Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

 

Summary (from the publisher): “As sharp and lucent and alarming as a piece of broken crystal.”― Deborah Eisenberg, author of Your Duck Is My Duck The last of the four novels Jean Rhys wrote in interwar Paris, Good Morning, Midnight is the culmination of a searing literary arc, which established Rhys as an astute observer of human tragedy. Her everywoman heroine, Sasha, must confront the loves― and losses― of her past in this mesmerizing and formally daring psychological portrait.

Review: This book follows Sasha who has returned to Paris to revisit her previous life there. This is not a pleasant book. Sasha is on a downward spiral, and this is a desperate tale. While older now, she can still attract the attention of men, although it's unclear what they want from her. 

This is a stream-of-consciousness style novel whose action largely occurs off screen. Only in pieces does the reader slowly uncover her past, the source of her pain, and why Paris has sent her into such a spiral. 

I just recently read Rhy's Voyage in the Dark and was shocked to find this book still bleaker than that one. Both books are eerily similar in tone, themes, and plot, and also apparently heavily autobiographical. I don't think this is the type of book you can describe as having enjoyed reading but I appreciate the psychological portrait of a depressed and adrift character. 

Stars: 3

Related: Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys