Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

by Katharine Weber

Book Overview

Harriet Rose, 26, is an American photographer just winning recognition for her work. A travel fellowship brings her to visit her best friend and former roommate, Anne Gordon, in Switzerland. In an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312143834
• ISBN13: 9780312143831
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

discovered her second novel first

I liked her second novel more because of the Vermeer mentions but this is an intriguing book about perception and seeing also. I look for her next book with interest. A fine writer, glad to have discovered her.

A Book To be Studied By Writers, Delicious for Readers

I had an intuition about reading this book and I was right. It's rich, dense, withstructural decisions with which one might not agree, BUT it is wonderfully memorable, complex, a rare great read. In addition, as said in my long title, above, reading this as a writer: it's a goldmine. Because Ms. Weber carries this book with a consciousness that mixes the mundane life we all live with a literary savvy we can also enjoy (what some of us live too). To put this simply: the plot can take anyone along but the real treat is to see how an "intellectual" can create an accessible world that has so many philosophical and photographic insights also dispersed throughout. I read the middle flashback section after the first and last because I needed to keep with chronology. But, however you choose to read this, do so. Recommended for those who love a good read and recommended especially for writers. Many many tricks of the trade are embedded if one reads this with a writer's eye. Thanks, Ms. Weber, for a book that seriously challanged this non-fiction writer to reach for more range in my own work. A marvel.

an under-recognized gem

Why isn't this book better known? What a wonderful first novel. I can't believe it didn't win prizes. It's a Harriet the Spy for grownups. And the wordplay is brilliant. Hats off! Now when is her third novel coming out?

An Instant Recommendation!

This is a compelling story of two friends whose lives intertwined, widely diverged, and then were brought back together. Harriet is sincere and appealing, while Anne is something of a cipher. Too much seems to have changed for their friendship to be what it was. And each carries excess baggage from traumatic events in their families. The new men in their lives are catalysts, and the effects are devastating for one friend. I was captured immediately by the wonderful voice the author gave the narrator. My interest never flagged.

Stylish, Urbane, Perceptive

Ms. Weber's book has the convention of a young woman trying to come to terms with a new love, long-buried family secrets, and witnessing a dear friend's involvement in an unhealthy relationship. But she gives the conventions a twist that are very surprising, and the result is wholly satisfying. Nice work, and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Weber.