The Harpy

Lucy is a loving wife and mother of two small boys. Even though she at times regrets not having finished her doctorate, her life is quite close to perfect, at least from the outside. Until she gets a voice message informing her of her husband Jake’s affair with his colleague. Jake immediately admits everything, yet, it wasn’t a single misstep, but actually three. They agree not to give up everything they have built up and Lucy is allowed to hurt him three times, too. What he does not know is that forever, she has been fascinated by harpies, the mythological creatures symbolising the underworld and evil. Thus, Lucy’s revenge is not small but a thoroughly made-up, destructive plan of vengeance. A couple of years ago, I read Megan Hunter’s post-apocalyptic debut “The End We Start From” and liked it a lot, thus I was eager to read her latest novel “The Harpy” which did more than fulfil my expectations. The atmosphere is burning, the idea of the dreadful mythological creatures always looming over the action. Quite often, the harpy is used to depreciate a nasty woman. Lucy can be considered nasty in what she does, however, the betrayal she has to endure is no less harmful. Of course, Lucy’s revenge is the central aspect of the plot. Yet, it is not just their marriage that is under scrutiny, the whole circle Lucy and Jake move in comes to a closer inspection. Superficial friendships which end immediately end when someone does not comply with the unwritten rules, feigned sympathy and kindness – isn’t this world an awful one to live in? Plus the reduction of an intelligent woman to caring mother who becomes invisible as a woman and is considered little more than a domestic worker for the family, a life surely man find themselves in involuntarily. From a psychological point of view, the novel is also quite interesting, depicting Lucy’s transformation from loving housewife to independent and reckless avenging angel. She frees herself from the clichés she has lived to so long and goes beyond all boundaries. A beautifully written brilliant novel that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Ein großartiger, fieser und dabei verstörender Roman um eine Frau, die ihren untreuen Ehemann in drei Schritten zu bestrafen gedenkt und sich dabei selbst in etwas zu verwandeln scheint, dass sie sich schon immer gewünscht hat: eine Harpyie. Dieser Roman ist von einem poetischen Feinsinn, den ich so gerne lese. Berechnend und klug gefällt sich die Protagonistin in der Rolle eines Geschöpfes, das sie schon von Kindesbeinen an, faszinierte und ist gleichzeitig eine Frau, die zutiefst verletzt den Sinn ihres Daseins in Frage stellt. Sowohl sprachlich als auch handlungsweisend ein großartiges Romandebüt, das mich in seinen Bahn ziehen konnte und mich in seiner fast schon radikalen Sichtweise gut zu unterhalten wusste. Anders. Genial. Großartig!