Hazel has moved to New York City to work on her thesis when she finds out that she’s pregnant with a married man’s baby. The affair with her professor/thesis advisor is made more dire when a string of bizarre attacks start happening worldwide. The strange disease seems to be affecting women with blonde hair and turns them into vicious killers. Hazel must struggle to find her way home to Toronto and wrestle with the dilemma of whether to tell the father about her pregnancy.
After having just finished reading James Patterson’s Zoo where animals go crazy and attack everyone, I don’t know if I was prepared to read a book where blonde women go crazy and attack everyone. Even from the book jacket premise, I wasn’t sure what to expect withThe Blondes and Schultz’s novel proved to be a mix of heartfelt emotion, traumatic experiences and edge-of-your-seat paranoia. I hadn’t realized when I started it that the novel was set in New York City and Toronto, which was a pleasant surprise.
Told in the voice of Hazel speaking to her unborn child, the narrative jumps frequently between the present, recent past and even further past. This was a nice way to break up the story and keep the pace going & discovery of facts timed right but I found it a bit jarring at times, to figure out what point Hazel’s life this particular moment was at and how it related to everything else in that moment. I also felt that what Hazel was saying didn’t always seem particularly appropriate to be telling her child, unborn or not. Perhaps Hazel doesn’t find it bizarre telling her baby about the details of her and the father’s relations but I found it a bit disturbing and inappropriate.
While I felt the ending left things a bit unresolved, I enjoyed the overall journey of getting there. Schultz establishes some great characters with very real and believable personalities given the scenarios and circumstances they find themselves in. I also loved that Hazel’s thesis and major was on aesthetics, and the idea of aesthetics become such a big factor in the story – the paranoia, judgement and treatment of those with a certain look about them.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ (4/5 stars)
Available: August 14, 2012
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A copy of this book was leant to me by Andrea @ Cozy Up With a Good Read
Thanks for the great review. Fun Fact: Margaret Atwood is reading this book as I type!
Lindsey from Random House of Canada recently posted..Kat Loves…Into the Abyss
I really loved how Hazel was studying aesthetics and media at the time too. It gave her a unique take on all the events. Will you be at the book blogger lunch this weekend? If so, see you there!
Farah @ Broken Penguins recently posted..Writing Bad Reviews