Heading West

by Doris Betts

Book Overview

The author of Souls Raised from the Dead offers a gripping novel that combines the suspense of a thriller with the exhilarating story of a woman's bumpy journey toward liberation. A small-town... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394517989
• ISBN13: 9780394517988
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This book raises blisters.

The plot of this book is difficult; a kidnapped woman suffers the attentions of a soulless man as a means to escape a life that no longer fits her. When I read the synopsis on the back of the book, I thought it might be a book about Stockholm Syndrome, but it isn't. Nancy always hates Dwight. Why can't Nancy free herself from him? Why can't she and Judge Jolley work together to free themselves? The power of the book comes from its success at making me believe in their captivity, their botched attempts, their fits and starts and bad moves. This is not an easy book to read, but it's beautifully written and absorbing, VERY funny in places, always disturbing, and the confrontations will leave you shaken. At one point I feared it would devolve into some kind of easy romantic denouement, and I was disappointed in that prospect, considering the power of the story that had come before. But it doesn't. It continues to be a road novel about self-discovery up until the very end. I have to commend the author for her portrayal of Dwight. He is one of a kind, as far as characters. He is so well-drawn and yet so completely mysterious. He is without a conscience or a plan, and that makes him one of the more dangerous characters I have ever read.

Brilliant novel

This is one of those startling yet quiet books that seems to live under the radar. It's literate, beautiful, and aware of small lives. It made me think and the characterization made me feel. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A book I reread every year.

I loaned my copy of "Heading West" to a very good friend. She found it "disturbing," and wondered at my state of mind. Perhaps I read something different into (or out of) the book. Some may see it as escape fantasy -- bored librarian is about to go out of her head with frustration over her inability to escape the miniscule life her family has chosen for her, then is whisked away into a nightmare which she miraculously survives. However, what I find most fascinating is the way Betts plays on the differences and similarities between the "heroine" and her kidnapper. Like a yo-yo, Nancy is alternately repelled by and attracted to a mind so different from her own. To me, this excerpt, taken from the middle of the book, says it all: "'Dwight?' [The judge] leaned forward. 'Uh, Dwight?' Surely a frightened parent in some car they flew past would report this dark car rocking from side to side in the rain almost grazing their doors. The judge's uplifted hair whipped forward to blind him. In the middle of another roaring downhill loop he slid spread fingers under his flying hair and lunged against Dwight's back with one elbow. 'For God's sake, Dwight!'... "Let him drive fast. I won't submit to being punished by this man, Nancy was thinking. "And Dwight drove fast out of Bandelier only to feel the damp wind in his face. Why not?" Hope you enjoy the book as much as I do!