I have been reading Jaclyn Moriarty’s books since Feeling Sorry for Celia came out in the
early 2000s, and I always check her blog for updates. Moriarty’s blog is as
well written as her books, and reading a new post is almost like reading a
short story, or a series of short stories, when she updates. I think it was
through her blog that I found out that her sister, Liane Moriarty, writes for
adults. Now I am always on the lookout for both a new Jaclyn Moriarty book, and
a new Liane Moriarty book as well.
I haven’t written about Liane Moriarty’s book What Alice Forgot here, but I should
have when it came out a year or so ago (it is so good). Instead, I picked up her newest publication, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, last year,
and I think it’s more timely to write about it instead since it’s a little more
recent!
The Hypnotist’s Love
Story is about two women who have one man – Patrick – in common. Ellen O'Farrell is a
hypnotherapist working out of the house that her grandparent’s left her. She
takes clients in a room that overlooks the ocean and makes a comfortable living
that way. When she meets Patrick, she is surprised that she might have found a
lasting and meaningful relationship. But when Patrick reveals that he has a
stalker – his ex-girlfriend Saskia – rather than worrying about the posed
threat, Ellen is instead intrigued. Saskia has been following Patrick for the
years since he left her: following him down the highway in her car, reserving a
table for herself in the restaurants where she knows he’ll be, following him on
foot from place to place. Patrick explains that Saskia is actually sitting in
the restaurant with them on one of their dates (although Ellen doesn’t see
her). Thinking he is breaking up with her (instead of worrying about Saskia’s presence
in the restaurant), Ellen tries to talk herself out of what she at first
believed was a very promising relationship (it lasts for the first few pages of
the books, and is pretty funny in full. At one point Ellen even admits, “She
didn’t really like the name Patrick anyway. It was a namby-pamby sort of name.
You could imagine your hairdresser being called Patrick. Also, his male friends
apparently called him ‘Scottie,’ which was…well, perfectly acceptable really in
that Aussie blokey way”).
Saskia is the other character in this novel, and Moriarty
frequently defers to her perspective as it alternates with Ellen’s. Saskia has been
posing as one of Ellen’s patients since the day she found out Ellen was dating
Patrick, although Ellen does not have any idea that she has been meeting the
woman she is so curious about on a weekly basis (Saskia changes her name for
the appointments, and as a reader, you are right there with Ellen as she tries
to guess which one of her clients is Saskia). Moriarty’s sympathy for Saskia is
tempered by the way she outlines every action Saskia takes, rational or
irrational (and mostly irrational). She becomes an incredibly interesting
character, not because of what she does, but because Moriarty explains why she
does it.
As well, meeting Patrick does not immediately bring about
the happy-ending Ellen is looking for. Patrick’s first wife died when their son,
Jack, was born, and she is as much of a presence in his life as Ellen and
Saskia are. Moriarty parallels these stories in order to show just how many
participants there are in a relationship, as willing or as unwilling as they
are. Liane Moriarty is an exceptional
writer, and in The Hypnotist’s Love Story
she writes honestly and humorously about the relationships that Ellen,
Saskia, and Patrick find themselves in.
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