Genres
Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Ivy Books (1992), Edition: 1st, 218 pages
Description
This New York Times bestselling novel, now in a brand-new edition, is a daring look at the dangers of obsession and the depth of its shattering consequences. Damage is the gripping story of a man's desperate obsession and scandalous love affair. He is a man who appears to have everything: wealth, a beautiful wife and children, and a prestigious political career in Parliament. But his life lacks passion, and his aching emptiness drives him to an all-consuming, and ultimately catastrophic, relationship with his son's fiancée. Chilling and brilliant, Damage is a New York Times bestselling masterpiece of the romantic suspense genr
User reviews
LibraryThing member zibilee
In this intense and shocking novel, an unnamed narrator details the treacherous and frightening spiral from his life of ease and comfort into one of depravity and obsession. The narrator, a well-to-do politician and doctor with a beautiful wife and two children, has always felt that things have
From the moment I began this book, there was a dark and portentous feeling surrounding me as I read. I think part of this comes from the fact that Hart knows her material and is able to be lush and spare at the same time, creating a sense of confinement and dread within the narrator's confession. For that is truly what this book really is, a confession of the dark misdeeds that the narrator succumbs to in his pursuit of Anna. The narrator himself is an odd fellow. He is supremely indifferent to all aspects of his life. From his loving wife to his perfect children, he feels almost nothing and strives to understand why he feels so dead inside. When he meets Anna, he becomes alive in a frightening instant and becomes obsessed with her in a way that is truly out of character for him, and truly worrisome to the reader.
Anna is a damaged person. She says this herself and explains to the narrator how dangerous people like her can be. She exists as a sort of repository for the narrator's growing obsession and doesn't really have any defining characteristics other than her ability to egg him on to further and further acts of madness. She is cold and calculating and seems to grow in her capacity for destruction as the narrator begins to sink into her. As he diminishes, she increases, and though he believes he's in control of everything that happens between them, in reality it is she who is in control. Something I noticed about Anna was how she passively pushes people to their extremes and then lets them believe their actions are their own idea, when in reality, she is the impetus for the destruction that takes place around her. She submits, but only when it's advantageous for her to do so, and she creates a sense of well being tempered with an acute anxiety for the narrator as she slowly strips his life away.
One could argue that all this destruction comes from the narrator himself, that he is, in fact, the hinge upon which all this madness rests. In my opinion, that would be to simple an assessment, for there's something about Anna that inspires rational people to do irrational things. In her quiet acquiescence she gives power and freedom to all sorts of malevolent ideas that seem to overtake people. Though she is rational and seems benign, she quietly unlocks all the secret desires of the people around her and sends them spinning out of control. The scariest thing about this is that Anna knows who and what she is and what she can do, and though she warns the narrator, she also strangely clings to him in an effort to live out her secret desire for domination. She is powerful, but also quiet and seemingly demure, her cacophony of malignancy resting just below a placid surface.
I felt a lot of discomfort reading this book, due to the curious sense of detachment exhibited by its characters, and when this all-consuming obsession and desperation took over the story, it was almost to unbearable to read about. The mental changes the narrator goes through are rather chilling and alarming, and by the time I turned the final page, I was unsettled and disturbed in way that bothered me but also made me wonder at Hart's awesome capacity for creating her story. Though our narrator has had his life, family and livelihood ripped away by his savage obsession with Anna, he still doesn't regret what he's done and still hungers for her both physically and mentally.
I loved this book, not only for its masterful style but for Hart's ability to get under my skin like a splinter and stay there. A lot of the book is written in a very direct and quiet way, but the story is chaotic and formidable, and it left me feeling vulnerable and unsettled in some vaguely strange ways. I think those readers who are looking for something that will riddle them with complex feelings and those who enjoy books that are deft yet sparse would love this one. I know I'm looking forward to reading more from Hart because I think she has an incredible narrative gift and the ability to create characters whose coldness is wondering and impeccable.
Show More
come to him too easily and nothing he's attained has truly been a challenge for him. He walks through life with a deep sense of ennui, content to live his life in the shadow of a deep seated discomfort and numbness, when one day his son, Martyn, brings home the latest in a series of women. But Anna, Martyn's new girlfriend, is different, and the narrator immediately takes notice of her in some disturbing ways, feeling instantly as though he has finally met one of his own kind. The relationship between this man and Anna is instantaneously deviant and sexually fearsome, and soon the narrator is being slowly driven mad with the compulsion to possess Anna in every way. This is a serious problem, for Martyn has marriage in mind, and though he allows Anna the freedom that she needs to be who she is, he doesn't realize that she is abusing his trust. As the narrator becomes more and more obsessed with this odd woman, whom his wife also feels strangely about, his life begins to crumple and distort in a series of events that will shatter not only him his family, but anyone connected to Anna as well. Deeply physiologically disturbing, this close and spare novel immediately grabs you in its teeth and shakes you, until finally you are left spent and breathless, marveling at the cruelty and deception within it.From the moment I began this book, there was a dark and portentous feeling surrounding me as I read. I think part of this comes from the fact that Hart knows her material and is able to be lush and spare at the same time, creating a sense of confinement and dread within the narrator's confession. For that is truly what this book really is, a confession of the dark misdeeds that the narrator succumbs to in his pursuit of Anna. The narrator himself is an odd fellow. He is supremely indifferent to all aspects of his life. From his loving wife to his perfect children, he feels almost nothing and strives to understand why he feels so dead inside. When he meets Anna, he becomes alive in a frightening instant and becomes obsessed with her in a way that is truly out of character for him, and truly worrisome to the reader.
Anna is a damaged person. She says this herself and explains to the narrator how dangerous people like her can be. She exists as a sort of repository for the narrator's growing obsession and doesn't really have any defining characteristics other than her ability to egg him on to further and further acts of madness. She is cold and calculating and seems to grow in her capacity for destruction as the narrator begins to sink into her. As he diminishes, she increases, and though he believes he's in control of everything that happens between them, in reality it is she who is in control. Something I noticed about Anna was how she passively pushes people to their extremes and then lets them believe their actions are their own idea, when in reality, she is the impetus for the destruction that takes place around her. She submits, but only when it's advantageous for her to do so, and she creates a sense of well being tempered with an acute anxiety for the narrator as she slowly strips his life away.
One could argue that all this destruction comes from the narrator himself, that he is, in fact, the hinge upon which all this madness rests. In my opinion, that would be to simple an assessment, for there's something about Anna that inspires rational people to do irrational things. In her quiet acquiescence she gives power and freedom to all sorts of malevolent ideas that seem to overtake people. Though she is rational and seems benign, she quietly unlocks all the secret desires of the people around her and sends them spinning out of control. The scariest thing about this is that Anna knows who and what she is and what she can do, and though she warns the narrator, she also strangely clings to him in an effort to live out her secret desire for domination. She is powerful, but also quiet and seemingly demure, her cacophony of malignancy resting just below a placid surface.
I felt a lot of discomfort reading this book, due to the curious sense of detachment exhibited by its characters, and when this all-consuming obsession and desperation took over the story, it was almost to unbearable to read about. The mental changes the narrator goes through are rather chilling and alarming, and by the time I turned the final page, I was unsettled and disturbed in way that bothered me but also made me wonder at Hart's awesome capacity for creating her story. Though our narrator has had his life, family and livelihood ripped away by his savage obsession with Anna, he still doesn't regret what he's done and still hungers for her both physically and mentally.
I loved this book, not only for its masterful style but for Hart's ability to get under my skin like a splinter and stay there. A lot of the book is written in a very direct and quiet way, but the story is chaotic and formidable, and it left me feeling vulnerable and unsettled in some vaguely strange ways. I think those readers who are looking for something that will riddle them with complex feelings and those who enjoy books that are deft yet sparse would love this one. I know I'm looking forward to reading more from Hart because I think she has an incredible narrative gift and the ability to create characters whose coldness is wondering and impeccable.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Damage is one of those novels that you know from the start is not going to end well. It tells you so in almost the first paragraph, but therein lies the draw. What happens to make such a statement? What could possess someone to conscientiously do something so wrong that would cause him or her to
Love - According to 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient and kind and is completely unselfish. According to Ms. Hart and the anonymous narrator, it is the greatest act of selfishness one can achieve. It is all-consuming, impatient, cruel, and decidedly impure. It eats a person alive and spits them out again, battered and bruised. Survivors of this ordeal know that they can survive anything, while those not strong enough to handle it find themselves mere shells of their former selves and their lives irrevocably altered. Presented in this light, Ms. Hart confronts the reader with the age-old question of whether it truly is better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all.
It is quite telling that while every other character is named and fleshed out a bit, the narrator remains anonymous. As the narrator does not shrink from the truth and does nothing to hide his own complicity in his decline, the reader is left to wonder if he remains anonymous for his own protection or as punishment for his actions. Similarly, the focus on the sensual, almost cruel trysts between Anna and the narrator raise the question of whether their attraction is truly this life-altering love, as discussed, or plain lust. Is one worse than the other? Does it really matter given the damage that occurs?
Anna is the key to the mystery and really deserves her own story. Cool and collected, strong-willed, maddeningly secretive and yet surprisingly pliant to the narrator's desires, who does she really love? Why is she so willing to sleep with her fiance's father? What is her motivation behind her actions? Ms. Hart tantalizes readers with the answers, but rather than frustrate, the remaining mysteries only enhance the tension.
What pulls this emotional cauldron together is the language. Stark but elegant, the words are almost audible to a reader. The language evokes a clear image of the mysterious narrator, his family and his emotional trauma while building those important connections to the reader. Damage takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions, raising question after question about what it means to love, and ultimately leaves the reader gasping for breath at the end.
Show More
make a blanket assessment like that? The resulting pages are every bit as horrific, emotional and intensely personal as the narrator cautions the reader to expect. Short but powerful, Damage is like watching a runaway train; the reader cannot look away even while knowing the outcome is going to be awful. Like said accident, it also leaves its mark on the reader as it explores what it means to love.Love - According to 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient and kind and is completely unselfish. According to Ms. Hart and the anonymous narrator, it is the greatest act of selfishness one can achieve. It is all-consuming, impatient, cruel, and decidedly impure. It eats a person alive and spits them out again, battered and bruised. Survivors of this ordeal know that they can survive anything, while those not strong enough to handle it find themselves mere shells of their former selves and their lives irrevocably altered. Presented in this light, Ms. Hart confronts the reader with the age-old question of whether it truly is better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all.
It is quite telling that while every other character is named and fleshed out a bit, the narrator remains anonymous. As the narrator does not shrink from the truth and does nothing to hide his own complicity in his decline, the reader is left to wonder if he remains anonymous for his own protection or as punishment for his actions. Similarly, the focus on the sensual, almost cruel trysts between Anna and the narrator raise the question of whether their attraction is truly this life-altering love, as discussed, or plain lust. Is one worse than the other? Does it really matter given the damage that occurs?
Anna is the key to the mystery and really deserves her own story. Cool and collected, strong-willed, maddeningly secretive and yet surprisingly pliant to the narrator's desires, who does she really love? Why is she so willing to sleep with her fiance's father? What is her motivation behind her actions? Ms. Hart tantalizes readers with the answers, but rather than frustrate, the remaining mysteries only enhance the tension.
What pulls this emotional cauldron together is the language. Stark but elegant, the words are almost audible to a reader. The language evokes a clear image of the mysterious narrator, his family and his emotional trauma while building those important connections to the reader. Damage takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions, raising question after question about what it means to love, and ultimately leaves the reader gasping for breath at the end.
Show Less
LibraryThing member vampyredhead
For anyone who has had a love affair with someone they can not have. Beautifully, poetically written. Truely shows the heart ache of the situation.
LibraryThing member bhowell
A riveting psychological drama which was made into a movie starring Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons.
LibraryThing member crazyjster
Damaged- by Josephine Hart
This was a very well written book, capturing what greed, lust, and love, can drive even what may seem the most “normal” people to do. The writing style seemed almost like a play, taking place in the early twentieth century, but actually the story took place in modern
This was a very well written book, capturing what greed, lust, and love, can drive even what may seem the most “normal” people to do. The writing style seemed almost like a play, taking place in the early twentieth century, but actually the story took place in modern
Show More
times, and no play could capture the intense feelings and thoughts of the main character. The father of a prominent, upstanding, wealthy English family, has gotten himself into quite a predicament. Some may call it a mid-life crisis of sorts, but he has crossed the line over to the ultimate betrayal that will destroy his family. This father had everything going for him. He was a successful doctor, politician, husband, and father of two grown children, about to start new lives on their own. Although looks can be deceiving, and he was not truly satisfied with his life, all of this changed when he met Anna. The passion and lust he felt for Anna was so eloquently written, along with the anger and hatred he felt at times towards himself, and others who came between Anna. This erotic and dangerous affair that began with Anna consumed the father and his relationships with his family members because Anna was going to be his daughter-in-law. This story was full of emotion, the feelings of the characters were well captured and beautifully written, and the twists and turns of the story kept it interesting to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member vlcraven
The protagonist (unnamed) of Damage is wealthy, educated, has a beautiful wife and children and is on his way up the political ladder. Then he meets his sons fiancee and realizes he's been asleep for all of his fifty years on Earth. The woman wakes him up and he's instantly obsessed with her--he
Show More
must possess her in every way. He gets his wish to devasting results. Damage is an intimate portrait of a live knocked off the rails by consuming passion and leaves the reader wondering how he or she would behave in a similar situation. Compelling and thought-provoking. Show Less
LibraryThing member peleiades22
"Damage" is so vivid, the prose so clear and beautifully rendered that it's inevitable that this book would be made into a movie. Wonderfully dark and twisted, "Damage" examines the depths of human desire and obsession in all their brutality and ugliness. The narrator seems extremely, uncomfortably
Show More
real, his actions entirely plausible. The character of Anna seemed a little unlikely and some of the dialogue was a bit melodramatic, but overall, this is a very powerful novel that is quite hard to put down! I was struck a few times with how much (I think) this novel is a sort of modern-day "Wuthering Heights." There is a strange, dark, incestuousness about the love story. Love and tragedy are woven wonderfully together. And something about the character of the aloof, almost cruelly-strong Anna reminded me of Bronte's Cathy with brother Aston as Heathcliff (and perhaps there's a little Heathcliff in the narrator as well). At the very least, Anna is as indecipherable as Cathy. Show Less
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
Damage was on my list as a Father's Day read, if you can believe it. I read it over two lunch breaks. Some father! Told from the point of view of a doctor turned politician who has an affair with his son's girlfriend-turned-fiancee. What makes this (short, only 200 or so pages) story so
There is a sense of foreshadowing, a warning of sorts in the line "Can't you sense, smell, taste disaster waiting in the corners of the house?" (p 36).
Anna's explanation as to why she is the way she is, "I have been damaged. Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive" (p 42) is probably the most often quoted in reviews.
Show More
intoxicating is the slow descent into hell this man willingly makes. When he first introduces us to his life he had been a well-to-do man who has a seemingly perfect family. Two smart and beautiful adult children, Martyn and Sally, a gorgeous wife Ingrid and a stable, well respected career. He does not deny that he had a good life...pre-Anna, his son's girlfriend. Then he meets Anna and all hell breaks loose in a slow unraveling sort of way. Inexplicably there is an instant attraction between the two of them and an affair ignites abruptly. While the physical relationship is spontaneous the mental obsession builds gradually until it is all consuming...for both of them.There is a sense of foreshadowing, a warning of sorts in the line "Can't you sense, smell, taste disaster waiting in the corners of the house?" (p 36).
Anna's explanation as to why she is the way she is, "I have been damaged. Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive" (p 42) is probably the most often quoted in reviews.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pidgeon92
An amazing storyteller. I'll be putting all of her books on my to-be-read list.
LibraryThing member LaMala
Esta frase describe muy bien al personaje principal :
It had been so simple. I was trembling with joy and longing. Lines from childhood sang in my head, ‘All a-wonder and a wild, wild longing’.
My maniac’s face as I walked from the booth startled a passer-by.
Un libro breve pero excelente.
It had been so simple. I was trembling with joy and longing. Lines from childhood sang in my head, ‘All a-wonder and a wild, wild longing’.
My maniac’s face as I walked from the booth startled a passer-by.
Un libro breve pero excelente.
LibraryThing member ponsonby
I found this book something of a disappointment, and certainly not a match for the copious plugs inserted into the paperback edition by the publisher – often a bad sign. It certainly has virtues – its language is short, spare and made all the quicker to read by short chapters. It has a lot of
What was not so easily believable, to me at any rate, were the main characters – the politician narrator, his son Martyn, and Anna. To me they had no flesh on their bones, even though we hear a good deal about the first one, at least – and much of that makes him sounds pretty weak. The secondary characters, especially Ingrid, Sally and Edward, felt much more real. Is that because they were more 'normal'? Perhaps, but it is a failing which undercuts any feelings one might have about what happens to these people.
Sex is notoriously difficult to write into a novel and the author was perhaps wise to keep it on an almost abstract plane, but that adds to the sense of unreality. For a book which claims to be about erotomania (though it isn't, really), that is unfortunate.
The event which forms the narrative climax of the story is not sufficiently signposted by the text and almost passes by unnoticed, so you need to go back and re-read. And the last part of the book, about what happens after that climax, has a distinctly tidy but unlikely air about it. The last chapter is a mistake.
For me, the film with Jeremy Irons and Juliet Binoche was much better, because the two leads managed, though their acting and perhaps a more satisfactory script, to be real and present – even the secretive Anna.
Show More
aphorisms which make you think and reflect. The basic story is perfectly believable, even commonplace. What was not so easily believable, to me at any rate, were the main characters – the politician narrator, his son Martyn, and Anna. To me they had no flesh on their bones, even though we hear a good deal about the first one, at least – and much of that makes him sounds pretty weak. The secondary characters, especially Ingrid, Sally and Edward, felt much more real. Is that because they were more 'normal'? Perhaps, but it is a failing which undercuts any feelings one might have about what happens to these people.
Sex is notoriously difficult to write into a novel and the author was perhaps wise to keep it on an almost abstract plane, but that adds to the sense of unreality. For a book which claims to be about erotomania (though it isn't, really), that is unfortunate.
The event which forms the narrative climax of the story is not sufficiently signposted by the text and almost passes by unnoticed, so you need to go back and re-read. And the last part of the book, about what happens after that climax, has a distinctly tidy but unlikely air about it. The last chapter is a mistake.
For me, the film with Jeremy Irons and Juliet Binoche was much better, because the two leads managed, though their acting and perhaps a more satisfactory script, to be real and present – even the secretive Anna.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1991
ISBN
0804108412 / 9780804108416