A Non-Violent "Fatal Attraction".....Or Not????????????????

                                      I have not read a Claire Messud's book, since her dazzling novel, "The Emperor's Children," so, with a new book coming out, this Fall, I felt it was time to catch up with Claire, and "The Woman Upstairs."

                                        Ironic that this story turns out to have a similarity to "Fatal Attraction'--really, more like "Notes On A Scandal'--since it is about spinsterhood, obsession, how one sees or does not see themselves....and turns out to be genuinely creepy.

                                         All without wielding a knife, or boiling a bunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Actually, "The Woman Upstairs" is more in Patricia Highsmith territory, so  if you love her, girls, grab this one fast.  It is engaging, literate, explorative in its psychological complexity, and altogether satisfying. Its last sentence is a stunner.

                                          This may be the last truly satisfying book I read, for awhile. Because, after this, it is back to the Brat Packers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!