Publication
Random House Audio (UK) (2004)
Original publication date
2000
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Description
The lives of three people--Francine, a child who hears her mother's murder while hiding in her room; Harriet, an aging beauty who seeks out handymen to ease her boredom; and Teddy, a young man who had been ignored by his parents since birth--converge with harrowing results.
User reviews
LibraryThing member moonshineandrosefire
Teddy was born into poverty and has risen from those humble beginnings to become an extremely talented craftsman determined to banish ugliness from his life. Harriet is a beautiful, bored trophy wife who employs a series of repairmen and handymen to satisfy her sexual desires. Francine is a college
I really do enjoy Ruth Rendell as an author. I don’t actually know how many of her books I’ve read, but I generally enjoy her writing and plot style. I give this book an A+!
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student who witnessed her mother’s murder and now must free herself from the manipulative clutches of her father’s second wife. Connected by strands of pure chance, their lives intersecting in the strangest of ways, these three people will eventually come together at a beautiful, ivy-covered cottage with a least one dead body buried in the basement.I really do enjoy Ruth Rendell as an author. I don’t actually know how many of her books I’ve read, but I generally enjoy her writing and plot style. I give this book an A+!
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LibraryThing member TPLThing
I'm not all that into suspense fiction but I do like Ruth Rendell's psychological suspense. My favorite is The Crocodile Bird. That one is a must read. I listened to A Sight for Sore Eyes on tape--narrated by Donada Peters. It's creepy good fun. Rendell is a master at creating a dark mood with an
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ongoing sense of foreboding in a contemporary setting. Edgar Allen Poe meets Stephen King? Dysfunctional families produce two young people who are not comfortable in their surroundings. Of course, their paths cross and their lives and the lives of those close to them are never the same. Read it on a dark and stormy night. I just hope you don't have an Edsel in your garage. Show Less
LibraryThing member shelnutt
I listened to audio version and it was great! Damaged young couple (his parents were horrendous, she witnessed murder of her mother at a young age) form a relationship. He is a psychopath, she's too sheltered to realize it. But the quality of the writing makes me feel sorry for him before the end.
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Very fitting ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member AnnieHidalgo
This is one of my favorite Ruth Rendell books. A psychological profiling mystery - the kind that lets you know how the bad guy came to be the way that he is. And I think this book's Teddy is one of the better mystery novel psychopaths I've read about in recent years. If you like Ruth Rendell,
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you'll probably like Minette Walters, and vice versa. Or Silence of the Lambs. Books like this satisfy my inner urge to become an FBI profiler. Show Less
LibraryThing member jayne_charles
Definitely a novel with a dark side. Not to mention some seriously deranged characters. Julia was positively outrageous, I was willing Francine to give her a good slapping!
LibraryThing member baswood
Good writing. The background to the psychopath Teddy Grex is very plausible and this is what raises this book above the ordinary. Other characters are also very well developed. Character developement does not get in the way of the story line, however this becomes a little too implausible after the
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excellent build up that has gone before it. A study in obsessive personalities that builds in intensity and suspense, but not quite maintained towards the end. A good read. Show Less
LibraryThing member mojacobs
This lady can write!
A good old-fashioned thriller, nice plot, likeable characters, and a villain who is not a cardboard figure, not someone you'd automatically hate, but a bit more complicated. A page-turner - spoiler coming ! - with a reasonably happy ending.
A good old-fashioned thriller, nice plot, likeable characters, and a villain who is not a cardboard figure, not someone you'd automatically hate, but a bit more complicated. A page-turner - spoiler coming ! - with a reasonably happy ending.
LibraryThing member smik
Although the sequel to this novel THE VAULT is a 2011 addition to the Wexford series, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES was written as a stand alone, and could so easily have been published as a Barbara Vine title.
I'm sure I have read it before, but had really forgotten most of it, although I knew a large part
It feels quite a long novel as Rendell details the loveless childhood of Teddy Brex and the trauma that surrounds that of Francine Hill. That these two plot strands will converge is not a surprise to the reader but the manner of their coming together may be.
If you haven't yet read THE VAULT I suggest you try to track down a copy of SIGHT FOR SORE EYES first even if only because THE VAULT contains plot spoilers, and you will get a much better appreciation of what Ruth Rendell has achieved in writing the sequel by reading them "in order". In essence the ending of A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES left room for the sequel but probably none of her followers realised that. I don't know if there is another author who has done anything similar - written a stand-alone story and then followed it up with a sequel written as part of an ongoing, long standing, series.
On its own A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES is a satisfying if somewhat macabre story about damage to children. At the end Rendell serves out a sort of justice.
I'm sure I have read it before, but had really forgotten most of it, although I knew a large part
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of the final plot because of reading THE VAULT earlier this year.It feels quite a long novel as Rendell details the loveless childhood of Teddy Brex and the trauma that surrounds that of Francine Hill. That these two plot strands will converge is not a surprise to the reader but the manner of their coming together may be.
If you haven't yet read THE VAULT I suggest you try to track down a copy of SIGHT FOR SORE EYES first even if only because THE VAULT contains plot spoilers, and you will get a much better appreciation of what Ruth Rendell has achieved in writing the sequel by reading them "in order". In essence the ending of A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES left room for the sequel but probably none of her followers realised that. I don't know if there is another author who has done anything similar - written a stand-alone story and then followed it up with a sequel written as part of an ongoing, long standing, series.
On its own A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES is a satisfying if somewhat macabre story about damage to children. At the end Rendell serves out a sort of justice.
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LibraryThing member KatPruce
So, this is one of those wishy washy books...where you say to your friends "well, it wasn't good but it wasn't necessarily bad either." Like that helps, right? But honestly, I just have lukewarm feelings about this book.
This was the latest choice for my book club as we've picked our way along EW's
Good Aspects:
Characterization - extremely realistic and fully fleshed out characters.
Compelling - this book is easily readable, I finished it in two sittings!
Multiple POVs done well - sometimes this can be annoying and can make a book feel choppy, not the case in A Sight for Sore Eyes.
Bad Aspects:
Yucky characters - and by this I mean, I didn't like a single character in this book! Actually, the one person who I had any small amount of sympathy for is a mass murderer!
Bad categorization - this is shelved in the mystery section of the library and is indeed touted as a mystery...why? There was no mystery to be solved so I'm really perplexed by its categorization. This threw off my expectations for the book a bit (which made me a little miffed)!
The ending - it's one of those that makes you go "ugh! really?!" I can't say anything more without spoiling except to say that it kind of seemed like the easiest and cleanest conclusion for Rendell, not necessarily the best conclusion for the story (although I can't think up an alternative).
Also, the Goodreads summary says the reader has "no inkling" of how the three storylines converge...um, not true. I realized how these three would meet up quite easily, although there were other twists and turns to keep me on my toes.
Now that you see my thoughts in list form, can you understand why I call it wishy washy? For those who love character-driven suspenseful literary fiction and don't mind a cast of truly despicable characters you'll probably like A Sight for Sore Eyes much more than I did. Otherwise, I'd probably skip it unless you're low on new books to read.
This was the latest choice for my book club as we've picked our way along EW's
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list of 100 new classics. Since A Sight for Sore Eyes appeared on the list, you know that it is a critical darling (I just want to make you aware that my view of this book likely diverges from popular critical sentiment). So, let me just break it down in a list of pros and cons for ya:Good Aspects:
Characterization - extremely realistic and fully fleshed out characters.
Compelling - this book is easily readable, I finished it in two sittings!
Multiple POVs done well - sometimes this can be annoying and can make a book feel choppy, not the case in A Sight for Sore Eyes.
Bad Aspects:
Yucky characters - and by this I mean, I didn't like a single character in this book! Actually, the one person who I had any small amount of sympathy for is a mass murderer!
Bad categorization - this is shelved in the mystery section of the library and is indeed touted as a mystery...why? There was no mystery to be solved so I'm really perplexed by its categorization. This threw off my expectations for the book a bit (which made me a little miffed)!
The ending - it's one of those that makes you go "ugh! really?!" I can't say anything more without spoiling except to say that it kind of seemed like the easiest and cleanest conclusion for Rendell, not necessarily the best conclusion for the story (although I can't think up an alternative).
Also, the Goodreads summary says the reader has "no inkling" of how the three storylines converge...um, not true. I realized how these three would meet up quite easily, although there were other twists and turns to keep me on my toes.
Now that you see my thoughts in list form, can you understand why I call it wishy washy? For those who love character-driven suspenseful literary fiction and don't mind a cast of truly despicable characters you'll probably like A Sight for Sore Eyes much more than I did. Otherwise, I'd probably skip it unless you're low on new books to read.
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LibraryThing member sogamonk
A prequel to The Vault. Explains how the bodies got in the coal bin. Masterfully written. So descriptive of a certain "type" of living, so real.
Rendell leaves no lose ends. Of course, one must read The Vault to appreciate Inspector Wexford's brilliance.
Rendell leaves no lose ends. Of course, one must read The Vault to appreciate Inspector Wexford's brilliance.
LibraryThing member dawsong
A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell
Fiction
Rendell starts off with a character whose interesting problem solving technique -- serial killing -- is not only justified, but cheerable. Halfway through the book, Rendell turns you back into a civilized human being and returns you to the right side of
Recommended by Geo, August 2004
Fiction
Rendell starts off with a character whose interesting problem solving technique -- serial killing -- is not only justified, but cheerable. Halfway through the book, Rendell turns you back into a civilized human being and returns you to the right side of
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the law. From entertainingly creepy to sinisterly edgy, she holds you until justice is served -- a perfect justice. Recommended by Geo, August 2004
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LibraryThing member deldevries
On the 100 New Classics list, but didn't meet that definition for me. Stopped at my 10% rule.
LibraryThing member aickman
A brilliant novel! While it certainly has elements of a mystery story, I would classify it as a psychological horror story, loaded with unsettling scenes but also with occasional, laugh-out-loud gallows humor. I was most impressed by Rendell's depictions of the characters' inner lives, which are
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all very rich and well-drawn. And it's all wrapped up in a highly engrossing, serendipitous narrative. Highly recommended! Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
When Rendell is on her game, her books are irresistible. And this one is a dandy. She's channeling Poe, and showing Stephen King a thing or two. Separate story lines, each featuring a young person whose upbringing was deplorable---one a talented and extremely handsome young man who came up without
January 2020
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love or attention, and has a sociopathic personality; the other a beautiful young woman who heard her mother's murder at age 7, and later suffered at the hands of an inept therapist, and an over-protective, increasingly demented stepmother as creepy as any in fantasy literature. Tension builds in each story, as we wait for the lines to intersect (as we know they must). When they do, forget about putting the book down.January 2020
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1856869253 / 9781856869256
Physical description
5.67 inches