Book Review #58: Nocturnal Animals by Austin Wright

Hey Guys x

I owned this book for ages before I even thought about picking it up (it was given as a gift to my mum, who hasn't read it yet) but after watching the film version of the same name twice, I decided to pick it up and see what I thought of it, compared with the film.

Susan Morrow has been divorced from Edward Sheffield for 20 years, so the last thing she expects to receive in the mail is a copy of his new novel. Reading it, she discovers a terrifying story that shakes her to her core. But how could Edward, the man she once knew, have written a story this distressing? And why did he send it to her?

I loved this book. For the whole time that I was reading it I had to force myself to put it down because it was so easy to get invested in, and because the chapters were quite short (about 10 pages each), it was so easy to say 'just one more chapter'.

First of all, I have to talk about the way that it was written, because in my opinion, it's the kind of book that every aspiring writer and/or creative writing student should read. Not only is it beautifully written, but it's written in such a way that you know the author actually thought about the effect of each word, each sentence, each punctuation mark, etc.
There's a reason why there's hardly any dialogue while we're in Susan's point of view, or why the dialogue between Tony Hastings and Bobby Andes is so short and choppy - there's barely time for dialogue tags or any other pieces of information. There's a reason why we barely get to hear Edward Sheffield or Arnold Morrow speak, and yet we know all the intimate details of their lives, including their relationships with Susan. I haven't read any other works by Austin Wright, but just from this one book, I know that he was a master of his craft, and the kind of writer that I aspire to be.

And then there's the story itself. While it won't be a surprise if you've seen the film, that doesn't make the events between Tony Hasting's family and the three antagonists any less shocking or heart-wrenching. You find yourself needing to take breaks from that story at the exact time that Susan does, just so you can breathe for a second and try not to think about what's going to happen next.

The amazing thing about this book is that, while reading about Susan reading about Edward's characters, there are so many hints and details about Edward and Susan's relationship that you can infer without either of them having to say anything. While these parallels are much more evident in the film, they still subtly occur in the novel in such a way that you can't help but think about all of these characters as real people, whether they're supposed to be or not.

What was good?
As I've already said, I loved the way it was written, from an academic standpoint and from the point of view of someone who just loves stories. There are so many ways that this story could have become complicated, but there wasn't one point when it actually did.

What was bad?
I have no idea if this was the intention, but I was a lot more invested in the fictional story than I was in the real one. I enjoyed reading about Tony Hastings more than Susan Morrow, and I found myself irritated with Susan many times throughout the novel, more so than I did whilst watching the film version. She is a character that seems to want sympathy for situations that she caused herself. And while I don't think that she's supposed to be a flawless protagonist, as she's not written as one, I didn't like her as much as I wanted to.

Overall
Read this book. And watch the movie, in whatever order you prefer. If I could recommend anything, I would say watch the movie, read the book, then watch the movie again. Because the book opens up a lot of things that make the movie make more sense (in my opinion), but seeing the movie before the book gives you some sense as to where the story is going, and what to expect.

4.5 Stars!

Lou