Brilliant book by a brilliant female writer - Jean Rhys. This book will not only make you cry and turn your mood sad, but it will haunt you once you finish it. It deals with depression, loneliness, and desperation. A must read of any Jean Rhys fan. ( )

this was recommended in 500 best books by women. it was really good. ( )

Julia Martin, the protagonist of "After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, is a woman who is no longer quite young. She has relied on instinct and youth to supply her with both love and money. When instinct fails, and youth fades, men, then, fail her too.

She withdraws into a numbness that serves to bind her when she tries to escape. Rhys paints this portrait with elegantly simple lyrical strokes such as, "It was a mild day. The sky was the rare, hazy, and tender blue of the London sky in spring. There was such a sweetness in the air that it benumbed you. It woke up in you a hope that was a stealthy pain."

Jean Rhys has several novels that treat this theme of a woman discarded. I think this is my favorite because here Rhys's sparse, matter-of-fact style achieves the highest level of intensity. Although, it's been some years since I read Kafka, I was reminded of how he uses a style of clinical detachment to create dread. It's as though we irrationally sense the author is speaking calmly in order not to frighten us. And that she may be frightened too. ( )