In the Cut

Susanna Moore

My first mistake with In the Cut was getting Susanna Moore mixed up with one of the other writing Moores (Lorrie, most likely), and expecting a completely different style of read from what I actually got. My second, though I'm not sure it's entirely my fault, was a pervasive, and exceptionally strong, sense of deja vu while reading this novel. I haven't seen the film (in fact, I read the novel in preparation for renting the movie), at least not that I can recall, but certain descriptive passages brought up very strong images in my mind-- as if I were remembering blocking shots from the film. (I have since rationalized this away as flashbacks to the wonderful Al Pacino film Cruising, though that may not actually be what I'm thinking of.) I tried to get past these things when composing this review, though I may not have succeeded.

Franny, the narrator, is an English professor who's compiling a dictionary of slang. She's considering having a relationship with one of her students, but hasn't decided yet. One night in a local bar, she witnesses a sexual act between two other patrons in a basement room; not long afterwards, the woman involved is found dead. Franny finds herself getting involved with Mallory, the lead detective on the case, further complicating her romantic life, and then finds out, in a rather shocking fashion, that the killer seems to be homing in on her.

Billed as a novel about female obsession. Not being female, I can't really speak to that with any authority, but I have to say-- if anything, the narrator seems the opposite of obsessed. Her mind goes off in every possible direction at once. She has the attention span of a hamster on crystal meth. Now THIS I understand, as I do as well, and so I identified with her quite readily on that score. That's going to be one of the big questions when you pick this book up, one of the questions that will likely determine whether you love it or hate it. The other will be how you take to the writing style; Franny (the novel is told in first person) tens to overanalyze everything, even when she's off in many different directions at once. That can get really annoying, if it's not a mindset you're used to. Me, I was just happy to find someone who thought like I did.

There's one other point, a major or minor one depending on how you think of plot, and that's the ending. For some it will come flying out of the blue; others will have seen it coming in the first five pages. I figured it somewhere about halfway through the novel, but that didn't really bother me. I was too busy wondering where all the Frannies are in the real world, because I think we'd be great drinking buddies.