A monster depicted as a bird of prey with a woman’s face. We review The Harpy
The Harpy – the blurb
Lucy and Jake live in a house by a field where the sun burns like a ball of fire. Lucy has set her career aside in order to devote her life to the children, to their finely tuned routine, and to the house itself, which comforts her like an old, sly friend. But then a man calls one afternoon with a shattering message: his wife has been having an affair with Lucy’s husband, Jake. The revelation marks a turning point: Lucy and Jake decide to stay together, but make a special arrangement designed to even the score and save their marriage–she will hurt him three times. As the couple submit to a delicate game of crime and punishment, Lucy herself begins to change, surrendering to a transformation of both mind and body from which there is no return. Told in dazzling, musical prose, The Harpy is a dark, staggering fairy tale, at once mythical and otherworldly and fiercely contemporary. It is a novel of love, marriage and its failures, of power, control and revenge, of metamorphosis and renewal.
Is it a bird?
It was the cover that drew my attention to this book. The woman whose face is covered by a swan-esque head piece. The first few pages were equally as startling. A man submitting to a woman cutting him. What on earth was going on? Why? I was hooked and polished it off in one sitting. The short, sharp paragraphs making it an easy read.
Claws out
The Harpy tells the story of a woman unravelling after finding out her husband is having an affair. It is similar in style to a number of books I have read recently – no more than a couple of hundred pages, flitting about from past to present, gaps allowing the reader to step in and make up their own mind. But mostly it was similar for the complex female lead it offered. These woman are not necessarily likeable, yet they are vivid and provoke really visceral feelings. I don’t know how I feel about Lucy or her decisions. I’m still not quite sure on the ending (I read it far too fast wanting to see what happened to fully process it) but I loved reading about a woman as f*$ked up as her. Claws out, ready for revenge.
Devil is in the detail
As I was reading I did find myself wanting more details about Jake’s affair. Or maybe just more from Jake. He was very difficult to draw anything from. What was his side of the story? Did he still love Lucy? I appreciate this wouldn’t have fit with the style of the book but a touch more detail would have been welcome. This didn’t distract from a really good read though. You couldn’t help but wonder how far Hunter would push it. And in what direction.
The Harpy is a deeply dark tale of marriage and revenge drawing on mythical legends yet at the same time being very modern. (Shout out to the casual Biff and Chip reference.) Hunter’s observations, especially with Lucy’s children, were spot on and the was writing sublime. I will now immediately go out* and purchase The End We Start From (her first book) and if it’s as good as this, I will be in for a treat.
*OK maybe not ‘go out’ given that we are back in lockdown. I’ll order it over the phone instead. #NoAmazonHere
