhile, would you mind watching over the stove in case the souffle got toasted ? Honestly, which husband anyone knew of would behave that way ?
Would I recommend this book to you : For the first half of the book, I could not feel the menace, the guilt or innocence, the dreariness of prison life; the second half picked up a bit with Carter feeling betrayed and plotted his way to action. Good to know about prison life if that's what you're after, but surprisingly quite a boring book. Best to take out one of her Mr. Ripley books to get the thrill.
0 comments:
Post a Comment