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All Things Cease to Appear
A dark, riveting, beautifully written book—by “a brilliant novelist” according to Richard Bausch—that combines noir and the gothic in a story about two families entwined in their own unhappiness, with, at its heart, a gruesome and unsolved murder.
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife killed and their three-year-old daughter alone—for how many hours?—in her room across the hall. He had recently, begrudgingly, taken a position at a nearby private college (far too expensive for local kids to attend) teaching art history, and moved his family into a tight-knit, impoverished town that has lately been discovered by wealthy outsiders in search of a rural idyll.
George is of course the immediate suspect—the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. And three teenage brothers (orphaned by tragic circumstances) find themselves entangled in this mystery, not least because the Clares had moved into their childhood home, a once-thriving dairy farm. The pall of death is ongoing, and relentless; behind one crime there are others, and more than twenty years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served.
A rich and complex portrait of a psychopath and a marriage, this is also an astute study of the various taints that can scar very different families, and even an entire community. Elizabeth Brundage is an essential talent who has given us a true modern classic.
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife killed and their three-year-old daughter alone—for how many hours?—in her room across the hall. He had recently, begrudgingly, taken a position at a nearby private college (far too expensive for local kids to attend) teaching art history, and moved his family into a tight-knit, impoverished town that has lately been discovered by wealthy outsiders in search of a rural idyll.
George is of course the immediate suspect—the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. And three teenage brothers (orphaned by tragic circumstances) find themselves entangled in this mystery, not least because the Clares had moved into their childhood home, a once-thriving dairy farm. The pall of death is ongoing, and relentless; behind one crime there are others, and more than twenty years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served.
A rich and complex portrait of a psychopath and a marriage, this is also an astute study of the various taints that can scar very different families, and even an entire community. Elizabeth Brundage is an essential talent who has given us a true modern classic.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published March 8, 2016
About the author
Elizabeth Brundage
14 books489 followersELIZABETH BRUNDAGE is the author of five novels including The Vanishing Point and All Things Cease to Appear which was a WSJ Best Mystery of 2016, a NY Times Editor's Choice, and the basis for the Netflix movie Things Heard and Seen. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she received a James Michener Award, and attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Witness, New Letters, The Greensboro Review, and elsewhere. She has taught at Skidmore College, Bard's Simon's Rock College, Florida Atlantic University, Trinity College, the University of Hartford, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. She lives with her family in Albany, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,899 reviews
August 27, 2016
This book is 400 pages long. There are no quotation marks used. Ever. Therefore, there is not only no indication from sentence to sentence of what is spoken, but often there is no indication of who is speaking (call me crazy, but I need this information to follow the story)...and there are clunky, abrupt transitions of past and present and points of view. This made for a challenging and somewhat painful reading experience for me. This book was very well-written, just in desperate need of better editing and stylistic methods. Very dark, deeply-detailed and way too long, this meandered to the point that it became confusing. This was an ambitious drama that enticed me to skim. Upon reaching the end, I was exhausted by it all and not overly impressed. 2.5 stars.
February 13, 2016
This book is almost impossible to describe, though it starts with a horrific murder, so since I am feeling creative today I have decided to compare this book to fishing. Not fly fishing but the lazy kind of fishing where you spend the morning waiting for the fish to bite. The place I fish is beautiful, just as the land where the farmhouse sits that the Clares buy is absolutely breathtaking. I am hopeful that this will be a wonderful fishing day, the picture of the Clares with their three year old daughter show they seem hopeful that this will be a new start to their marriage even if the farmhouse already has a tragic past. I sit and wait and things seem to happen very slowly but at last a bite and soon my line is tightening, just as the tension in this novel tightens and builds, my line bows, the fish is large and it is running down the river trying to escape. Soon my pole bows and I start reeling the fish in, just as this novel draws the reader in completely. I reel my fish in and just when I can see how large it is, and it is close to shore, the line snaps and the fish swims away. If I had a net I could have had this fish but I did not have the right supplies. Just as the police officer in this case does, not have all the information he needs to successfully being this murderer to justice, people who have information but cannot or will not share this. But the day is long and there is more time, maybe someday I will catch this fish, a twist at the end is always welcome. Sometimes things just take longer than we want them too. And since we will not be having fish for dinner, others are affected.
This actually all makes more sense than is apparent and if you read this book, and you should, you will see what I mean.
Arc from publisher.
This actually all makes more sense than is apparent and if you read this book, and you should, you will see what I mean.
Arc from publisher.
January 9, 2016
George says, (while opening the front door), "Hello, Paul", shaking his hand, "I'm sorry for your loss"!
YIKES... WHOLLY-DIP-S#+T.
If you just discovered your wife -murdered -
....yes, you spent 5 hours at the police station immediately after...
had a night's sleep ( if that's what it's called)...
would you be be so kind to consider your wife's sister, ( Agnes), husband's feelings?
REALLY? So soon? Get Real! It wouldn't enter your mind to say "sorry for you loss,
PAUL".
So...I'm already thinking 'early' in the story, this George guy (husband of the murdered wife), is 'at least' some kind of shady character. I'm hook.. I'm paying attention to wevery little detail and new character introduced.
...I'm trusting nobody!!! ( other than the toddler, Fanny, who was in the house when
her mother was killed).
Great crime thriller....
Spans over 20 years...
A couple Ella & Calvin Hale commit suicide in their farm house ( they have 3 sons)
George, Catherine, and toddle Fanny move into the farm house
The Hale sons help around out the new owners...getting close to Catherine and Fanny.
Once Catherine is murdered ...it seems the entire community blames George.
Yet, the crime goes unsolved.
A few things we know..
George has a young mistress.
Their marriage was coming apart at the seams...
George had a temper.
The farm house had a creepy history...
George was some kind of "wunderkind in art history". "
George had the "benign, uninteresting beauty of the Disney prince who, out of stupid luck, always got the girl."
Catherine wasn't exactly assertive, or confident on her own.
Catherine was beautiful, but fragile...but got stronger from the support of her friends.
So, did George do it? Did "Hello, Paul, I'm sorry for your loss", guy, kill his wife or not"?
If not him, who? and why?
A very satisfying intelligent, well written thriller. An riveting ride we take with the author while searching for the truth and exploring the complexities of the families and the
complexities of the human mind.
Thank You Knopf Doubleday Publishing, Netgalley, and Elizabeth Brundage
YIKES... WHOLLY-DIP-S#+T.
If you just discovered your wife -murdered -
....yes, you spent 5 hours at the police station immediately after...
had a night's sleep ( if that's what it's called)...
would you be be so kind to consider your wife's sister, ( Agnes), husband's feelings?
REALLY? So soon? Get Real! It wouldn't enter your mind to say "sorry for you loss,
PAUL".
So...I'm already thinking 'early' in the story, this George guy (husband of the murdered wife), is 'at least' some kind of shady character. I'm hook.. I'm paying attention to wevery little detail and new character introduced.
...I'm trusting nobody!!! ( other than the toddler, Fanny, who was in the house when
her mother was killed).
Great crime thriller....
Spans over 20 years...
A couple Ella & Calvin Hale commit suicide in their farm house ( they have 3 sons)
George, Catherine, and toddle Fanny move into the farm house
The Hale sons help around out the new owners...getting close to Catherine and Fanny.
Once Catherine is murdered ...it seems the entire community blames George.
Yet, the crime goes unsolved.
A few things we know..
George has a young mistress.
Their marriage was coming apart at the seams...
George had a temper.
The farm house had a creepy history...
George was some kind of "wunderkind in art history". "
George had the "benign, uninteresting beauty of the Disney prince who, out of stupid luck, always got the girl."
Catherine wasn't exactly assertive, or confident on her own.
Catherine was beautiful, but fragile...but got stronger from the support of her friends.
So, did George do it? Did "Hello, Paul, I'm sorry for your loss", guy, kill his wife or not"?
If not him, who? and why?
A very satisfying intelligent, well written thriller. An riveting ride we take with the author while searching for the truth and exploring the complexities of the families and the
complexities of the human mind.
Thank You Knopf Doubleday Publishing, Netgalley, and Elizabeth Brundage
April 27, 2021
Update:
Things Heard & Seen, a thriller film based on this novel , premieres on Netflix this Thursday, April 29. I read this book in 2017 and found it to be unique with an unputdownable second half. I think this will make a terrific movie and can't wait!
This brooding, atmospheric story opens in 1979 when George Clare, a university professor, comes home from work to find his wife murdered in their bed, an ax to the head, and their toddler, Fanny, alone in the house. The marriage was not a happy one and George is the immediate suspect. Everyone seems to know he did it.
But the house has a creepy history. Some years prior, the Hale family lived in the house. Theirs was also an unhappy union. The couple commits suicide, leaving behind 3 young sons. One of the sons now has ties to the Clare family, babysitting Fanny on occasion and helping out around the house.
From here, the narrative toggles back and forth between the two families, going back in the past to discover how both families ended up where they did. After the dramatic start, it’s a slow burn of a novel, with the tension slowly building. Emphasis on slowly.
This is not a fast-paced thriller or a murder mystery. It’s a post-mortem of a troubled marriage, and a character study of a psychopath along with the people in his orbit. Thoughts, musings, and mundane actions are described in detail, sometimes meandering along for no discernible reason. Not much happens for a long time after the grisly beginning. And then all of a sudden, I found myself totally riveted, and I finished the last half of the book in one sitting.
The town itself is a character in the book, with the economic struggles of life in a rural community in the 1970s, and the characters who inhabit the town well-defined. And then there's the house, with a lot of sadness happening under it's roof. There’s a slight supernatural element as well, but it was done extremely well and is a very minor part of the story.
I tried the audiobook but didn’t care for the narrator so switched to the print book. Only to find out there are no quotation marks and run on paragraphs – there were times I didn’t know who was talking or if the character was thinking it or saying it. It made me crazy but eventually I was so into the flow of the story I stopped noticing.
The book is masterfully told and beautifully written, full of nuance and one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. A little patience is needed at the beginning but it was worth the wait. However, I did have a few quibbles about certain things that happen at the end
Things Heard & Seen, a thriller film based on this novel , premieres on Netflix this Thursday, April 29. I read this book in 2017 and found it to be unique with an unputdownable second half. I think this will make a terrific movie and can't wait!
This brooding, atmospheric story opens in 1979 when George Clare, a university professor, comes home from work to find his wife murdered in their bed, an ax to the head, and their toddler, Fanny, alone in the house. The marriage was not a happy one and George is the immediate suspect. Everyone seems to know he did it.
But the house has a creepy history. Some years prior, the Hale family lived in the house. Theirs was also an unhappy union. The couple commits suicide, leaving behind 3 young sons. One of the sons now has ties to the Clare family, babysitting Fanny on occasion and helping out around the house.
From here, the narrative toggles back and forth between the two families, going back in the past to discover how both families ended up where they did. After the dramatic start, it’s a slow burn of a novel, with the tension slowly building. Emphasis on slowly.
This is not a fast-paced thriller or a murder mystery. It’s a post-mortem of a troubled marriage, and a character study of a psychopath along with the people in his orbit. Thoughts, musings, and mundane actions are described in detail, sometimes meandering along for no discernible reason. Not much happens for a long time after the grisly beginning. And then all of a sudden, I found myself totally riveted, and I finished the last half of the book in one sitting.
The town itself is a character in the book, with the economic struggles of life in a rural community in the 1970s, and the characters who inhabit the town well-defined. And then there's the house, with a lot of sadness happening under it's roof. There’s a slight supernatural element as well, but it was done extremely well and is a very minor part of the story.
I tried the audiobook but didn’t care for the narrator so switched to the print book. Only to find out there are no quotation marks and run on paragraphs – there were times I didn’t know who was talking or if the character was thinking it or saying it. It made me crazy but eventually I was so into the flow of the story I stopped noticing.
The book is masterfully told and beautifully written, full of nuance and one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. A little patience is needed at the beginning but it was worth the wait. However, I did have a few quibbles about certain things that happen at the end
March 21, 2023
I'm befuddled by the positive reviews I'm reading here but it's not the first time I've felt like this, and it definitely won't be the last.
The book is nicely written, which is the only positive.
Let me save you 400 pages of backstory and endless recaps of the lives of major and minor characters you won't care about because most of them were clearly punchable.
A woman is murdered. Her husband did it. Their marriage is a sham. He is the lamest murderer I've ever met. The house they live in may be cursed. The end.
See how many trees I just saved?
But let me be clear. This is not a thriller. This is not scary. And it is not GOTHIC. Why do people use words they have no idea how to use? There are no thrills or chills to titillate or shock you into submission of stupendous horror.
Lately, I seem to be reading books with the same characters but in different settings; weak, submissive woman who gets shafted into marriage; adulterous, arrogant husband who does what he wants because...well, he's male. Minor characters who weave in and out of their lives but serve little to move the story forward if only to add small acts of tension or serve to demonstrate why the husband is such a dick.
But my main issue was that I couldn't believe George Clare is a murderer. An adulterous asshole, sure, a lying prick, most definitely, but did I discern, from the way his personality and character is drawn, that he is a vengeful, violent man?
Not. At. All. I think he is a two dimensional coward, a cliche stereotype of a man who thinks he's better than everyone around him, but not a murderer.
I was sympathetic to the Hale brothers, a small shining surprise in the glut of 400 pages, but they were the needles in a haystack you had to sort through from the other trifling details of the lives of the supporting characters in the small town.
Do I care that the sheriff's daughter is a junkie?
No, not really.
Do I care that the sheriff and his wife get divorced years after what appears to be a sound marriage?
Nope.
I just wanted the book to end.
The book is nicely written, which is the only positive.
Let me save you 400 pages of backstory and endless recaps of the lives of major and minor characters you won't care about because most of them were clearly punchable.
A woman is murdered. Her husband did it. Their marriage is a sham. He is the lamest murderer I've ever met. The house they live in may be cursed. The end.
See how many trees I just saved?
But let me be clear. This is not a thriller. This is not scary. And it is not GOTHIC. Why do people use words they have no idea how to use? There are no thrills or chills to titillate or shock you into submission of stupendous horror.
Lately, I seem to be reading books with the same characters but in different settings; weak, submissive woman who gets shafted into marriage; adulterous, arrogant husband who does what he wants because...well, he's male. Minor characters who weave in and out of their lives but serve little to move the story forward if only to add small acts of tension or serve to demonstrate why the husband is such a dick.
But my main issue was that I couldn't believe George Clare is a murderer. An adulterous asshole, sure, a lying prick, most definitely, but did I discern, from the way his personality and character is drawn, that he is a vengeful, violent man?
Not. At. All. I think he is a two dimensional coward, a cliche stereotype of a man who thinks he's better than everyone around him, but not a murderer.
I was sympathetic to the Hale brothers, a small shining surprise in the glut of 400 pages, but they were the needles in a haystack you had to sort through from the other trifling details of the lives of the supporting characters in the small town.
Do I care that the sheriff's daughter is a junkie?
No, not really.
Do I care that the sheriff and his wife get divorced years after what appears to be a sound marriage?
Nope.
I just wanted the book to end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2015
Many thanks to Netgalley for supplying my copy in exchange for an honest and fair review.
3.5 stars. As we are traveling and I am on the app, I will come back later and put in any links needed.
When I saw this author had a new book coming out I was all over it. One of her previous novels, The Doctor's Wife, is on my all time favorites list and still lingers with me. I've also enjoyed two of her other books. This one was a good enough read, but somehow seemed to fall a bit short from her others. Maybe my expectations were too high.
The story starts with a husband coming home to find his wife's dead body and his young daughter being left with her all day. I was hooked at this point, expecting edge of my seat suspense and intensity. The story then flips to give the backstory of the house and the post story of the murder. There was a ghostly aspect to the story which I found appealing and I really enjoyed the highlights of Catherine's relationship with the boys. Overall though, this one seemed a bit wordy and didn't have the shine her others possessed. I will still be looking out for other work from this author and am fully aware I could have read this at the wrong time which could have affected my reception. I would classify this more as family drama fiction than a suspenseful thriller.
3.5 stars. As we are traveling and I am on the app, I will come back later and put in any links needed.
When I saw this author had a new book coming out I was all over it. One of her previous novels, The Doctor's Wife, is on my all time favorites list and still lingers with me. I've also enjoyed two of her other books. This one was a good enough read, but somehow seemed to fall a bit short from her others. Maybe my expectations were too high.
The story starts with a husband coming home to find his wife's dead body and his young daughter being left with her all day. I was hooked at this point, expecting edge of my seat suspense and intensity. The story then flips to give the backstory of the house and the post story of the murder. There was a ghostly aspect to the story which I found appealing and I really enjoyed the highlights of Catherine's relationship with the boys. Overall though, this one seemed a bit wordy and didn't have the shine her others possessed. I will still be looking out for other work from this author and am fully aware I could have read this at the wrong time which could have affected my reception. I would classify this more as family drama fiction than a suspenseful thriller.
September 5, 2016
5.0 STARS … Catherine Clare, you make my heart sing!
This novel is a narcotic! It altered my state of mind. It sucked me in from the very first sentence on the very first page and never relinquished its grip, long after the story came to a close! Perhaps it was my familiarity with many of the upstate NY cities and small, rural towns mentioned in the book. Or maybe it was my intense connection with so many of the characters that held such a sway over my emotions. Perhaps it was a siren call of linguistic magic that captured my attention. Regardless of how it happened, this book turned into a very dear and treasured companion during the days we shared my favorite reading places. Empathy and compassion overwhelmed my brain. This tale touched my heart, broke it a few times along the way, spilling my tears thinking about the marriage of Catherine and George Clare and ever present, palpable sadness, despair and longing. Chillingly brilliant!
The farmhouse on Old Farm Road in upstate Chosen, NY remained empty for years. Haunted they said. No one wanted it. The dairy farm had been in the Hale family since 1908. But the economy of the late ‘70s had gone sour and small farms were going broke. Ella Hale held the family together, caring for her three sons Cole, Wade and Eddy while slowly pawning off anything of value to keep the farm afloat. Cal Hale is a hard man, a gambler. The farm was a gamble but so was the track. News of the “accident” quickly spread through the tiny town of Chosen. The house, full of despair and oppressive gloom, sat quietly and stoically on what remained of the land after the property over the ridge was subdivided, until August of 1978 when Catherine, George and three year old Franny first arrived.
George Clare accepts an assistant professor job in the Art History Department at Saginaw College. He saw the ad in the NY Times for the white farm house and met a real estate agent in March. By the time the Clares decided on the house, the bank foreclosed and George got an outstanding deal at auction. He stole it from the Hales they murmured. George never told Catherine about Ella and Cal Hale. Mary Lawton told George about the Hale tragedy while showing him the house. George is deceptive. He lies. He lies to Catherine all the time! Mary had a really bad feeling about the Clares.
Their marriage is one of necessity, perhaps honor, not love. They met in college in Williamstown. Catherine was from a lower middle-class family in southern Vermont, the chubby girl from Grafton attending Wiliams on a scholarship. Her family was devout. George lived in Paris until he was five before moving to Connecticut. His father was the Furniture King in Connecticut, the family wealth accumulated from his father’s furniture stores. George has no use for religion, no belief in an afterlife. Despite their opposite family backgrounds, Catherine and George became inseparable at school. When Catherine becomes pregnant, George breaks it off but inexplicably shows up in Buffalo to marry her and take her back to the tiny apartment on Riverside in NYC, then on to Chosen.
Very early into their new life in Chosen, Catherine discovers just how very different she and George really are. Their marriage is a hoax, a facade that fools no one. Just like Ella Hale before her, she senses extreme danger and lies awake at night planning her escape. And just like Ella, her love for her child is too strong to walk away, her desire to find her true self burning inside. She endures and perseveres as a good Catholic wife should, fully aware of the darkness lurking inside George. He hates her, he despises her. She is not safe.
When Catherine finally departs the old Hale house on Old Farm Road on that cold, wintry February day, the house the Hale boys painted and maintained, looking after Franny when George and Catherine were out with friends or at faculty events, her head felt impossibly heavy. She doesn’t feel any pain, just amazement and wonder. She knows she is loved … she is ready to leave!
Catherine’s departure forever changes Chosen. Marriages fall apart. Neighbors go cold. The axe was so common it could be found in every home in rural Chosen. The house was spotless, not a single finger print anywhere! The case goes cold … for now!
Burrrr … the entire novel is mysterious and dark, only shades of black and gray like a charcoal drawing with psychosis obscured by dismissiveness, irritability, pot and booze, long hours and mysterious meetings, endless lists of reasons and excuses, an emptiness of reptilian cold-bloodedness and chameleon changeability.
The only rays of sunshine in this story are Catherine and Franny Clare and Cole Hale, but they are completely blotted out by the darkness that is George. Only after years of emotional anguish and scars of time do rays of sunshine penetrate the gloom.
The literary field that Brundage is tilling in this tale is nothing new and has been hoed many times before. However, the manner in which she tills this field, her selection of literary tools and the sharp angles at which she hoed each row is extraordinary. Even the complete absence of quotation marks gives the story a real sense of uneasiness and discomfort … nothing is neat and clean or as it seems in Chosen, NY.
My sense was the absence of quotation marks was not an editor oversight or author gimmick, it was an intentional part of the story, the punctuation of the messiness of their marriage, the psychosis of George, the blur of love, hatred, supernatural and thoughts of God and life after this one. So many readers comment how the dearth of quotation marks drove them crazy. Well played Elizabeth Brundage … you forced us to feel this book!
In addition to the darkness of the tale and the mental illness of so many of the characters, the sprinkling of the supernatural throughout was perfect … Catherine’s awareness of Ella still in the house, the rings mysteriously appearing on the window sill, the pockets of cold air, the smell of car exhaust in the Hale's master bedroom over the garage, the sudden bright lights in the empty house.
Perhaps this was a nod to Swedenborg, the sliver of George’s incomplete doctoral dissertation that landed him the job a Saginaw and a reflection of the abundance of goodness in the heart of Catherine Clare.
Please, please, please be advised these musings just scratch the surface of a highly memorable and thought provoking tale. My nerve endings tingled with anticipation each time I picked up the book. We know from the very beginning that Catherine was murdered but how we arrive at that fateful day slowly unfolds with chilling nuances, delicious observations of love and life and dark revelations of psychosis.
I savored every minute of my surrender to a bittersweet melancholia induced by the story. I highly recommend this book! For a completely opposite view of this book, click through to see what Kelli Kilpeck Reed has to say. We read this book together and her reaction was … BLAH!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 30, 2016
One of my best reads of the year. Characters were portrayed so real you wanted to call them and asked them to stop by, or run next door to borrow a cup of sugar. Those were my friends over the last few days. My heart dropped to my stomach each time one of them got hurt, abused, depressed, or murdered.
On top of that, this book includes the most memorable "ghost scene" ever. While reading this particular part I was alone in the attic bedroom of a large house, rain and thunder outside and it was 0130 am. Then I heard footsteps downstairs and then on stairs....
It scared the shit out of me. Couldn't get my breathing under control for hours after.
TAKE THAT STEPHEN KING!
On top of that, this book includes the most memorable "ghost scene" ever. While reading this particular part I was alone in the attic bedroom of a large house, rain and thunder outside and it was 0130 am. Then I heard footsteps downstairs and then on stairs....
It scared the shit out of me. Couldn't get my breathing under control for hours after.
TAKE THAT STEPHEN KING!
April 11, 2016
This is a sprawling atmospheric thriller which at its heart is about a dysfunctional and disintegrating marriage, ghosts and two families. George Clare comes home to his farmhouse to find his wife horrifically murdered and Frannie, his toddler daughter untended. George is a suspect, but the police struggle to find the killer.
Justice appears to be an elusive commodity and it takes a long time coming. What we have is a picture of a malevolent farmhouse, and the tragedies that have befallen the Clare and the Hales families. The history of the two families and the friendship between Cathy and the Hales boys is laid out in depth and we get a picture of the complexities and emotions that underline the characters. There are remarkable insights into human nature and how it plays out in relationship dynamics. We get a taste of how the past can haunt the present and the darkness that can lie in a human being.
Elizabeth Brundage confidently creates a morass of red herrings prior to us learning the truth. What stood out for me is her beautiful textured writing style with evocative descriptions. The murder appears to be almost incidental to the poignant historical backstory. I loved the way the novel captures small town living. An intelligently plotted story that carries tension and suspense. A great read for those who like an depth look at complex characters. Thanks to Quercus for an ARC via netgalley.
Justice appears to be an elusive commodity and it takes a long time coming. What we have is a picture of a malevolent farmhouse, and the tragedies that have befallen the Clare and the Hales families. The history of the two families and the friendship between Cathy and the Hales boys is laid out in depth and we get a picture of the complexities and emotions that underline the characters. There are remarkable insights into human nature and how it plays out in relationship dynamics. We get a taste of how the past can haunt the present and the darkness that can lie in a human being.
Elizabeth Brundage confidently creates a morass of red herrings prior to us learning the truth. What stood out for me is her beautiful textured writing style with evocative descriptions. The murder appears to be almost incidental to the poignant historical backstory. I loved the way the novel captures small town living. An intelligently plotted story that carries tension and suspense. A great read for those who like an depth look at complex characters. Thanks to Quercus for an ARC via netgalley.
February 15, 2017
****4.5 Stars****
March 6, 2017
This book impressed me. It's the first book I've read by this author and I am sure it will not be the last.
It reads in its trailer as if it were a mystery genre. But I would say this is crossover to a high literary and psychological standard- quite apart from the intersects and asides that have hide and seek mixtures upon the arts. Arts of painting, music and weaving at the least. There's an attempt that moves and emotes farther than the scope of a mystery genre. Or a psychological thriller of any type or pace of action. This work also holds more inclusive eyes to a God belief, organizational religion specifics, humans on a spectrum of controllers and manipulators (far more than on an introvert/extrovert scale), parental role model for work or numbers of work communications, possibly the tone of those communications quite apart from the kind/unkind scales of their judgments. All matters of land ownership when there is a big sky and far to see. Many tangents of profundity, more than many aspects of family "style" depth entered here within this novel. Very apart from the prime characters or plot- that's merely the seen /material.
Yes, it is long. And the continuity at times becomes jarring rather than flowing. At different points in this novel I felt I had clear reason to approach anything from a 2 star to a 5 star rating. It was hard to decipher. This is deep. And coupled with the depth is a strong proclivity to the unseen. Perhaps the title itself. Read this again to get the ambiance to what I mean by that.
Because when "All Things Cease to Appear" is when they are most clarified as a feeling, existing being the predominant factor perceived by the senses. Not just in the air, but in the Hale house itself, saturating every board and cement block crevice.
Truly I want to give it 5 stars. But I can't. (There was a long section in the center through Willis' eyes that drove me nuts. That character was obnoxious times two. Just another kind of user.) It is not the grammar or lacking of quotes factor either. Perhaps, that factor HELPED toward 5 star rating. Just as in George, the lack is unseen- as the void of "owning" the quotes or conversation. It worked. The purists will not believe this. Certainly it did not make reading it easier. At times I had to reread a 4 paragraph section to see where the see-saw of the conversation had started. Who said what? But I soon knew.
And like the " " " that are missing, it seems "normal" after a while of dwelling with the Hales and the Clares. The missing parts assumed. Or can we assume?
This is the kind of book that needs high patience and would be excellent book club fare. No one will "like" all the characters. But unlike most moderns, there are saints and there are sinners (sinners know they do wrong so maybe in a case or two here it is a demon)- the appalling and most dysfunctional do not reign supreme in numbers. And good certainly exists too. Like the real world, the worst are absolutely there- but also are not in majority. And all of those manipulators hold and use every parcel of the seeds for their own destruction when they do what they do. So some of the quotes (especially Catherine's faith and self-knowledge to know that in some way good would survive and a type of justice prevail) are more than excellent. But it is the value judgments here held all around the town that peak like a mountain in the middle of an 1000 mile prairie. In this "type" of book, how often do you see that value infused so well into 400 plus pages? Rarely, rarely. In that it absolutely deserved the 5. This woman, Elizabeth Brundage, knows her human psychology and cognition abilities for human affect, far beyond the average writer. Even for and among the philosophical and more literary with the big L tomes.
Catherine I will remember. Her marriage and its most internal component is far more the common divorce fodder than most people believe. Many times I have read that divorce is a two sided failure. That is certainly not true in large percentages. It only takes one person who has no onus to "we think" for the entity of a pair of mated humans, not even on the scale of a George- to negate the entire bonding.
Deep waters. Despite it happening in upstate NY, it's a tale that can happen anywhere in small town USA where the job types and cultural structures of a century have become imploded and working the land inconsequential compared to the money scales or choices displayed of the "summer" people.
Many superb under characters to know in this novel at a more core personality level than the main protagonist in most literary genre books. Yet some of them were hard to follow in the onus of their actions at certain points because of the style form and not reappearing for 200 pages. Travis, Mary, Bram, Justine! But especially those Hale boys, Willis and the college faculty employees.
Thank you to my 2 GR friends who gave me a heads up on this one. It was definitely in the top 5 read for 2017, so far. And in a genre type I would never have suspected such a find. I am not a fan of the modern dysfunctional fare that is 75% of the current best seller line.
But is this modern? Bordering? Late 1970's and decade of 1980's still held some of the family structured mores of the decades before that are now completely gone. Like sewing your own clothes, and house proud female judging etc. Well, frankly- this novel got it entirely correct for that time period too. It was 5 star spot on with the boys' choices then also.
With Rebecca you had a house, Manderly, that was not easy to forget. With this book I will remember the Hale House. The Hale House structure itself, as much as Ella or Catherine or their children.
Try to ignore the disjointing structures of time lapse and afterthought and give this one a chance. It's not fluff. If you need something to chew on- this is a high recommendation.
Many things to ponder in the afterwards of reading too. Or for Franny returning after decades. I am now thinking of Ella and Catherine in their present conversations.
Lastly, I can clearly understand how some readers would give this a 2 star and not feel the intrigue to open these locks. It's the same kind of puzzle as a "Defending Jacob". You don't want to find everything that is boxed within.
It reads in its trailer as if it were a mystery genre. But I would say this is crossover to a high literary and psychological standard- quite apart from the intersects and asides that have hide and seek mixtures upon the arts. Arts of painting, music and weaving at the least. There's an attempt that moves and emotes farther than the scope of a mystery genre. Or a psychological thriller of any type or pace of action. This work also holds more inclusive eyes to a God belief, organizational religion specifics, humans on a spectrum of controllers and manipulators (far more than on an introvert/extrovert scale), parental role model for work or numbers of work communications, possibly the tone of those communications quite apart from the kind/unkind scales of their judgments. All matters of land ownership when there is a big sky and far to see. Many tangents of profundity, more than many aspects of family "style" depth entered here within this novel. Very apart from the prime characters or plot- that's merely the seen /material.
Yes, it is long. And the continuity at times becomes jarring rather than flowing. At different points in this novel I felt I had clear reason to approach anything from a 2 star to a 5 star rating. It was hard to decipher. This is deep. And coupled with the depth is a strong proclivity to the unseen. Perhaps the title itself. Read this again to get the ambiance to what I mean by that.
Because when "All Things Cease to Appear" is when they are most clarified as a feeling, existing being the predominant factor perceived by the senses. Not just in the air, but in the Hale house itself, saturating every board and cement block crevice.
Truly I want to give it 5 stars. But I can't. (There was a long section in the center through Willis' eyes that drove me nuts. That character was obnoxious times two. Just another kind of user.) It is not the grammar or lacking of quotes factor either. Perhaps, that factor HELPED toward 5 star rating. Just as in George, the lack is unseen- as the void of "owning" the quotes or conversation. It worked. The purists will not believe this. Certainly it did not make reading it easier. At times I had to reread a 4 paragraph section to see where the see-saw of the conversation had started. Who said what? But I soon knew.
And like the " " " that are missing, it seems "normal" after a while of dwelling with the Hales and the Clares. The missing parts assumed. Or can we assume?
This is the kind of book that needs high patience and would be excellent book club fare. No one will "like" all the characters. But unlike most moderns, there are saints and there are sinners (sinners know they do wrong so maybe in a case or two here it is a demon)- the appalling and most dysfunctional do not reign supreme in numbers. And good certainly exists too. Like the real world, the worst are absolutely there- but also are not in majority. And all of those manipulators hold and use every parcel of the seeds for their own destruction when they do what they do. So some of the quotes (especially Catherine's faith and self-knowledge to know that in some way good would survive and a type of justice prevail) are more than excellent. But it is the value judgments here held all around the town that peak like a mountain in the middle of an 1000 mile prairie. In this "type" of book, how often do you see that value infused so well into 400 plus pages? Rarely, rarely. In that it absolutely deserved the 5. This woman, Elizabeth Brundage, knows her human psychology and cognition abilities for human affect, far beyond the average writer. Even for and among the philosophical and more literary with the big L tomes.
Catherine I will remember. Her marriage and its most internal component is far more the common divorce fodder than most people believe. Many times I have read that divorce is a two sided failure. That is certainly not true in large percentages. It only takes one person who has no onus to "we think" for the entity of a pair of mated humans, not even on the scale of a George- to negate the entire bonding.
Deep waters. Despite it happening in upstate NY, it's a tale that can happen anywhere in small town USA where the job types and cultural structures of a century have become imploded and working the land inconsequential compared to the money scales or choices displayed of the "summer" people.
Many superb under characters to know in this novel at a more core personality level than the main protagonist in most literary genre books. Yet some of them were hard to follow in the onus of their actions at certain points because of the style form and not reappearing for 200 pages. Travis, Mary, Bram, Justine! But especially those Hale boys, Willis and the college faculty employees.
Thank you to my 2 GR friends who gave me a heads up on this one. It was definitely in the top 5 read for 2017, so far. And in a genre type I would never have suspected such a find. I am not a fan of the modern dysfunctional fare that is 75% of the current best seller line.
But is this modern? Bordering? Late 1970's and decade of 1980's still held some of the family structured mores of the decades before that are now completely gone. Like sewing your own clothes, and house proud female judging etc. Well, frankly- this novel got it entirely correct for that time period too. It was 5 star spot on with the boys' choices then also.
With Rebecca you had a house, Manderly, that was not easy to forget. With this book I will remember the Hale House. The Hale House structure itself, as much as Ella or Catherine or their children.
Try to ignore the disjointing structures of time lapse and afterthought and give this one a chance. It's not fluff. If you need something to chew on- this is a high recommendation.
Many things to ponder in the afterwards of reading too. Or for Franny returning after decades. I am now thinking of Ella and Catherine in their present conversations.
Lastly, I can clearly understand how some readers would give this a 2 star and not feel the intrigue to open these locks. It's the same kind of puzzle as a "Defending Jacob". You don't want to find everything that is boxed within.
December 30, 2017
I could not put this one down. It was an audiobook, and very well done (I hear the book has no quotation marks, so if that bothers you, audio may be your answer!). We know from early on that the wife is bludgeoned to death in her bed, but honestly I was flummoxed as to who did it. For sure, there were suspects, the husband always being the obvious first choice in these cases; but I had another one or two in mind as well. I won't give it away, although I have found many reviews on GR that do tell!
Good mystery, keeps you wondering, interesting characters, plus a haunted house... certainly caught me up in its slow ride to the bitter end.
Good mystery, keeps you wondering, interesting characters, plus a haunted house... certainly caught me up in its slow ride to the bitter end.
June 12, 2016
I couldn't put this down!
July 4, 2016
Atmospheric character portraits, with a touch of the supernatural. Well-constructed setting and interesting insights, but dry, plodding story.
1979; Chosen, New York. The Pratts are eating dinner when there is a knock on the door. It is their neighbor George Clare with Franny, his toddler daughter. When he came home from work, he found his wife Catherine in bed with an ax to the head. George says he was at work all day and Franny is the only one who could have seen what happened. I was really excited about this book because it had some of my favorite elements: psychopaths, a complicated marriage, and a creepy farm. In the end, it just wasn't for me.
I'm starting with my negatives this time, because many of them are style based:
• There are no quotation marks. While I was usually able to get used to this after a few pages of reading, many times it ruined my chances for immersion. I would either (a) lose my place in long strings of brief dialogue or (b) realize "Oh wait! They are talking again!" when dialogue restarted in the midst of a paragraph.
• It is very slowly paced. The first third is detailed set-up and character introduction. After the initial chapter with Catherine Clare's death, we immediately go back in time and meet the Hales. I wasn't truly interested until the paths of the Hale boys and Catherine Clare cross at page 100. It was the first time I felt tension in the story. Even after my interest was piqued, there were many long paragraphs of description and introspection that I found myself skimming over, just to maintain momentum. What kept me reading were reviews saying that it became more of a thriller halfway through, but I never felt a sustained level of tension.
• This is really more of a character study, rather than a crime novel or a mystery. I was hoping for something more climatic when the big event happened, but instead it just fizzled. There is not much in the way of an actual investigation. Sheriff Lawton is supposedly consumed with the case, but many key things are missed ().
• I thought the characters were dull and I never took to any of them, love or hate.
• The ending was too tidy in the unimportant aspects. ()
The positives:
• I am a sucker for stories about marriages behind closed doors! About halfway through, we start getting a clearer picture of the Clare's marriage through their perspectives and the perspectives of others. Catherine knows something is off with George and her marriage, but she is too close to see the full picture. There are a ton of POVs (maybe too many) in this book, and I most enjoyed the ones that gave an outsider view of the Clare's marriage.
• The setting of Chosen, NY and life in a small farming town felt extremely realistic.
• Beautiful writing.
• Very introspective and insightful.
All Things Cease to Appear is a novel where characters settle and where the past bleeds into the present. This book would be most enjoyable if you are in the mood for a slow-build character study. Brundage writes really beautifully and this is an ambitious novel that has interesting things to say about human nature. The aspects I found dull might make a more immersive experience for someone else.
I received this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
The trick to hiding something, she’d told him once, is to put it right out in plain sight.
1979; Chosen, New York. The Pratts are eating dinner when there is a knock on the door. It is their neighbor George Clare with Franny, his toddler daughter. When he came home from work, he found his wife Catherine in bed with an ax to the head. George says he was at work all day and Franny is the only one who could have seen what happened. I was really excited about this book because it had some of my favorite elements: psychopaths, a complicated marriage, and a creepy farm. In the end, it just wasn't for me.
You think you’re free until someone comes along and reminds you that you’re not.
I'm starting with my negatives this time, because many of them are style based:
• There are no quotation marks. While I was usually able to get used to this after a few pages of reading, many times it ruined my chances for immersion. I would either (a) lose my place in long strings of brief dialogue or (b) realize "Oh wait! They are talking again!" when dialogue restarted in the midst of a paragraph.
• It is very slowly paced. The first third is detailed set-up and character introduction. After the initial chapter with Catherine Clare's death, we immediately go back in time and meet the Hales. I wasn't truly interested until the paths of the Hale boys and Catherine Clare cross at page 100. It was the first time I felt tension in the story. Even after my interest was piqued, there were many long paragraphs of description and introspection that I found myself skimming over, just to maintain momentum. What kept me reading were reviews saying that it became more of a thriller halfway through, but I never felt a sustained level of tension.
• This is really more of a character study, rather than a crime novel or a mystery. I was hoping for something more climatic when the big event happened, but instead it just fizzled. There is not much in the way of an actual investigation. Sheriff Lawton is supposedly consumed with the case, but many key things are missed ().
• I thought the characters were dull and I never took to any of them, love or hate.
• The ending was too tidy in the unimportant aspects. ()
If you looked at anything long enough it would start to become something else, or even completely undefined, and no matter what it was, you thought about it differently than you had before, and usually it was less important.
The positives:
• I am a sucker for stories about marriages behind closed doors! About halfway through, we start getting a clearer picture of the Clare's marriage through their perspectives and the perspectives of others. Catherine knows something is off with George and her marriage, but she is too close to see the full picture. There are a ton of POVs (maybe too many) in this book, and I most enjoyed the ones that gave an outsider view of the Clare's marriage.
• The setting of Chosen, NY and life in a small farming town felt extremely realistic.
• Beautiful writing.
• Very introspective and insightful.
Maybe killing comes naturally to people, an instinct nobody likes to admit, a survival reflex inherited from our Neanderthal cousins. So maybe it’s the other stuff, the good manners that supposedly make us human, that are the real aberrations.
All Things Cease to Appear is a novel where characters settle and where the past bleeds into the present. This book would be most enjoyable if you are in the mood for a slow-build character study. Brundage writes really beautifully and this is an ambitious novel that has interesting things to say about human nature. The aspects I found dull might make a more immersive experience for someone else.
It’s a quote by George Inness: Beauty depends on the unseen, the visible upon the invisible. That's been with me since graduate school.
Are you going to tell me what it means? She smiled, batting her eyelashes.
Literal translation: what we see depends on what we don’t see. It’s something Inness called the reality of the unseen—a person’s spiritual truth. God is hidden, but that doesn’t make Him absent. Finding Him isn’t necessarily about seeing Him. There’s a connection between seeing and being blind. Like in the fog, when certain things, certain colors, become important. The possibility of revelation in the ordinary. He sighed, looking at her, his eyes moving slowly as if he were memorizing every inch of her. I’m boring you, aren’t I?
Not at all. I think it's fascinating.
Here's my pedestrian version: to know yourself is to forget who you are.
I received this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
March 24, 2016
Review to come. A lot to absorb. So good but so sad.
Telling about a book takes away from reading the book yourself. I'm not going to say much about the story but this book has to be my favorite of all time. And I have liked a lot of books but this book will stay in my mind for a very long time. This is the first time reading a book by this author.
George and Catherine Clare with their three yr old daughter Frannie move into an old farm house that has dark history of something horrendous happening to past owners leaving their children parentless. Their story was told as well. The boys growing up without parents and trying to grasp the concept of what they did and why.
The Clare's move in. They say sometimes a house picks you, in this case it most certainly did. I absolutely loved Catherine and felt she was a wonderful mom and wife. Unfortunately George is ungrateful and always seems to be picking at Catherine ..George is all about George. Selfish prick who couldn't be happy with what he had and consumed many affairs and would put a stop to anyone telling his wife about it. Even if it meant trying to harm them.
Catherine sinks into a terrible depression as she understands what her husband really is. She wants a divorce. She has had enough of George. She wanted to take Frannie and leave. She never got a chance.
Catherine is found murdered. Frannie left in the house with her for unspeakable hours while her mom lays dead. Who would want to harm Catherine?
Unfortunately Frannie never got to grow up with her mother. Someone took that from her. All these feelings and emotions from everyone in this book is powerful and raw. These two families past and present are woven together and you will see how. Such sadness and a relentless selfish self absorbed man George is. He was obsessed with a young girl that their relationship was toxic. He tried to control her as he was doing Catherine but she had more backbone and she got to get George what he was due in the end.
I loved this book. You felt like you knew these characters and could identify with their pain. This must be read if you like murder mysteries...bad husbands...and lots of drama.
Telling about a book takes away from reading the book yourself. I'm not going to say much about the story but this book has to be my favorite of all time. And I have liked a lot of books but this book will stay in my mind for a very long time. This is the first time reading a book by this author.
George and Catherine Clare with their three yr old daughter Frannie move into an old farm house that has dark history of something horrendous happening to past owners leaving their children parentless. Their story was told as well. The boys growing up without parents and trying to grasp the concept of what they did and why.
The Clare's move in. They say sometimes a house picks you, in this case it most certainly did. I absolutely loved Catherine and felt she was a wonderful mom and wife. Unfortunately George is ungrateful and always seems to be picking at Catherine ..George is all about George. Selfish prick who couldn't be happy with what he had and consumed many affairs and would put a stop to anyone telling his wife about it. Even if it meant trying to harm them.
Catherine sinks into a terrible depression as she understands what her husband really is. She wants a divorce. She has had enough of George. She wanted to take Frannie and leave. She never got a chance.
Catherine is found murdered. Frannie left in the house with her for unspeakable hours while her mom lays dead. Who would want to harm Catherine?
Unfortunately Frannie never got to grow up with her mother. Someone took that from her. All these feelings and emotions from everyone in this book is powerful and raw. These two families past and present are woven together and you will see how. Such sadness and a relentless selfish self absorbed man George is. He was obsessed with a young girl that their relationship was toxic. He tried to control her as he was doing Catherine but she had more backbone and she got to get George what he was due in the end.
I loved this book. You felt like you knew these characters and could identify with their pain. This must be read if you like murder mysteries...bad husbands...and lots of drama.
February 21, 2016
I loved every minute of this book about two tragic families, first the Hale family and then the Clare family. I didn’t want the book to end but I feel the story will haunt my heart and mind for some time to come so it's not really out of my life yet.
George Clare appears at his neighbor’s home one day, carrying his 3-yr-old daughter, Frannie, telling them that something has happened to his wife. Catherine has been murdered and little Frannie left unattended in the house with her dead mother. So starts a very compelling tale.
While this is an engrossing crime story, it’s much more than that. It’s also the story of marriage, love and family. It’s the story of three teenage boys trying to come to terms with the loss of their parents and home. It’s the story of a young woman who married the wrong man and tries to make the best of it. It’s the story of a man with a dark soul. It’s the story of an old farmhouse that seems to be cursed and the ghosts that haunt it. And it’s all so beautifully written it will take your breath away. From the first chapter to the last, it held me firmly in its grip.
This author has a wonderful insight into human nature and knows how to captivate her reading audience. She obviously is a poet at heart and loves language. This book is the epitome of why I love to read. Highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher through First to Read in return for an honest review.
George Clare appears at his neighbor’s home one day, carrying his 3-yr-old daughter, Frannie, telling them that something has happened to his wife. Catherine has been murdered and little Frannie left unattended in the house with her dead mother. So starts a very compelling tale.
While this is an engrossing crime story, it’s much more than that. It’s also the story of marriage, love and family. It’s the story of three teenage boys trying to come to terms with the loss of their parents and home. It’s the story of a young woman who married the wrong man and tries to make the best of it. It’s the story of a man with a dark soul. It’s the story of an old farmhouse that seems to be cursed and the ghosts that haunt it. And it’s all so beautifully written it will take your breath away. From the first chapter to the last, it held me firmly in its grip.
This author has a wonderful insight into human nature and knows how to captivate her reading audience. She obviously is a poet at heart and loves language. This book is the epitome of why I love to read. Highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher through First to Read in return for an honest review.
March 2, 2016
I was so excited when I won this from First To Read. Although the few reviews I looked at were mixed, it sounded like it would be at least a pretty good psychological story.
George Clare, a college professor, goes home one day to find his wife murdered and his 3-year-old daughter alone in her room.
It seems like there was very little action, nothing to keep my mind riveted on the story. There was much I didn't care for .... a man stomping a deer to death is one instance. The police seemed incompetent .. they gave no vibes of being interested in the crime... and there were so many things overlooked.
I didn't connect with any of the characters. There was no depth to them, almost the book takes us back though their marriage, which I found somewhat boring.
I found myself thumbing through pages looking for something that might grab my interest ... didn't happen.
This just wasn't the book for me.
I very much appreciate the digital copy I received and being asked for an honest, unbiased review.
George Clare, a college professor, goes home one day to find his wife murdered and his 3-year-old daughter alone in her room.
It seems like there was very little action, nothing to keep my mind riveted on the story. There was much I didn't care for .... a man stomping a deer to death is one instance. The police seemed incompetent .. they gave no vibes of being interested in the crime... and there were so many things overlooked.
I didn't connect with any of the characters. There was no depth to them, almost the book takes us back though their marriage, which I found somewhat boring.
I found myself thumbing through pages looking for something that might grab my interest ... didn't happen.
This just wasn't the book for me.
I very much appreciate the digital copy I received and being asked for an honest, unbiased review.
April 27, 2016
I could not finish this book, but I made it a little more than half-way through. It moved much too slowly for me, and I was bothered by the fact that a character was described as wearing a Guns N Roses t-shirt in 1978. Guns N Roses did not come together as a band until 1985.
March 29, 2022
I am an absolute sucker for stories set in upstate or Western New York. I love the landscapes, the amazing way they can look lush and somehow desolate at the same time. I heard about this book after watching the (unfortunately mediocre – despite James Norton’s gorgeous jawline) movie “Things Heard and Seen” on Netflix. The story was interesting, if weirdly realized in the film, but it was my introduction to the Hudson River Valley School painters, and I loved them instantly. They understood the light of that region, the way it makes lovely meadows and field look like fairy tales hiding dark secrets. I gave me just enough of a pleasant little chill down the spine to pick up the book when I spotted it in a sales box.
This novel is hard to summarize and describe. It features that post-modern trick of starting the story almost at the end and then backtracking through flashbacks and reminiscence to show the reader how we got to this climax (think “The Secret History”). It’s also not a thriller; it’s a character study with mysterious elements sprinkled throughout. It’s the story of a psychopath, and what truly unnerved me about this story is the implication that such people are probably interacting with us daily and we will never know it. The toxic marriage around which other events orbit brings to mind “Gone Girl”, but as if Tana French had written it.
A clever academic husband, a sweet daughter, a pretty farm house in rural upstate New York… Doesn’t that sound idyllic? It would be, except that the marriage is an absolute sham, the house’s previous owners killed themselves and the community in the town of Chosen, NY, does not quite warm up to the Clares. Nothing about them seems amiss at first glance, but the veneer is pretty thin, and the cracks are more like sinkholes, and those who get to close to the young couple run the chance of falling in.
If you can’t deal with unlikable characters, my advice is to stay away from this book, because pretty much single character is insufferable – albeit all in very different ways. Catherine is a doormat, and even if she knows she isn’t safe, that her daughter isn’t safe, it’s impossible for her to go against her good Catholic girl upbringing. Justine and Bram mean well but embody that awkward combination of very well-off who refuses to admit that their comfortable upbringing allows them to slum it without consequences and who try to help so hard. Willis does the kind of maddeningly stupid things only a 20 year old would do and runs around without realizing she is a tragic cliché. And George… well I shudder to think I might have crossed path with people like him. But even if they made me roll my eyes, I was still fascinated by them. Brundage weaved those characters so richly and so realistically that I believed in them, I could see them – these women from a very different time and place that isn’t that far. They reminded me of people I had met, and I gobbled up their story, which is intricately tangled in a non-linear narrative that works like an ominous time-bomb.
It isn’t a perfect book, but it was surprisingly good and cleverly assembled. It certainly exceeded my expectations! If you’ve seen the movie and decided to look up the book, be prepared for something completely different. And if you like the book, don’t bother with the movie; it’s only redeeming values are the beautiful visuals.
This novel is hard to summarize and describe. It features that post-modern trick of starting the story almost at the end and then backtracking through flashbacks and reminiscence to show the reader how we got to this climax (think “The Secret History”). It’s also not a thriller; it’s a character study with mysterious elements sprinkled throughout. It’s the story of a psychopath, and what truly unnerved me about this story is the implication that such people are probably interacting with us daily and we will never know it. The toxic marriage around which other events orbit brings to mind “Gone Girl”, but as if Tana French had written it.
A clever academic husband, a sweet daughter, a pretty farm house in rural upstate New York… Doesn’t that sound idyllic? It would be, except that the marriage is an absolute sham, the house’s previous owners killed themselves and the community in the town of Chosen, NY, does not quite warm up to the Clares. Nothing about them seems amiss at first glance, but the veneer is pretty thin, and the cracks are more like sinkholes, and those who get to close to the young couple run the chance of falling in.
If you can’t deal with unlikable characters, my advice is to stay away from this book, because pretty much single character is insufferable – albeit all in very different ways. Catherine is a doormat, and even if she knows she isn’t safe, that her daughter isn’t safe, it’s impossible for her to go against her good Catholic girl upbringing. Justine and Bram mean well but embody that awkward combination of very well-off who refuses to admit that their comfortable upbringing allows them to slum it without consequences and who try to help so hard. Willis does the kind of maddeningly stupid things only a 20 year old would do and runs around without realizing she is a tragic cliché. And George… well I shudder to think I might have crossed path with people like him. But even if they made me roll my eyes, I was still fascinated by them. Brundage weaved those characters so richly and so realistically that I believed in them, I could see them – these women from a very different time and place that isn’t that far. They reminded me of people I had met, and I gobbled up their story, which is intricately tangled in a non-linear narrative that works like an ominous time-bomb.
It isn’t a perfect book, but it was surprisingly good and cleverly assembled. It certainly exceeded my expectations! If you’ve seen the movie and decided to look up the book, be prepared for something completely different. And if you like the book, don’t bother with the movie; it’s only redeeming values are the beautiful visuals.
October 11, 2016
Edit I have bumped this Title up to five stars after thinking after reflection.
All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage
I gave this book four stars because the ending was rushed and too neatly tied up in a bow.
The more I think about it the crime could have been solved if the circumstances were non-fiction. (If this crime took place in reality instead of a literary work).
Elizabeth Brundage holds a MFA from the prestigious University of Iowa's writer's workshop. I have high expectations of an author that is a graduate of that program. I deducted a star because of the last few pages, it seemed the author did not seem to know how to tie up loose ends.
This is a story that is rich in character development. The lush descriptions of the rural, bleak landscape was beautifully written. I did get frustrated in the beginning of this novel which starts immediately with a murder and then goes backwards in time to the true origins of this beautiful, poignant story.
There isn't any doubt that the book starts out with the writing very dense. Those who are expecting a fast paced narrative are going to be disappointed. That is not to say that this multi-layered story told with its multiple points of view is not gripping and breathtaking. Once I accepted that the author's intention for telling this story was going to use the device of moving backward and from several points of view, I was hooked. This is a literary, descriptive, style of storytelling. It takes place in 1978 for most of the book. We all know that the character who committed the murder is a psychopathic character. The story does mention at one point that the FBI usually gets called in to assist in this type of rural homicide, but after that is mentioned, it is never touched on again. It seems that the investigation never proceeds from just one interview of the husband. Highly unlikely for even 1978. The blurb on the dust jacket say's that "a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving" the suspect is the murderer. That part of the story is never fully developed. It uses the same device as the ending to describe what steps were taken to catch the killer.
I really enjoyed this book and will continue to think about it for it could have nearly been a masterpiece of a book, if such shortcuts were not used. I highly recommend this book even though it is not without its flaws which beg reality testing in the points I have illuminated that did not quite ring true.
August 25, 2016
This is the story of past and present. A foreclosed farm is bought by a college professor and his wife. Later, the wife is murdered in the home. The story toggles between the prior farm family that lived there and the new owners. The farm family, the Hales, are a sorry lot. A husband who drinks, gambles and cheats, the wife that loves him and tolerates everything he puts her through, his three sons. The Clares aren't much better.
I appreciated the way the author shows the contrast and parallels between the two families. How Ella loves being a wife and mother and finds comfort in doing for her family. While Catherine senses there should be something more and feels she is missing out on the deeper reason for being. Both marriages are unhappy; neither husband a willing participant.
The house is as much a character as the people. Is it haunted by Ella? It's a disturbing novel with questions about the afterlife and ghosts. “He was alone, of course he was, but he couldn't shake the uncanny awareness of another.”
This isn't a mystery in the true sense. Or at least not a who done it kind of mystery.
It's a book well rooted in its time period with the drugs, the feminist language, the whole earth movement. Well written and leaves you with an eerie feeling when it’s all over.
May 1, 2021
Esperaba más.
July 21, 2019
If you like thrillers, you've got to read this book!
June 1, 2016
Like all works of art, there are some which you can acknowledge as appealing without being otherwise enraptured or drawn in to the world they portray. This is one such. Brundage has a lyrical, crafted style that strongly evokes a sense of place and person. Yet her choice not to use speech marks, while not confusing because of the separate line spacing, sometimes made the words all run together as if Mrs Dalloway were reading it to me. Added to the musicality of the language, it felt singsongy in parts, little suited to the subject matter.
Even so, they mystery of whether George really did murder his wife was engaging. (Though I didn't like him from the beginning and certainly not after he kicked a deer to death.) The book is a larger version of his personality; uneventful and trivial for the most part, with sudden moments of savagery or loss.
Overall it created a sense of ambivalence. I was more impressed by the odd description, stylistic decision, or character sketch than any deeper storytelling.
Many thanks to Real Readers for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
Even so, they mystery of whether George really did murder his wife was engaging. (Though I didn't like him from the beginning and certainly not after he kicked a deer to death.) The book is a larger version of his personality; uneventful and trivial for the most part, with sudden moments of savagery or loss.
Overall it created a sense of ambivalence. I was more impressed by the odd description, stylistic decision, or character sketch than any deeper storytelling.
Many thanks to Real Readers for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 23, 2018
En realidad 4'5 ⭐
February 11, 2018
So many different thoughts went through my mind while reading this novel. First, I resigned myself to read another contemporary thriller (not my fav) that needs to be reviewed. Then early in the book I thought “this is very well written,” more literary than bestseller-like. Next, the story became Gothic, a genre I do enjoy. Plus, it also has a noir feel which is another genre that I love to get lost in. So, to my surprise, I am pleased that I read this book. It is not until the very end of the story that I find criticism with the tale. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The story begins with a short chapter describing an old farmhouse and all the people that once lived there. The first family that we meet is a married couple with three sons trying to keep the farm alive in horrendous conditions born from poverty. The parents die in the house and the boys are left orphaned. The next family who moves into the house is a young married couple with a little girl. They buy the farm house for almost nothing since it went into foreclosure. The town’s people held that against the young couple. The new owners are city people who move to the country for the husband’s job as a professor at a small college. The “whodunit” begins in the first chapter when the professor comes home from work and finds his wife murdered in her bed. The three sons who first lived in the farmhouse are in all other chapters of the book.
There are no quotation marks anywhere in the novel. The author expects the reader to be smart enough to know who said what. I enjoyed this style of writing it keeps me on my toes. There are many characters in this book that can feel overwhelming, but they are tied together nicely, and I enjoyed each one’s part in the plot. It read similar to “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout, where the characters were interconnected short stories. In addition, the author adds a large dose of irony into her novel. The professor’s boss is a big fan of Emanuel Swedberg who is best known for his book on the afterlife, “Heaven and Hell” written in 1758.
The last chapter focuses on the little girl who is now all grown up and in her last stages of training to become a surgeon. The reason why the ending is a bit of a disappointment for me is that I thought the author was attempting to add romance into the plot. In hindsight, it may have been karma (if I explain it would be a spoiler). Still, all in all, this is a literary spellbinding page-turner that is a ghost story, as well as a psychological thriller. Was I displeased with the ending? Yes, that is true. Did I need to sleep with the light on? Yes, that is also true. Read the book and see if you cease to appear.
Find all my reviews at https://books6259.wordpress.com/
The story begins with a short chapter describing an old farmhouse and all the people that once lived there. The first family that we meet is a married couple with three sons trying to keep the farm alive in horrendous conditions born from poverty. The parents die in the house and the boys are left orphaned. The next family who moves into the house is a young married couple with a little girl. They buy the farm house for almost nothing since it went into foreclosure. The town’s people held that against the young couple. The new owners are city people who move to the country for the husband’s job as a professor at a small college. The “whodunit” begins in the first chapter when the professor comes home from work and finds his wife murdered in her bed. The three sons who first lived in the farmhouse are in all other chapters of the book.
There are no quotation marks anywhere in the novel. The author expects the reader to be smart enough to know who said what. I enjoyed this style of writing it keeps me on my toes. There are many characters in this book that can feel overwhelming, but they are tied together nicely, and I enjoyed each one’s part in the plot. It read similar to “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout, where the characters were interconnected short stories. In addition, the author adds a large dose of irony into her novel. The professor’s boss is a big fan of Emanuel Swedberg who is best known for his book on the afterlife, “Heaven and Hell” written in 1758.
The last chapter focuses on the little girl who is now all grown up and in her last stages of training to become a surgeon. The reason why the ending is a bit of a disappointment for me is that I thought the author was attempting to add romance into the plot. In hindsight, it may have been karma (if I explain it would be a spoiler). Still, all in all, this is a literary spellbinding page-turner that is a ghost story, as well as a psychological thriller. Was I displeased with the ending? Yes, that is true. Did I need to sleep with the light on? Yes, that is also true. Read the book and see if you cease to appear.
Find all my reviews at https://books6259.wordpress.com/
November 14, 2019
Siamo nel 1978 e una tizia indossa la maglietta dei Guns N'Roses.
Io non li ho mai ascoltati, ci tengo a dirlo, ripeterlo, sottolinearlo, evidenziarlo, ribadirlo e altri sinonimi alla bisogna, ma però Wikipedia mi dice che sono nati nel 1985.
Per cui, ecco, io mi fermo qua, pagina 154. Peccato.
E comunque la maglietta che viene dal futuro è solo un pretesto: la storia è noiosa, pesante, troppe parole per dire la stessa cosa, il tono è pedante, Brundage spiega tanto e non ci lascia fantasticare.
Peccato, di nuovo, perché a una copertina stupenda non corrisponde un contenuto altrettanto valido.
E io rimarrò col dubbio che tutto si risolva con una fantasmata spiritica paranormale.
Speriamo di prendere sonno, stanotte.
Io non li ho mai ascoltati, ci tengo a dirlo, ripeterlo, sottolinearlo, evidenziarlo, ribadirlo e altri sinonimi alla bisogna, ma però Wikipedia mi dice che sono nati nel 1985.
Per cui, ecco, io mi fermo qua, pagina 154. Peccato.
E comunque la maglietta che viene dal futuro è solo un pretesto: la storia è noiosa, pesante, troppe parole per dire la stessa cosa, il tono è pedante, Brundage spiega tanto e non ci lascia fantasticare.
Peccato, di nuovo, perché a una copertina stupenda non corrisponde un contenuto altrettanto valido.
E io rimarrò col dubbio che tutto si risolva con una fantasmata spiritica paranormale.
Speriamo di prendere sonno, stanotte.
Read
March 8, 2016There have been some fantastic thrillers released this year. Like this one, about a man named George Clare who arrives home to find his wife murdered and their toddler all alone. George and his family had just recently moved into the home, and the local cops immediately make him the top suspect. But three brothers who formerly lived in the Clare house may know something about what happened. This is a solid psychological thriller that delivers.
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Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...
January 15, 2019
He disfrutado un montón con este libro. Es una lectura pausada que va generando desasosiego en el lector a medida que avanza la historia. Los hechos ya los conocemos desde el principio del libro pero la autora nos contará cómo se ha llegado a ese desenlace profundizando en los personajes y en sus situaciones personales.
October 19, 2018
La Apariencia de las Cosas, es una novela coral escrita por la autora Elizabeth Brundage que narra la historia de un matrimonio que decide trasladarse a una antigua granja de un pequeño pueblo. Una noche, cuando George Clare llega a casa del trabajo descubre algo terrible: su mujer ha sido brutalmente asesinada, mientras su hija de tres años, Franny, jugaba en su habitación al otro lado del pasillo. Un año antes de este suceso, en esa misma casa, tuvo lugar otro acontecimiento trágico, y según los habitantes de la comunidad, el lugar está encantado y es el escenario de una siniestra vivencia.
Nos encontramos al inicio del libro un caso de asesinato, pero cuando creemos que va a comenzar entonces la investigación policial para resolver el caso, la autora vuelve un año antes a la vida de todos los personajes y de quienes vivieron en aquella granja anteriormente, para contarnos la vida de todos y cada uno de ellos. Porque en esta historia, descubrir al asesino no es tan importante como indagar en los personajes, en sus relaciones, pensamientos y sueños. De esta manera, van sucediéndose las historias de todos nuestros protagonistas y si bien algunas son interesantes, otras son anodinas. Entiendo que al lector le pueda interesar leer sobre la vida de los Clare, que son quienes compran la granja, o de los antiguos propietarios, pero hay otras historias que se desarrollan con excesiva profundidad y hacen que el libro tome cierta lentitud. Sin embargo, también tengo que decir que hay muchísimas conversaciones entre los protagonistas que son realmente interesantes y que están llenas de sabiduría, y eso me ha encantado.
En mi opinión, considero que al libro le sobran bastantes páginas, sobretodo en la primera mitad. Aún así, entiendo que es la intención de la autora contarnos todos estos detalles para dar a entender que nadie es quien parece ser y que las apariencias engañan.
Ahora bien, cuando llegamos a la segunda mitad, el libro empieza a tomar otro ritmo, más interesante y frenético. Esta segunda parte me ha parecido realmente buena y la he disfrutado muchísimo. El final, aunque me ha gustado, me ha sabido a poco, es algo precipitado e inconcluso.
En cuanto a los personajes, todos están muy bien construidos y desarrollados con absoluto detalle. Como mencioné anteriormente, el hecho de desarrollar tanto a estos personajes hace que el libro se vuelva algo lento, pero también es cierto que de esta manera podemos acceder más fácilmente al perfil psicológico de todos ellos, para así entender por qué se comportan de una determinada manera. Queda muy claro en el libro, que el interés de este no está en la resolución del caso, si no en los personajes, y en cómo ellos interaccionan entre sí, por eso se le da más prioridad a esto último.
Hay algo casi poético en la forma de escribir de Elizabeth Brundage. Tiene un estilo que impregna al libro de un toque melancólico y nostálgico. Algo a destacar es que la autora no señaliza los diálogos, es decir, no utiliza los guiones como viene siendo habitual. Al principio esto puede generar algo de confusión, pero uno se habitúa rápidamente a ello. Durante las narraciones, se producen varios saltos en el tiempo sin previo aviso, lo que puede dificultar el seguimiento de la historia.
En conclusión, me ha parecido una novela muy bien construida y narrada de una manera impecable. A pesar de no tener un ritmo de infarto, es capaz de atraparte entre sus páginas y mantenerte expectante hasta el final. Muy recomendable para los amantes de este género literario.
Nos encontramos al inicio del libro un caso de asesinato, pero cuando creemos que va a comenzar entonces la investigación policial para resolver el caso, la autora vuelve un año antes a la vida de todos los personajes y de quienes vivieron en aquella granja anteriormente, para contarnos la vida de todos y cada uno de ellos. Porque en esta historia, descubrir al asesino no es tan importante como indagar en los personajes, en sus relaciones, pensamientos y sueños. De esta manera, van sucediéndose las historias de todos nuestros protagonistas y si bien algunas son interesantes, otras son anodinas. Entiendo que al lector le pueda interesar leer sobre la vida de los Clare, que son quienes compran la granja, o de los antiguos propietarios, pero hay otras historias que se desarrollan con excesiva profundidad y hacen que el libro tome cierta lentitud. Sin embargo, también tengo que decir que hay muchísimas conversaciones entre los protagonistas que son realmente interesantes y que están llenas de sabiduría, y eso me ha encantado.
En mi opinión, considero que al libro le sobran bastantes páginas, sobretodo en la primera mitad. Aún así, entiendo que es la intención de la autora contarnos todos estos detalles para dar a entender que nadie es quien parece ser y que las apariencias engañan.
Ahora bien, cuando llegamos a la segunda mitad, el libro empieza a tomar otro ritmo, más interesante y frenético. Esta segunda parte me ha parecido realmente buena y la he disfrutado muchísimo. El final, aunque me ha gustado, me ha sabido a poco, es algo precipitado e inconcluso.
En cuanto a los personajes, todos están muy bien construidos y desarrollados con absoluto detalle. Como mencioné anteriormente, el hecho de desarrollar tanto a estos personajes hace que el libro se vuelva algo lento, pero también es cierto que de esta manera podemos acceder más fácilmente al perfil psicológico de todos ellos, para así entender por qué se comportan de una determinada manera. Queda muy claro en el libro, que el interés de este no está en la resolución del caso, si no en los personajes, y en cómo ellos interaccionan entre sí, por eso se le da más prioridad a esto último.
Hay algo casi poético en la forma de escribir de Elizabeth Brundage. Tiene un estilo que impregna al libro de un toque melancólico y nostálgico. Algo a destacar es que la autora no señaliza los diálogos, es decir, no utiliza los guiones como viene siendo habitual. Al principio esto puede generar algo de confusión, pero uno se habitúa rápidamente a ello. Durante las narraciones, se producen varios saltos en el tiempo sin previo aviso, lo que puede dificultar el seguimiento de la historia.
En conclusión, me ha parecido una novela muy bien construida y narrada de una manera impecable. A pesar de no tener un ritmo de infarto, es capaz de atraparte entre sus páginas y mantenerte expectante hasta el final. Muy recomendable para los amantes de este género literario.
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