A Stranger Like You

Truly Wonderful, Stay-Up-All-Night Reading; Great Book Club Choice

I LOVE this book. The flap copy oh so modestly calls it "smart, scary, provocative, topical, and full of surprises." It lives up to the billing and delivers even more! In the context of a Hollywood hotshot's rejection of a script that is an example of everything wrong with film today - violent premise, implausible ending, full of clichés - Brundage delivers a story that playfully examines those flaws and somehow (really this is such an amazing thing to watch unfold) ends up employing them to create a story that is not just believable and unclichéd, but also emotionally moving and thought-provoking - without sacrificing the thriller pacing Hollywood relies so heavily show more upon.

I could go on forever about the things to admire here: the clever structure; the brilliant prose (so many lines and phrases I wish I'd written); the very full and real characters; and, in the Hedda sections, the most effect second person point of view I've ever read. Book clubs will find so much to discuss. But what carries A Stranger Like You beyond admirable literary fiction to truly wonderful, stay-up-all-night reading is that one thing Hollywood values, and so often fails to deliver: a compelling and meaningful story well-told. show less

Hugh Waters: Bad marriage. Boring life. Bottled dreams, now smashed. Big problem.

Denny Rios: Unloved child. Unraveling psyche. Unsung hero.

Hedda Chase: Privileged. Powerful. Professional. Pitiful.

When Hugh Waters, insurance agent, takes a screenwriting class and miraculously sells his salacious thriller to Hollywood, his drab and unhappy life takes on sudden meaning. But when a Hollywood executive dies, the successor, Ivy Leaguer Hedda Chase, denounces the script as chauvinistic and unbelievable, resulting in a cancelled contract for Hugh.

Hugh snaps, flies to LA, and stalks Hedda with a vague plan to convince her she’s wrong about his story. Instead, with no qualms and with the calculating, level-headed insanity of a true sociopath, show more he submits her to the same quandary the character in his film endures, to prove that his plot is plausible. Hedda is locked in the trunk of her vintage BMW and abandoned at the airport, keys dangling in the ignition.

On another path, Iraq war veteran Denny Rios, pushed and berated by a group of decadent soldiers, was forced to half-heartedly join in the horrific rape of a young Iraqi girl when on duty overseas. Haunted by the experience, sickened by guilt, never free of the girl’s face in his nightmares, Denny flees when the cops approach his aunt and uncle’s home and steals the car with Hedda still bound and gagged in the trunk.

I know, it’s an intriguing plot. But it’s not the storyline that captivated me in this novel. It’s more the Dostoevsky-like telling of the tale.

Although A Stranger Like You is billed as a mystery/thriller, I’d prefer to see it classified as literary psychological fiction. The “literary” tag comes from the pure poetry that infiltrates Brundage’s well-written prose.

As a boy, he’d gone to the Jersey shore in summertime, but this was the Pacific. There was something about this ocean. In the distance, the air looked brown, like an old-fashioned sepia print, the water copper in the sunlight. The sea was calm, the air smelled of fish. Savage birds dove and fought.

Here’s another passage:

They would smoke pot and make love, her skin the impenitent green of old bay leaves, her nipples like the smudged rubber thimbles of a bookkeeper, and then she’d make him tea with mint that she grew on her windowsill. Compared to his wife, Jolene was easily satisfied, uninhibited about her nakedness, her smells, her moody breath. She moved with the unhindered heft of a wrestler…

Brundage showcases very long and winding passages that contain little dialog or action, aside from the running stream-of-consciousness thoughts of each character. Layered over and between each other, these passages of inner thoughts, often told in present tense, second person, lend kaleidoscopic views to the story, hopping back and forth through time and focusing on the unique angle seen by each character. It’s the use of second person (“you” POV) that brings the intimacy to these segments.

Death is something you fear, and you can never gauge its proximity. Sometimes you sense it encroaching upon you like some thief in the night, looking into your windows. Sometimes you lay in bed, brittle, waiting for evil to find you. Images sprawl through your mind, arbitrary scraps of terror that have become all too ordinary. To some degree, you have been nurtured on fear.

Here’s another:

Maybe you are just tired after the long flight, but you feel conspicuous, profoundly aware of your middle class American roots, drawing attention to yourself as only an American can, in your schlumpy sweat suit, your clunky bag of indispensables (vitamins, pills, and medications for any possible problem, dental floss, makeup, Tampax, Nikes, your favorite Patagonia cap), and the way you move, with carbonated overflow, in comparison to the serene aerodynamics of the locals. As a female, you are sensitive to the feverish curiosity of strangers. Their eyes coat your body like paint.

Of course, there’s suspense that draws the reader to the finale. We need to know what happens to Hedda Chase, locked in the trunk of that blue BMW. But it’s the intense character profiles and the disturbing intimate lives we glimpse through Brundage’s unique approach that were most riveting.



Following are some favorite lines from A Stranger Like You:



He didn’t tell them the stars were like the teeth of the dead.

***

He carried the stories around in his pockets, in his fists, like stones.

***

Doubt is your compass.

***

…Sunrise like the smeared rouge on a whore.

***

A bruise floats over his eye like a jellyfish.



Brundage digs deep inside her characters’ heads. In addition to the primary characters above, we peek inside the lives of a disillusioned screenwriter (Tom Foster), an escaped and ill-fated Iraqi student (Fatima), and a young homeless waif of a girl (Daisy). All of Brundage’s well-rounded characters play to an unusual backdrop of a seedy vision of Hollywood interwoven with images of the war in Iraq, told through Denny’s thoughts.

This is not a fast read. It’s not a Patterson, or Hoag, or a quick thrill ride that you’ll devour in one sitting. It’s a study in human nature, and you’ll have to work your way through it. But I guarantee, you’ll enjoy the ride. The characters–all who move masterfully through their arcs of development–will haunt you long after you finish A Stranger Like You. show less

There was every reason to like this book - I'd heard Ms. Brundage at reading a few years back and found her articulate and engaging. I liked her earlier 'Somebody Else's Daughter.' The backdrop of Hollywood, screenwriting, large studios, and the Iraqi War was intriguing. Sadly for me, the story line of the frustrated would-be screenwriter kidnapping the studio executive was just too brutal for me to enjoy. This would definitely be a great book for someone less squeamish than I. Brundage's own background at NYU's Film School, as well as a screenwriter with the American Film Institute, is evident. Her pacing and plotting are assured and fast-moving. The tension levels rarely drop. She is also a fabulous writer, crafting beautiful show more sentences and dialogue. Some people might find her shifting from the third to second persons in perspective hard to follow. I thought voicing the kidnapped woman in the second person gave it even more immediacy. Wish I could have carried this book through to the end. Violence against women is a hard topic for some, me included. show less

For a person who generally doesn't enjoy thrillers or suspense, I really, really enjoyed this book. The characters were masterfully stitched together: believable, terrifying, complicated. Brundage asks questions of humanity, but refuses to answer them for the reader. The story evolves unexpectedly, and it sticks with you. Highly recommended.

A dark psychological thriller about the kidnapping of a female Hollywood excutive. The story is told through three main perspectives: the kidnapper, the victim, and the not-completely-innocent bystander who gets swept into the case.

A Stranger Like You is well-crafted, with several layers contributing to the overall experience. It's more literate, and more "psychological", than a typical plot-driven crime thriller. But it has all the action and twists that make a thriller appealing.

Should have been written as a short story. Part one was good but after that it was slow, with boring characters, and a slow, and wandering storyline. I also did not bond with any of the characters in the book, as they were just not that likable. I have no doubt some people will enjoy it, I did not.

A Stranger Like You by Elizabeth Brundage, is a fascinating novel of greed and out-of-control ambition. Brundage sweeps the reader up into a Hollywood-style life of realistic characters with broken dreams. The story is fast-paced and thrilling from the beginning. The reader easily sympathizes with Daisy, a young, homeless girl, Denny, the young Iraq war hero, and the characters that star in the Hollywood drama of the film business. Like The Doctor’s Wife, Brundage has captivated my attention with this latest novel, A Stranger Like You.