The Tiger in the Tiger Pit

This book will give you many moments of pleasure and insight - the prose is completely delicious. I love the structure of this novel, as we read from multiple viewpoints as the story progresses, without the annoyance of too much jumping about in time and place - everything moves forward at an understandable pace and context.
The characters are interesting but deeply flawed. The more I read about them, the more I understood them - and the less I liked them! The neat plot twist at the end, which demonstrated a complete misunderstanding at the heart of Edward's unhappiness and self-designated sacrifice, was a surprise to me, and also made me hastily re-evaluate my impression of Elizabeth's character.
Everyone is selfish and self-absorbed. show more There is a great deal of truth in this novel, and it is not at all as dire as I've made it sound. I was just disappointed in these people - most probably because I had invested in them emotionally. I think this is a book which will benefit from a second reading, and will continue to please me for many years as I ponder the motivations and actions of the Carpenters and their contacts. show less

Edward and Elizabeth Carpenter are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Elizabeth has invited their three children home for the event: Victoria who suffers from mental illness; their son is extraordinarily angry at his father; and Emily, a gifted musician who has an illegitimate son that Edward has refused to meet. Edward has invited Marta, a woman he longed for decades ago but never acted upon is desire. Elizabeth has a secret agenda concerning her youngest daughter, and a deeper secret of her own past -- setting the stage for an interesting family reunion.

This sounds a bit like a soap opera/chick lit, but most definitely is not. It is a story of family secrets, forgiveness and choices made. The ending is perfect! I will show more be looking for other works by this author. show less

The 50th wedding anniversary party of the Carpenters brings to a peak all the tensions and mystery that has built up during those years. It has not been a happy family- Elizabeth, an artist married to a stern, angry and frustrated school principal have raised three children: Jason, a selfish womanizing psychologist, Emily, a world renown concert violinist, and Victoria, a mental mess who resides in a mental institution. It is Emily's son who becomes the catalyst for reducing the tension and leading to some resolution of the family problems. A major irony in the plot is that the husband has always regretted not consummating the affair he imagined with a colleague's wife when we learn that the colleague & Elizabeth did have a consummated show more affair and the colleague's wife always thought that the Carpenters' son was her husband's. Slow to start as Hospital introduces the characters but concludes with a bang. We see some of the same parts of the story through the eyes of different characters which reveals the differing motivations for how they act. show less