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PoetryThe psychological thriller is not known for its nuance, but Livesey has written a smart novel that is as low-key as it is intriguing. Perhaps because the tone and the heroine are so understated, so genteel, the unlikely source of the horrors is all the more frightening. I can only say that reading the first Livesey novel has sent me back online to buy the subsequent three. I can't wait.
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Having read Criminals, The Missing World and Eva Moves the Furniture, I have finally gotten my hands on Margot Livesey's first novel. Homework is a haunting and complex novel about a clever and manipulative little girl who does everything in her power to tear her father and his girlfriend apart. What first appears as a jealous daughter's quest to get rid of her stepmother transpires into a psychological and disarming tale...
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...HOMEWORK is, after all, Margot Livesey's first novel. Those of us who have had the pleasure of reading her others have come to expect high quality from her - her talent for suspense shines so very brightly in CRIMINALS and THE MISSING WORLD, and her character development and storytelling, so evident in her masterpiece (my opinion) EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE, are stunning. HOMEWORK has its own bright moments - even for such...
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I don't understand how anyone could find this story boring. While not action-packed, this book provides a rich, realistic portrait of a child who has learned how to manipulate adults to get her way. The adults, while seemingly in control of the situation, are blinded to reality by their own preconceptions and their expectation that a child could not act with such calculating malice. And while Jenny is cruel and calculating...
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This novel unfolds its characters and the plot artfully. Celia's own childhood and adult experiences frame the action of the novel. The reader's emotions for Stephen's young daughter will waver between compassion and terror as the truth comes into focus. It is interesting to see the range of reactions different characters have to the situations, based on previous experience with Celia. What is true, what is misdunderstanding,...
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