Search - A Dangerous Woman

A Dangerous Woman
Larger
A Dangerous Woman
Author: Mary McGarry Morris

Book Information
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Type: Paperback
Rating:

ISBN-13: 9780140272116 - ISBN-10: 0140272119
Publication Date: 6/1/1997
Pages: 368


Other Versions of this Book: Hardcover, Audio Cassette

Book Description:
Martha Horgan is not like other women. She stares. She has violent crushes on people. She can't stop telling the truth. Martha craves love, independence, and companionship, but her relentless honesty makes her painfully vulnerable to those around her: Frances, her wealthy aunt and begrudging guardian; Birdy, who befriends her, then cruelly rejects her; and Colin Mackey, the seductive man who preys on her desires. Confused and bitter, distrusting even those with her best interests at heart, Martha is propelled into a desperate attempt to gain control over her own life. The sense of impending calamity is almost unbearable in this portrait of a woman who teeters on the edge of madness.

"Morris's magnanimous ability to portray her characters with so much tenderness and cruelty may be her novel's finest strength." (Boston Sunday Globe)


Members who requested this book also requested:

Similar books to this author and title:
Songs in Ordinary TimeVanishedFiona RangeA Hole in the UniverseThe Lost Mother


Genres:

Top Member Book Reviews

Robin M. (robinm) wrote on 1/16/2007...

4 member(s) found this review helpful.

I really loved this book and got quite caught up in the story. As usual, with Mary McGarry Morris, you have a feeling that the author knows her characters very well in real life, and that the story is being dosed out in equal parts comedy and tragedy. I didn't want it to end, and I sure didn't want it to end like it did. A sequel would make the book totally anticlimactic, but I hate how she kept me wondering!

Maranda B. (maranda) wrote on 11/18/2008...

3 member(s) found this review helpful.

I just finished A Dangerous Woman by Mary McGarry Morris - wow, it was pretty fantastic. My 3rd McGarry Morris read and possibly my favorite, although it's close. Her book Songs in Ordinary Time was in Oprah's Book Club, which is how I originally found this author. If you've read and McGarry Morris in the past, I highly recommend this book, she's at her best!

A Dangerous Woman is based on small-town living for a 32-year-old woman with mental fixations, ticks, and behavioral problems - worsened by the fact that she's been tormented and cast as an outsider all her life. The depth of this character is incredible. You're taken on her ups and downs between her wealthy aunt's mansion living to the boarding house and back again, all the while she's fixated on the other people in her life in a very stalker-ish way. It's peculiar and definitely a page-turner, hard to put down.

Alice K. (ilflatlander) wrote on 4/11/2007...

2 member(s) found this review helpful.

A different sort of story, but intriguing. It kept my attention reading into the night.

Jennifer S. (orlandojen) wrote on 4/1/2007...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Martha craves love, independence, and companionship, but her honestly makes her vulnerable to those around her: her aunt Francis, her friend, Birdy, and a seductive man, Colin. Martha is drawn into a desperate attempt to gain control over her own life.


Book Wiki
Common Title
Series
Original Publication Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
People/Characters
Real Places
Fictional Places
Important Events
Awards and Honors