Linda has it all – a great job in journalism, loving
husband, beautiful children, a nice home in Geneva, Switzerland – but she is
unhappy. Nothing new here. She becomes obsessed with Jacob, an old high school
boyfriend who is now a big-time politician. When she interviews him for the
newspaper, she suddenly decides to give him a blow job before she leaves. What?
This was the point where I started wondering about Linda’s mental health. It
gets worse.
They meet again, for sex. But instead of the erotic encounter
Linda is expecting, Jacob turns her over onto her knees and practically forces
anal sex on her, then very unemotionally tells her how to clean up so her
husband won’t find out. The sex is painful and degrading, yet Linda convinces
herself she is in love with him. She begins a journey into deep darkness, harassing
Jacob by text message even after he rejects her, and even going so far as to
try and frame his wife for cocaine which Linda purchased from a drug dealer.
When Linda discloses that she once tortured her boyfriend’s
dog as a teenager, I see that she has psychopathic tendencies. As she goes down
this path, she says she feels comfortable in her madness, and that’s exactly
what it is. She is completely bonkers.
I find it very odd that the only characters who are named in
the book are Linda, Jacob, and Jacob’s wife, Marianne. Linda’s own husband and
children are never named, even though her husband is mentioned throughout the
book. The children seem like they are just there, and she has no real
connection to them. I don’t see any love there.
I won’t give any spoilers, but Linda resolves her issues in
the end. However, I found the ending implausible given her obvious mental
illness. And when she talks about love, I don’t feel anything. It’s like she is
talking about clouds. Linda seems robotic to me, devoid of human compassion and
emotions.
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