HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre
Loading...

Why Men Lie (original 2012; edition 2012)

by Linden MacIntyre

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
10912248,212 (3.45)10
Effie Gillis is a history professor teaching at a major university. She is also a survivor - of a troubled childhood, two failed marriages and numerous relationships which, for the most part, ended badly. Now, out of her past, arrives a man who is familiar and yet mysterious; mature, wise, and full of youthful energy. His presence is a reassurance, but he also carries with him an aura that is menacing. Slowly she becomes dependent on a relationship that's rich in truth and promise - but doomed by the lie that gave it life. Drawing on both minor and major characters from his two previous novels, The Long Stretchand The Bishop's Man, Why Men Lieis a story of longing, love and loss in middle age.… (more)
Member:Boefie
Title:Why Men Lie
Authors:Linden MacIntyre
Info:Random House Canada (2012), Hardcover, 384 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre (2012)

None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 10 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Hmm. I remain uncertain about "Why Men Lie". It's the sort of book that draws you in with interesting (and a bit confusing) characters, pulls you forward, and then leaves you wondering what you have gained from the reading. All of the men in the book are flawed, except perhaps one. Everyone lies. We never truly find out what Aunt Ada Doom saw in the woodshed (to use an example from Cold Comfort Farm). No one seems to grow.
In so many ways, though, this is the essential book of Cape Breton. Families in isolation, tied together through intermarriages and shared familial relations, kids all growing up with each other like puppies, the yearning to return to what is a pretty but often barren place, the fleeing to and from Toronto as if there were only two places to live in Canada, and one home.
I'm not a Cape Bretoner, and I don't understand the need to stick oneself to a limited horizon, but many many are and do. For them, this book would be like chewing dulse or breathing sea air.
For me, I felt a sense of impatience with the portrayal of the main character, who seems unable to move on past all of her prior spouses, her shadowy history, or even out into a different world than her childhood one. All of her life is wrapped up in men, not in her career, but in his. She has an academic career, but only because a man pushed her into it. It does not seem to matter to her.
Linden MacIntyre says he was raised in amongst women and this is how he can write a book from the women's point of view. I think the women he's observed he hasn't really known or studied or understood.
Oddly, this book "from a woman's perspective" would not pass the Bechdel test. None of the women ever speak to each other without it being about their men. Hell, the protagonist doesn't think about anything other than the men in her life. How narrowing, how demeaning.
I expected better. "The Bishop's Man" was better, and yet this book won the coveted Scotiabank Giller Prize. Not sure why.
( )
  Dabble58 | Nov 11, 2023 |
Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre is a parallel sequel to MacIntyre’s Giller Prize winning novel, The Bishop’s Man, which won its acclaim in 2009. This story, though, is told through the perspective and voice of Effie (Faye) MacAskill Gillis, sister to Duncan, the protagonist in The Bishop’s Man.

It’s a complicated tale, a microcosmic view into the life and thought-process of Effie Gillis after three broken relationships and a conscious effort at building a tolerance to independence and the changes that come with being a middle-aged woman.

But, Effie is no “blushing bride,” not only in that she’s courted marriage, both by religion and common-law, but did so to three different, yet intrinsically connected men: John, Sextus, and Conor.

To read more, please visit my blog, ZARA ALEXIS: THE BIBLIOTAPHE'S CLOSET: http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/why-men-lie-a-review/ ( )
  ZaraD.Garcia-Alvarez | Jun 6, 2017 |
This is the fourth time I'm trying to review this book. Everytime I try to edit my review, this program erases everything I have written which is extremely frustrating!!

I would not try again except that I received this book for free from Goodreads.

When I began this book, I did not realize that this is the last part of a trilogy. It may have been helpful to have read the other books prior to this one in order to have a more complete understanding of the characters.

The story revolves around an older woman living in Toronto, who has had numerous relationships with men that have ultimately failed. She appears to want to avoid any future involvements but inside she feels lonely isolated, missing a companion. She meets a man from her past and he appears to be the perfect man. He's intelligent,considerate, loving without appearing to have any baggage from his past. Of course people are seldom as they appear on the surface and this man is no exception. He's a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, which not only confuses the main character but also the reader. The location plays a large part in the story, it probably helps to be over 50 and living in Toronto, to appreciate all the locational references.

I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately, although interesting, the novel was a bit disappointing. The supporting characters were far more interesting than the main characters. The storyline takes too long to develop. I actually debated giving up on the book, it took until page 100 to really get going, which is why it took so long to read the book. ( )
  Icewineanne | Aug 4, 2016 |
Just a 2. It was a slog. The characters weren't particularly likeable. They were superficial egocentric sketches, aimlessly richocheting off of each other's lives. Confusing, muddy, angst-ridden. Buried secrets, lies and perceived lies, all over-magnified into dramatic substrate.

Found these two books nestled against each other on my ereader: [bc:Why Men Lie|13073964|Why Men Lie|Linden MacIntyre|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327952453s/13073964.jpg|18240599] [bc:Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty|12158480|Why Nations Fail The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty|Daron Acemoğlu|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327977588s/12158480.jpg|17129429] ( )
  TheBookJunky | Apr 22, 2016 |
Effie MacAskill Gillies is a university professor in Toronto. After years of working her way through a tough upbringing in Cape Breton- war damaged father, multiple marriages & relationships, troubled brother who is a priest. Now enjoying her independence she meets an old friend JC Campbell, from her past in the Toronto subway. The renewal of this relationship leads to secrets being revealed mostly hidden to this point by the lies the men in her life told her and themselves. ( )
  lamour | Dec 24, 2014 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Effie Gillis is a history professor teaching at a major university. She is also a survivor - of a troubled childhood, two failed marriages and numerous relationships which, for the most part, ended badly. Now, out of her past, arrives a man who is familiar and yet mysterious; mature, wise, and full of youthful energy. His presence is a reassurance, but he also carries with him an aura that is menacing. Slowly she becomes dependent on a relationship that's rich in truth and promise - but doomed by the lie that gave it life. Drawing on both minor and major characters from his two previous novels, The Long Stretchand The Bishop's Man, Why Men Lieis a story of longing, love and loss in middle age.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.45)
0.5
1
1.5
2 5
2.5 1
3 9
3.5 2
4 12
4.5 1
5 3

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,201,006 books! | Top bar: Always visible