By Blood: A Novel

by ELLEN ULLMAN | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 1250023963 Global Overview for this book
Registered by ReallyBookish of Furlong, Pennsylvania USA on 5/8/2018
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by ReallyBookish from Furlong, Pennsylvania USA on Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Amazing! I devoured this book and simply did not want it to end (and, indeed, when I came to the end I wished that there were more pages still to read). It was intelligent, riveting, and singular. I have never read anything quite like it before and I now consider it to be one of the best books I have ever read. A page-turner with heart, soul, and depth. Highly, highly recommended!

Journal Entry 2 by ReallyBookish at Wishlist Tag Game, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, June 30, 2018

Released 5 yrs ago (7/2/2018 UTC) at Wishlist Tag Game, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is packaged up and ready to head out to GoryDetails as part of the wishlist tag game. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, July 5, 2018
The book arrived safely today; thanks so much for the wishlist tag! I admit I wanted this one largely on the strength of your comments {wry grin}.

Later: The offbeat premise leads into an increasingly creepy scenario, as the out-of-touch-with-reality professor tries to help a young psychiatric patient locate her biological family - without her realizing that he's able to eavesdrop on her psychiatric sessions. The patient, a lesbian in 1970s San Francisco, has plenty of concerns other than that of her bio-background, but is drawn into investigating further thanks to the anonymous suggestions from the eavesdropper. But not everyone welcomes attempts to dig up the past: "I wanted to make sure you would not be a Jew," says her birth mother...

While the eavesdropping narrator is clearly a questionable character, so is the psychiatrist, whose attempts to force a reconciliation with the patient's bio-family seems awfully intense. Indeed, there are tugs of war going on here, with the different characters' agendas (knowingly or not) coming into play often.

I admit that I found the gradual revelations as to the nightmarish situation that Michal found herself in a bit less interesting than the psychological dance that led up to them, and while some of the late-breaking plot twists added drama, I kept wishing that the poor patient could just let it all go. It's hard to un-know things like that, but it shouldn't change who she is... or who her half-sister is either. [The story's setting is long before the age of DNA testing, which could settle at least one question very quickly, but that's not really the point of the story!]

The very last chapter - ah, yes! I admit that I got so caught up in the patient's story that I almost forgot the eavesdropper, so when that final revelation kicked in it was startling and chilling. And, yes, satisfying. Great psychological suspense, reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith; indeed, in some ways Cry of the Owl comes to mind.

Journal Entry 4 by wingGoryDetailswing at LFL - Broad St. #20 in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Released 5 yrs ago (8/16/2018 UTC) at LFL - Broad St. #20 in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this warm day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***

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