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3.5
The Man
ByPublisher Description
PRAISED BY ANA REYES, MONA AWAD, ANDREA BARTZ, VANESSA CHAN, DANIELLE TRUSSONI, AND MORE!
"Fiercely intelligent and deeply chilling. . . . The perfect book club read." —Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines
From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You, a New York Times Best Thriller of the Year: a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.
The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. "Stunning," he calls her photos. "Extraordinary." She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her.
Still, emboldened by Paul’s encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith’s story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.
Chilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, The Man is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom, and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind. The Man marks Laura Sims as an extraordinary talent at the top of her game; and this, her third novel, is her greatest achievement yet.
"Fiercely intelligent and deeply chilling. . . . The perfect book club read." —Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines
From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You, a New York Times Best Thriller of the Year: a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.
The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. "Stunning," he calls her photos. "Extraordinary." She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her.
Still, emboldened by Paul’s encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith’s story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.
Chilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, The Man is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom, and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind. The Man marks Laura Sims as an extraordinary talent at the top of her game; and this, her third novel, is her greatest achievement yet.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Man Reviews
3.5
“I was so amped to read this one! I flew through it. Judith is a married photographer in the 1960s, and she is looking to add more substance to her photos after facing memories of a particular trauma. Judith's class professor, Paul, knows her work is Harper's potential. When Judith starts discovering a shadowed man figure, her memories of the trauma loom even darker, and she begins to be more open about her visitor yet makes little sense to her husband or any man in the good ol 60's overall. This one is hard to discuss further without dancing around spoilers, so I'll just say I NEVER saw any of this one coming, and Sims really really got me good with some twists. Even though sometimes you might think nothing is going on, I urge you to dig deep into how beautifully Sims writes her characters- even the meanies- making you feel each moment alongside them. Thank you so much to Putnam for my copy! All opinions are entirely my own.”
“ARC from NetGalley / Putnam
Absolutely stunning book about the fear women experience every day and the men that perpetuate it. Bravo.”
“#ad much love for my finished copy @putnambooks #partner
& @prhaudio #partner for the ALC
🆃🅷🅴 🅼🅰🅽
< @laurasims2121 >
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ᴊᴜʟʏ 𝟩, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟨
𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦, 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴… (14).
Judith has always found the beauty in life through the lens of her camera. When she decides to take a photography class at the local community college, she has no idea that this one choice will alter the trajectory of her life forever.
Her professor, Paul, shows great interest in Judith’s work and is always praising her for it. Because her husband couldn’t care less about her photography, Judith finds a smidge of pleasure when her professor shows interest. She feels more confident about her abilities more than ever now.
But there’s someone who keeps appearing in Judith’s photos. A shadow, a blur, a man. Someone is following her, someone wants her to know they’re following her - or is it all just in her head? This is the mystery of the book.
I love Sims writing and enjoyed her last book How Can I Help You, but I think this one might be my favorite. I liked how we got Judith’s perspective for the first half of the book and the man’s perspective for the last half.
🎧: Also followed along with the audio and def recommend the audio too. Will Damron and Cassandra Campbell made the perfect duo for this one - always love when there’s a change in perspective - another side to the story.
I also liked how the story plays out under the lens of trauma and how it never leaves us. It’s always there in the back of our minds - no matter how much people tell us to get over it or that we made it all up.
Explores marriage, trauma, identity, obsession, isolation, fear & paranoia. It’s a slower paced read, but as the story builds so does the tension.”
About Laura Sims
Laura Sims’s previous novels How Can I Help You and Looker have been featured on Best Books lists in The New York Times Book Review, Vogue, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, Publishers Weekly, and more. An award-winning poet, Sims has published four poetry collections; her essays and poems have appeared in The New Republic, Boston Review, Lit Hub, and Electric Lit. She lives in New Jersey, where she works part-time as a children’s librarian.
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