For Priest Completists Only
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A bit of an oddity and difficult to describe. This is another fine and disturbing novel by Priest but not as fully realised as most of his other works. Paranoia, murder, graphic sexual assault, hallucinations, all of this mixed in with mundane day to day Englishness like cooking tea and going to the shops. As with all Priests books the fabric of reality appears worn thin and there are weird and unexpected occurrences and shifts of perception. None of it is really developed into anything concrete and involving however and the ending is very abrupt and rather unsatisfactory. It feels as if Priest sort of ran out of ideas with this one. Priest fans should read it but not a good place to start with if you don't know his stuff.
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Strange and compelling
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The Quiet Woman is probably Priest's least known novel. It's certainly not in the same league as The Affirmation or the The Glamour or The Prestige, but it is compelling nonetheless. The story revolves around a woman writer living in rural England, the murder of one of her friends, and the suppression of her most recent book. Priest touches on many themes here - largely political and literary - and the book is populated by a small cast of characters, each of whom is mysterious in their own way (except the cat, which is delightfully and typically feline!) The ambiguity of the characters, far from being a weakness, adds a certain edge to the story and, in typical Priest style, leaves you wondering about the nature of reality. It's not an 'alternate reality' novel like some of his others (The Affirmation, A Dream of Wessex, The Separation); it's more about different perceptions of reality, and how people create their own realities.
The setting is equally mysterious, with hints of a recent nuclear disaster, crop circles and shadowy government cover-ups, none of which are developed to any great extent. Together, they provide rather a dark, disturbing backdrop for this interesting, slightly weird novel. If you like your books to leave you pondering, you should like this one.
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Ehm..go and run that past me again Chris please.
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Well if anybody can tell me what really happens in this book they are a better man than me Gunga-Din.
i love Christopher Priest's writing and i think his approach to the unreliable narrator/narrative is beyond reproach, however The Quiet Women, left me totally confused....so if there is anyone out there who can shine a light on it for me then i will be a very happy chappy.
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