Synopses & Reviews
From the author of
God's Snake ("Passionate...a wonderful book" Alice Munro), and
Fear ("Remarkable, spare, powerful" Grace Paley), a stunning novel, her first in seven years, that shines a light on what it means to be beautiful, and to be possessed by oneself, and by others.
The setting is New York City in the 1970s a time and place of creativity, licentiousness, rebellion and unforeseen perils. At its center is Beatrice: twenty-five, mesmerizingly lovely and intelligent, at once conventional and different from everyone else, married to Ned, a talented but volatile painter whose obsession with her has turned to hatred.
Beatrice is desired by everyone around her: by Faye, her seductive, bawdy childhood friend; by Cyril, a lonely, charismatic Vietnam veteran; by Colin, an aspiring musician; by Simon, a cynical older man she meets at a bar; by Chris, a young heroin addict. And then there is Perkins, the oddly threatening man next door. A sliver of light from his apartment shines in on Beatrice, a light that in her darkest hours reminds her she is not alone.
Unfolding with the powerful compression of a myth, Before offers a daring portrait of three months in the life of a young woman fighting for her identity and her survival. It is a combustible cocktail of Eros, longing, and menace, one that captures a dizzying time in America.
Review
"Shimmering, hypnotic....Spanidou's beautiful writing almost perfectly evokes the 1970s in New York, its fascinating characters, its low rents and withheld ambitions..." O, The Oprah Magazine
Review
"Why you'll love Before: The realities of free love make the '80s and '90s seem pretty awesome." Marie Claire
Review
"In Before, 1970s New York City...comes to life, wholly vibrant and shot through with pathos....Spanidou's breakneck storytelling leaves you feeling pressure-cooked. Suddenly, youre exquisitely aware of just what it feels like when everyone notices you, but no one really sees you." Elle
Review
"[L]ike the characters themselves, it's a tightly coiled novel. It's also bleak, almost unrelentingly so....And yet it's a lovely book, too, vivid throughout." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"There's nothing new in this cinematic fable of one circle in urban hell, but the angst is elegantly rendered...will satiate readers who seek chiseled tales of sexual adversity and survival." Booklist
Review
"Though the story takes place over only three months, its mythic proportions make for lengthy musings." Library Journal
Review
"Spanidou's writing is appropriately hypnotic given the slenderness of the plot, and luckily she never heads too far down the woe-is-me road with Beatrice. You'll feel for her situation. But more, you'll be enthralled by the squalid bars and lonely nights that helped cause it. And that's the key: you may be disgusted or scared by the broken city Spanidou writes about, but you won't be able to resist a visit." John Burgman, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)
Synopsis
From the author of God's Snake and Fear comes Spanidou's first novel in seven years a book that shines a light on what it means to be beautiful, and to be possessed, by oneself, and by others.
About the Author
Irini Spanidou is the author of two previous novels. She lives in New York City.