Strangers on a Train

Book Description

A major new reissue of the work of a classic noir novelist. With the acclaim for The Talented Mr. Ripley, more film projects in production, and two biographies forthcoming, expatriate legend Patricia Highsmith would be shocked to see that she has finally arrived in her homeland. Throughout her career, Highsmith brought a keen literary eye and a genius for plumbing the psychopathic mind to more than thirty works of fiction, unparalleled in their placid deviousness and sardonic humor. With deadpan accuracy, she delighted in creating true sociopaths in the guise of the everyday man or woman. Now, one of her finest works is again in print: Strangers on a Train, Highsmith's first novel and the source for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1953 film. With this novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

Customer Reviews:

Powerful, rich with suspense........2007-05-21

Strangers on a Train is the debut novel of the highly acclaimed Patricia Highsmith. And what a gut wrenching, suspense saturated debut novel it is.

Guy Haines is an up and coming architect who meets the malevolent and seriously disturbed Charles Bruno on a train. Guy unwisely reveals a little too much about his personal life to Bruno and subsequently finds himself a party to murder most foul. The psychologic torment Guy undergoes because of his involvement in this nefarious crime just leaps from the pages of this book and slaps the reader right in the face.

The story takes place circa. 1950, yet I couldn't help but think of certain aspects of the book as being more characteristic of the 1920s and its anything goes, Jazz Age mentality. Especially when it comes to the the high flying Charles Bruno and his uninhibited lifestyle.

Strangers on a Train is an intricately crafted psychological thriller that is suspense filled and emotionally jarring. An oustanding novel worthy of a 5 star rating. Highly recommended.

early highsmith.......2007-05-14

i'd hesitated when it came to reading this book. like everyonelse i'd seen the hitchcock movie and i wasn't sure i wanted to deal with the original.the book is good but my reticence was justified.this is early middling highsmith.it's strangely"girlish".given highsmiths misogyny,that is surprising.it's also too cozily bourgeois.no i'm not a bourgeois basher!but there are points in this book where you can't wait for highsmith to whip out here nasty acid tongue and it just does'nt happen.i almost cringed while reading the description of anne's father making mint juleps.although i must admit i made a mint julep that night. it's with CRY OF THE OWL and THE TALENTED MR.RIPLEY that highsmith becomes highmith.you still see it as late as PEOPLE WHO KNOCK ON THE DOOR,with its marvelous biliousness and the abrasive cantankouresness of FOUND ON THE STREET.STRANGERS probably hurt highsmiths career precisely by being such a sucess so early on. it is a thriller -crime novel and probably lead to the typing of highsmith as a genre novelist.in reality it's one of the few books she wrote that neatly fits the genre. i suspect that she was hyped as a "master of suspense".one can only imagine the poor reader who was looking for a masterpiece of suspense reading EDITHS DIARY.even RIPLEY and CRY OF-her masterpieces-aren'nt really thrillers.they are simply very good novels written by a writer who was one of americas best.crime,thrills,even some mystery were not to be disdained but they were mediums of expression not the essence of the novels.SRANGERS however is a cime suspense novel and a good one.however highsmith evolved beyond this quickly.most readers did'nt.

Subtly menacing, every sentence slowly picking at your sanity..........2007-04-14

Patricia Highsmith was ahead of her time, constructing the perfect crime novel long before it would truly be appreciated. Sadly she was never as famously accepted as she could have been while still living, but thanks to reprints and reissues her novels are being given a new breath of life. Now I say all of this and I have only had the pleasure of reading one of her novels, but that novel was so articulately perfect that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the late author. `Strangers on a Train' is so brilliantly crafted that I'm racking my brain to find a flaw, a drawback of some sort and the only thing I can muster is that here and there there are some grammatical errors, but other than that...I'm coming up empty handed.

Any fan of the Hitchcock film will immediately understand why the famed late director scooped up the film rights to this novel. The premise alone deserves the reader's utmost respect. Two strangers get wrapped up in the perfect crime that escalates into the most horrific journey into the human psyche.

Up and coming architect Guy Haines is traveling by train to meet his estranged wife Miriam to pursue a divorce. Miriam has given Guy nothing but heartache, nothing but trouble, and his nerves are getting the better of him. What if she refuses the divorce? He has a lot riding on this. He has a big job in the works that could finally make for him the name he's been waiting to make. He also has a wonderful supportive woman, Anne, waiting to give her his hand in marriage. He needs this divorce more now than ever.

Charles Bruno so happens to be traveling on the same train. Bruno is traveling to escape his father, a man he abhors with every fiber in his body. His father has denied him all that he feels he is entitled to, and he's come to loathe him in such a way that his death seems all Bruno can think of. If only his father were out of the picture, if only somehow, someway he could be rid of this horror of a man.

And with that the wheels begin to turn, as Guy meets Bruno and Bruno delves deeply into this man, winning over his trust and then devising a plan which involves a double homicide, the two of them trading off murders. It seems so perfect, Bruno, who has no relation to either Guy or Miriam, kills Miriam to free Guy of his ex and in return Guy murders Bruno's father. Guy immediately dismisses the idea as a sick joke and from that point on does all he can to avoid Bruno. Bruno on the other hand doesn't so easily forget Guy, and he decides to go ahead with the plan whether Guy wants to participate or not, but it's after he's snuffed the life out of Miriam that the trouble really begins.

In order for a plan like this to work the two parties would need to remain separate, distant and out of touch, but Bruno slowly becomes obsessed with Guy, falling in love with him in a way and begins to haunt, stalk and torture (mentally) Guy to the point to sheer insanity. The novel continues to weave Bruno's twisted web and we, the reader, are able to sit back and experience madness at its most effective. Patricia was able to paint this picture so clear that we are left with no feeling other than contentment and pure satisfaction. Yes, this novel plays out differently than the famed film, but that's no reason to disregard the novel altogether. It's worth every word penned!

Stinging suspense--one of Highsmith's best.......2007-01-27

What's interesting is the powerful difference between this novel and Hitchcock's film version. In the novel, Guy Haines is an architect rather than a tennis pro (the film), but this is not the main difference. Without giving anything away, there is a major difference plotwise, and if you read the novel AFTER having seen the film (as I did), your jaw drops open at how big a difference this really is.

While Hitchcock's film is a great cinematic classic, Highsmith's novel is, I think, an even better piece of work overall. She is an absolute master of psychological nuance and digs so deep into the Guy Haines character that the reader is absolutely riveted to the page. So too does she dig into the character of the antagonist, Charles Anthony Bruno, and this as well keeps you turning page after page.

As most people probably know by now, the story is of criss-crossing murders whose idea first emerges when the two main characters meet by chance on a train and eventually Bruno proposes to Haines--after sneakily drawing out the particulars of the latter's family situation--that each kill the one person most in the way of the other person's happiness.

Highsmith's prose is way ahead of its time; the novel was published in 1951 and reads like it could have been published at least 25 years later, if not more. This was, in fact, her first published work.

I dare you to start reading this and put it down for any length of time. You can't.

Murder And Mayhem.......2006-08-26

A fantastic and imaginative plot. Two men, one a brilliant architect and the other a neurotic, alcoholic, misogynist, psychopath meet on the train, develop a strange friendship, and one can easily guess troubles ahead. Bruno, the alcoholic rich dilettante, makes an offer to Guy over dinner with plenty of Scotch. He volunteers to kill Guy's estranged wife, if Guy would return the favor by murdering Bruno's hated father. Guy is shocked and revolted by the casualness and matter of fact tone of the proposal. Little did he guess that Bruno would fulfill his end of the bargain and blackmail Guy to go though with his.

It is a story reminiscent of Crime & Punishment, Les Miserable, which deal mainly with human frailties, conscience, morality, society at large, guilt and redemption. Guy duels with himself and the good finally prevails and he confesses.

It is a classic page turner with panache.

Strangers on a Train (Silhouette Special Edition, No 555)

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Strangers on a Train (Silhouette Special Edition, No 555)
Ruth Wind
Manufacturer: silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Silhouette Special Edition | Series | Romance | Subjects | Books

Regency | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Avon ANEW CLINICAL 2-Step Facial Peel

ASIN: 0373095554

Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America with Interruptions

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Well worth the read
Very poor ý not a great Travel Book
great trip
Is this a travel book or a memoir?

Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America with Interruptions
Jenny Diski
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312422628

Book Description

Using two cross-country trips on Amtrak as her narrative vehicles, British writer Jenny Diski connects the humming rails, taking her into the heart of America with the track-like scars leading back to her own past. As in the highly acclaimed Skating to Antarctica, Diski has created a seamless and seemingly effortless amalgam of reflections and revelation in a unique combination of travelogue and memoir.

Customer Reviews:

Well worth the read.......2006-07-02

I enjoyed Diski's self revelations and conversations with Americans on her cross country train trips. Yes, she clearly needs her cigarettes, and yes, she discusses what are clearly uncomfortable settings of her own mental health, but people, her writing is fantastic, and she creates a definite view of what train travel in the US is like these days. The reviewer that wonders what happened in certain legs of the journey needs to realize that yes, one does sleep on the train and certain geography is doomed to be missed in such a trip. THis book is less about the external geography and more about the internal geography the authors sees with her traveling compatriots across America. A wonderful look at Americans and at an author examining herself while traveling.

Very poor ý not a great Travel Book.......2004-04-19

This is the first book I've read by Jenni Diski, and I'm told it's not typical of her work. Certainly this was disappointing. It's not a conventional travelogue; in fact after 70 pages (25% of the book) she still hadn't got on the train!

Throughout she shows a brief insight into the personality of a dozen fellow passengers, but spends more time describing her problems gasping for a cigarette - hasn't she heard of nicotine patches?

In 8 lines (lines, not pages) she dismisses the whole journey from Portland Oregon to Sacramento to Denver to Albuquerque - and she doesn't even mention Nevada & Utah. Was she asleep the whole time? Then Arizona to New York via New Orleans vanishes in a dozen pages with 2 anecdotes. Was she bored? I'm surprised this won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award?

I love travelling around America, but anyone could make it more exciting than this.

great trip.......2004-03-05

Jenny Diski clearly had a great trip and this book proves how even a 'non-traveler' can easily fall beneath the spell of long-distance train travel. Anyone planning to follow her example and journey around North America by train should also get hold of the excellent USA by Rail guidebook by John Pitt.

Is this a travel book or a memoir?.......2003-11-15

Subtitle to this book is "daydreaming and smoking around America with interruptions." The author travels by freighter from England to the U.S., then around the edges of the U.S. by train. She talks to people and records their conversations, most of which take place in the trains' smoking sections. None of them are particularly interesting. I read the whole book, but found it narcisistic (she admits she's a narcisist) full of tales about her days in English mental institutions, and not that entertaining. PLUS: get her an editor - please. It's Willie Mays, not Willie May. It's St.Paul-Minneapolis, not St. Paul's-Minneapolis. And the Mississippi river is certainly not in North Dakota. Then there are the English usages. What are pilchards? What is a tannoy? One person she meets says what he'd like to do with his life is "mess about on boats." No American would say that. If you want to read a good travel book, stick to Paul Theroux. If you want an interesting memoir look elsewhere.

3000 Strangers: Navvy Life on the Kettering to Manton Railway (Railway Heritage)

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3000 Strangers: Navvy Life on the Kettering to Manton Railway (Railway Heritage)
J. Ann Paul
Manufacturer: Not Avail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Great Stories of Mystery and Suspense Selected and Condensed By the Editors of the Reader's Digest : A Kiss Before Dying ; the King of the Rainy Country ; Five Passengers from Lisbon ; the Moving Targer ; Strangers on a Train

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Great Stories of Mystery and Suspense Selected and Condensed By the Editors of the Reader's Digest : A Kiss Before Dying ; the King of the Rainy Country ; Five Passengers from Lisbon ; the Moving Targer ; Strangers on a Train
The Reader's Digest Association
Manufacturer: The Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ND7X8Q

Muppet Kids in Help! We're Lost (A Golden Look-Look Book)

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Muppet Kids in Help! We're Lost (A Golden Look-Look Book)
Louise Gikow , and Tom Leigh (illustrator)
Manufacturer: Golden Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

The Stranger In The Train
Ethel Talbot
Manufacturer: Sheldon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UKLLTE

Average customer rating:

THE STRANGER IN THE TRAIN
ETHEL TALBOT
Manufacturer: SHELDON PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S6RA54

Average customer rating:

Strangers on a Train
Patricia Highsmith
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KF2MF6

Average customer rating:

Strangers on a Train (Bantam 905)
Patricia Highsmith
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VJGN6U

Customer Reviews:

Loved it!!.......2007-06-04

Ms. Dodd...keep them coming. I look forward to the next historical and I do hope it's about Michael. Hope you don't keep us waiting to long. It'll be nice to see the some of characters from this book again.

Two reasons not to buy.......2007-04-02

The first reason being that this is a REPRINT. First published in 2005.
The second reason is that this is a very poor book. I used to think that Christina Dodd was a good writer but now her plots are just silly and the writing is poor. This book is no exception; it supposedly involves members of the British upper class during the Victorian era but they "speak" like members of the uneducated poor and the plot is farcical.

Quick, get Ms. Dodd a thesaurus!.......2007-01-31

I've read other Christina Dodd books that I enjoyed, but this one was an absolute mess. Aside from the plot, which moved in pauses and jerks (and where did the queen get involved? how random.), the writing--in particular the word choice--was awful. The phrase, "He was not as fearsome as she feared," actually appeared, and things only went downhill from there. The author repeated words/phrases within sentences too many times when she should have dug around for a thesaurus, and then included a few random, overly pretentious words where a simple one would have been best. There were also character inconsistancies (in particular, the actions/words of the hero's father) that were impossible to follow--yet the other characters did not seem to notice. Finally, too many times "jokes" were made by the characters, to the uproarious laughter of their ficitious audience, that were not remotely witty. Everything felt way too forced. However, I do think I figured out why the publisher let this less-than-stellar book slip by: Ms. Dodd's sex scenes are as well written and as steamy in this novel as in her MUCH better written previous publications.

A little Different.......2007-01-26

This book was a little different from the typical Regency Romance. For one the hero is not a womanizing rogue and the heroine is a ruined woman forced to work for a living.

Beautiful Caroline is compromised and ruined as a young debutant by a married member of the nobility. He wanted a divorce from his wife and drugged Caroline and lured her into the library where they were discovered. Caroline is ruined and blamed for the incident and her father throws her out. She attempts to find work but keeps getting fired because frankly all she is good at is flirting. She is given a break when The Academy of Governess gives her a job doing just that, teaching someone to flirt. Caroline is hired by a duke to teach his son the foppish Jude how to flirt and catch a wife.

Jude is really undercover trying to catch his brother's murderers. He must act like a sissy trying to imitate the French. He wears outlandish colors-(orange shirt, with a yellow cravat and striped pants following around his two suspects who are French. He is intrigued by the young lady his father hires to teach him to flirt, but must concentrate on catching his brothers murderers. However, he cannot stop his longing for Caroline. Caroline is amused at Jude's antics but is determined to find him a wife. If she is successful she will earn enough to get her sister away from their tyrannt father. However, she falls for Jude in spite of his actions.

This is a decent story and the descriptions of Jude's clothes are sometimes hilarious. However, I couldn't help wonder why Caroline could never figure out Jude was acting. Still pretty good.

Why did he play with the knife?.......2007-01-15

I usually like Christina Dodd's books but this one left me unsatisfied and frustrated.

Why did Jude feel the need to play with the knife in Caroline's bedchamber? To show off his masculinity? That particular tidbit did not add anything to the scene.

Their romance seems forced to me, somehow.

Also, the twist at the end - what the heck is that? Ms. Dodd might have wanted it to be happy ending but I can do without it.

Average customer rating:

MY FAIR TEMPTRESS
CHRISTINA DODD
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PFZKM8

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-01

Martin H. Greenberg was at it again with the Caped Crusader. This time he wanted to add the feminine touch, so an anthology featuring the Feline Fatale is a natural.

Again, there is some quite good work here, and a collection that is yet again worth getting.

Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 01 Gotham City Spring: a suite - Mort Castle
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 02 Creatures of Habit - Paul Kupperberg
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 03 A Knight at the Opera - Jeff Rovin
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 04 Catwomen - Greg Cox
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 05 Catacombs - Robert Weinberg
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 06 The Cat's-Eye Crown - Kay Demijohn
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 07 The City That Could Not Breathe - Will Murray
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 08 Deadly Prey - Gary Cohn
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 09 On the Wings of Angel - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 10 Copycat - John Gregory Betancourt
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 11 An Unauthorized Biography - Brian M. Thomsen
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 12 A Hrlot's Tears - Ed Gorman
Further Adventures of Batman 3 : 13 C&W - Jon Hammer and Karen McBurnie

read years ago and still can't forget it.......2002-08-26

I read this book about 7-10 years ago. I thought that it was a really good book and I still do. It's stories are inticing and exciting. I think that every Batman and Catwoman fan should read it.

Mixed Bag.......2001-10-18

This collection was put together shortly after the Year One reboot. The good stories ignore it, paying at most a one-line token reference to Selina having a dubious past (now mercifully retconned - AMEN!). Still, the best stories are not able to present the smart, classy, sophisticated character true Cat-fans (not to mention Bat-fans) expect.

the further adventures of...catwoman!.......2001-02-03

This book is a must have for any true Catwoman fan, and it couldnt hurt for Bat fans to give it a spin as well. One of the very few existing collections of Catwoman stories in book form instead of comic-book (sequential art) form, and provides wonderful variety. I agree with above in that not all of the stories are my favorite, and there was a few I intensely disliked; however also included are a few gems - what I feel are some of the best Catwoman/Batman tales written,in ANY media. Try "A Knight at the Opera", "Catwomen", "Creatures of Habit", and "The City that could not Breathe"...you wont regret it. This book is worth searching for. Meow!

a must-read for batman/catwoman fans.......2000-10-24

As usual, Martin H Greenburg has managed to find a great selection. This compilation features many different takes on the character, and plenty of great "what if" situations. While I didn't enjoy all of the stories, there were enough top notch ones to make it worthwhile. Fan-fiction at its best.

Average customer rating:

I agree with the previous reviewer

Too Little, Too Self-Pitying, NO PHOTOS!

Important to read if you are considering a facelift!

Required Reading for Women over Fifty

Not Just Skin Deep

The Facelift Diaries: what it's REALLY like to have a facelift

Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Reference | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Welcome to Your Face Lift: What to Expect Before, During & After Cosmetic Surgery

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Face The Facts: The Truth About Facial Plastic Surgery Procedures That Do and Don't Work

ASIN: 1594576173
Release Date: 2004-09-22

Book Description

Short description: In The Facelift Diaries, clinician friends Jill Scharff and Jaedene Levy offer forthright, professional advice and intimate personal experience, revealing what it's really like to have a facelift. This guide explores all the angles with personal diaries chronicling the authors' own facelifts. In entries ranging from "Sunshine and reflection" to "Screw this!" and "Still a weirdo," the two friends give a faithful account of their post-op highs and lows. 500,000 Americans have facial cosmetic surgery every year, and each week, countless makeover shows glamorize such surgeries. Scharff and Levy's personal and professional approach to all aspects of cosmetic surgery - emotional and physical - demystifies the experience and offers tips and truths on everything from selecting a surgeon to facing family and friends. Honest and insightful, informative and conversational, The Facelift Diaries is a must-read for everyone who is wondering "Should I or shouldn't I?"

Customer Reviews:

I agree with the previous reviewer.......2006-09-07

How can you do a book like this without before, during, and after photos? I think Jill was not happy with her results and didn't want to show her "face". Also, there is no mention of their ages which would have been very helpful. And - these women had much, much more than a facelift - laser, brow-lift, eyes done and maybe more. This book was a major disappointment!

Too Little, Too Self-Pitying, NO PHOTOS!.......2005-10-06

Is this Self-Published. It needs an editor desperately! I have two other books that were terrific, including LIFT. I got some preparation info from this. But I really had to search for it.
1) There are NO photos, "Before", "After", NADA! And in a book where the writers keep referring to their results and the reader needs to see SOMETHING, that is an odd decision. One writer has a SMALL stamp-sized photo on the back that is clear, but (without a BEFORE) uninformative. The other has a fuzzy photo that looks like a cropped personal shot. But this book is about "How DID you look, HOW DO YOU LOOK?"

2) I wanted to gauge recovers speeds. Instead of numbering EACH entry by the Day #, they just do Monday, Tuesday, Etc. Every now and then one might refer to WHAT DAY it is, what week! Which puts the burden on the READER to note when EACH ONE did her surgery and COUNT. Uh, nooooo.

3) I will never ever get my surgery done at the same time as a friend after reading this. Because there was a modicum of discouragement, comparison and competition (and by the way...A LIST of the procedures EACH DID would have helped the reader to gauge whether comparisons were even appropriate)I had the feeling that each of them would have had a happier experience separately; that each was holding themselves and their healing back in a subtle - and perhaps unconscious way - to not make the other feel bad.

But all that means is that the READER gets a suffering, sad, neglected,dejected experience. I have heard stories where the recovery was daunting, perhaps a bit longer than expected, but not HORRIBLE!

If you are in good health, and have a positive outlook, and spend the first night in professional care, just go to the terrific chats rooms and blogs and SITES that share without all the painful sturm und drang.

I don't know - as a reader - if it was worth it to them to have gone thru it because THERE ARE NO BEFORE PHOTOS! DUH!

Important to read if you are considering a facelift!.......2005-02-10

I am happily recovering from my own facelift which I had a month ago but only discovered this book a week ago...... I read it with great interest, comparing my own experiences with those of the authors, and I found it very honest, insightful, humorous, informative and touching. I especially appreciated their individual philosophies with respect to aging, self image and the importance of recognizing and understanding the variety of responses of family, friends and the world at large. I have given a copy of this book to my own surgeon because I think it would be very valuable to anyone considering a facelift or about to undergo one.....there is much information that I would have loved to have had before I started!

Required Reading for Women over Fifty.......2005-01-24

In America, where a youthful appearance is so highly valued, it is nice to read a book written by two women who have obviously worked on their "insides", and helped many others to do the same, before deciding to work on their "outsides." This book offers an absorbing honest account of their experience, with no vested interest in the reader's decision. It is a timely topic, and anyone who is thinking about having a facelift would benefit from reading The Facelift Diaries.

Not Just Skin Deep.......2005-01-13

This slim book offers much more than it's title suggests. The two writers who have two distinct voices offer any reader who has ever thought about having a facelift an unvarnished vivid account of their experiences of having facelifts at the same time. They are close friends who also happen to be well respected psychotherapist. They questioned their own motives,in light of their dedication to helping patients get to know their inner lives. Ultimately, their reasons for having cosmetic surgery are not unusual.

What is unique is their honesty. This book is very different than the glossy and so seductive adds that I admit to having read on more than one occasion. They offer a closeup of the gory aftermath and recovery, including the their very different recovery times and the impact of that on their feelings about each other.
While the book is lively as well as practical some information was difficult to think about. Most poignant for me was the long 14 month period of Jill Scarff's recovery. She had to face the reactions of her own children, peers who didn't recognize her, not least that she didn't look like the self she recognized when she looked at herself in the mirror.

The the book is direct, accessible and they write with wit and humor. They also offer a lot of tips which are well organized for the reader who is about to have a face lift aand for their loved ones.

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