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    A Small Indiscretion: A Novel
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    A Small Indiscretion: A Novel
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    A Small Indiscretion: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    A Small Indiscretion: A Novel

    Written by Jan Ellison

    Narrated by Kathe Mazur

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE • With the emotional complexity of Everything I Never Told You and the psychological suspense of The Girl on the Train, O. Henry Prize winner Jan Ellison delivers a brilliantly paced, beautifully written debut novel about one woman's reckoning with a youthful mistake.

    "Part psychological thriller, part character study . . . I peeled back the pages of this book as fast as I could."-The Huffington Post

    At nineteen, Annie Black trades a bleak future in a washed-out California town for a London winter of drinking and abandon. Twenty years later, she is a San Francisco lighting designer and happily married mother of three who has put her reckless youth behind her. Then a photo from that distant winter in Europe arrives inexplicably in her mailbox, and an old obsession is awakened.

    Past and present collide, Annie's marriage falters, and her son takes a car ride that ends with his life hanging in the balance. Now Annie must confront her own transgressions and fight for her family by untangling the mysteries of the turbulent winter that drew an invisible map of her future. Gripping, insightful, and lyrical, A Small Indiscretion announces the arrival of a major new voice in literary suspense as it unfolds a story of denial, passion, forgiveness-and the redemptive power of love.

    Praise for A Small Indiscretion

    "Ellison is a tantalizing storyteller . . . moving her story forward with cinematic verve."-USA Today

    "Rich with suspense . . . Lovely writing guides us through, driven by a quiet generosity."-San Francisco Chronicle (Book Club pick)

    "Delicious, lazy-day reading. Just don't underestimate the writing."-O: The Oprah Magazine (Editor's Pick)

    "Rich and detailed . . . The plot explodes delightfully, with suspense and a few twists. Using second-person narration and hypnotic prose, Ellison's debut novel is both juicy and beautifully written. How do I know it's juicy? A stranger started reading it over my shoulder on the New York City subway, and told me he was sorry that I was turning the pages too quickly."-Flavorwire

    "Are those wild college days ever really behind you? Happily married Annie finds out."-Cosmopolitan

    "An impressive fiction debut . . . both a psychological mystery and a study of the divide between desire and duty."-San Jose Mercury News

    "A novel to tear through on a plane ride or on the beach . . . I was drawn into a web of secrets, a world of unrequited love and youthful mistakes that feel heightened and more romantic on the cold winter streets of London, Paris, and Ireland."-Bustle

    "Ellison renders the California landscape with stunning clarity. . . . She writes gracefully, with moments of startling insight. . . . Her first novel is an emotional thriller, skillfully plotted in taut, visual scenes."-The Rumpus

    "To read A Small Indiscretion is to eat fudge before dinner: slightly decadent behavior, highly caloric, and extremely satisfying. . . . An emotional detective story that . . . mirrors real life in ways that surprise and inspire."-New York Journal of Books

    "If you liked Gone Girl for its suspenseful look inside the psychology of a bad marriage, try A Small Indiscretion. . . . It touches many of the same nerves."-StyleCaster

    From the Hardcover edition.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 20, 2015
    ISBN9780553399783
    Unavailable
    A Small Indiscretion: A Novel

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    Reviews for A Small Indiscretion

    3.5/5

    132 ratings44 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The main character of A Small Indiscretion is interesting in that she’s unlikeable, which seems to be the buzzword for female characters these days. Unfortunately, while I do want to see a diversity of both male and female characters, I don’t care if they’re unlikeable or not. What I want is for them to be understandable. Unlike Grace in Unbecoming, Annie has no explanatory backstory or clear motives driving her actions. This made her decisions, especially the ones I disagreed with or found stupid or selfish, hard to put up with. This book’s saving grace was that it did make me curious. As much as I wanted to shake Annie and ask her what she thought she was doing, I wanted to find out her whole story even more. It wasn’t my favorite read though and if you’re looking for an unlikeable or just different female protagonist, I think there are better books you could start with.

      This review first published by Doing Dewey.
    • 3/5
      A bit of a tough book to review for me. For one, the family secrets/family in turmoil stories are not something that I usually gravitate towards, but as a favor to my Mom, I requested a copy through NetGalley and read it. So what can I say about this one. I kind of scrunched up my face during the first couple of chapters as the event that is the focal point played out in real time. Parts of those opening chapters did not work for me, as it felt contrived, with forced dialogue. I was a little worried about what I had agreed to read but the story, and the writing, did improve as I got further in. It calmed down from an over-hype type of story and moved on to more of an introspective monologue, with Annie communicating her thoughts, feelings and what happened all those years ago in the form of a written record for her son. This worked for me and I liked the more even, contemplative tone the story assumes. I did find it difficult to feel anything for Annie - or any of the other characters - as I was reading. They are there... but not, if that makes any sense. Not a big deal as the story, for me anyways, is not about the characters. It is more about understanding what happened and why. To that end, I came away a bit mixed. I understood what had happened and I like how the events connect together like a well cut jigsaw puzzle but I still struggled a bit with the whys as I wasn't overly happy with the reasoning provided in the story. We will chalk that up to personal preferences. As for the writing, the writing is good. The even flowing, reflective style is soothing and muffles, like cotton wool, the angst, confusion, panic and hurt Annie feels now and what she thinks she may have felt in her the past. As I was reading, I felt detached from the story. Maybe that is the intention - along with the story shifts - to keep changing things up, in line with Annie's shifting thoughts. I tend to prefer stories that keep things interesting with shifting plots/ points of view and I felt the story shifts worked well here, keeping the reader in the dark about key pieces of information until the reveal moments. Overall, I appreciate the story for it's writing style, and the gifted way in which the author presents the interconnected nature of the events of the story, but it still fits into a category of stories that only somewhat works for me as a reader. As an aside, I am a bit bugged that the amazon.ca listing for the book mentioned it as being a "page-turning literary debut about a harrowing coming-of-age and a marriage under siege". I find this statement very misleading about the story. There is no 'harrowing' coming of age, and as for the marriage 'under siege' bit...... not. It is a story about a woman who makes some more or less random choices when she is 19 years-old and how one's past choices can have unexpected ramifications on our present and future.
    • 4/5
      I received an advance copy from the publisher through Netgalley. There's something about the cover that originally threw me off, and I assumed that this would be a cheesy historical novel. But after reading a few reviews, I realized that this was in a fact a book of contemporary fiction. And once I started reading, I quickly got really absorbed by the story and the writing. Ellison has constructed a good story, and had done a great job telling it. It is told as a second person narrative by a mother to her son, moving back and forth in time between the narrator's youth in London and Paris, and her current life in San Francisco. There are mysteries about the past and the present that unfold at just the right pace as the narrator tells her story and expresses her feelings about her past and how it has affected her present life. I must admit that I have a thing about second person narratives (for example The Reluctant Fundamentalist)--it is such a risky device but when it is done well it can be so clever and even breathtaking at times. And Ellison's writing is lovely--there are moments when the narrator expresses her thoughts and feelings perfectly using great imagery. So my only complaint is that while I was enjoying the book, I felt somewhat detached from the narrator--I didn't find myself sympathizing much with her and her indiscretions. Only at the end, as things all came together, I found myself liking her a lot more. I know that liking and identifying with a main character is not a prerequisite to liking a book, but I suspect that that was the intent here -- we all make foolish choices when we're young and every now and then being the focal point of sympathy. But really this is a minor complaint given the book's other qualities. I'm glad I took a chance on this book whose cover I had misinterpreted and am grateful to have had a chance to read an advance copy.
    • 4/5
      Ellison created a good story, and did a great job telling it with this novel. It is a wonderfully written. It is told in second person narrative by a mother to her son, and it moves back and forth in time between the young days of the narrator in London and Paris, and her current life in San Francisco. There were many times that I found myself wondering what was going to happen, and even though I was not a fan of the main character, I did become invested in her story. I have learned that I do not always have to love the character(s) to like a book. I am glad I stuck with this book, and am happy to have won it in a LibraryThing giveaway.
    • 4/5
      I received this book from Book Browse in order to participate in a discussion. I found myself continually angry at the protagonist for just lunging through life from one thing to another and not stepping up and taking responsibility for her careless actions.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book vey much and could not stop listening to it
    • 5/5
      A beautiful story of young love, loss and rebuilding a family. A wonderful narrator to tell the tale quite a believable fashion.
    • 3/5
      Story of a woman who after 20+ years of marriage is faced with some questions about her time in England when she was a young girl, the relationships she had, and the people she knew - and what consequences those decisions had on her current life. She reflects on all this in a letter to her son. Told in flashbacks and present day, which was a little confusing.
    • 3/5
      I finished this book (received via the ER Giveaway on LibraryThing) about 2 weeks ago, but I've held off on reviewing it because I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I had a hard time really getting into the story, and I think that was due in part to the way it was written (1st person, addressed to "you," the narrator's son). The characters were interesting, but not THAT interesting, and I felt that the story was intriguing but not THAT intriguing. I admit that I did not see coming the surprise at the end, and the fact that I was surprised pleased me, but until that moment I never really felt the excitement that I feel when a book really absorbs me. Still, I'd be willing to explore future novels by this author.
    • 5/5
      This is such a beautifully written book. The storyline is very involved and is in some ways predictable but in other ways very unpredictable. Although I figured out one "surprise" early on, which may have been the author's intent, there were many other surprises that I never saw coming. It's hard to believe this is a first novel by the author. She truly knows how to build up suspense and mystery. Her characterization is indepth and full. The novel does jump around in time quite a bit at the beginning, which can be a bit confusing, but she pulls all of those time lines into focus throughout the book. The story is a engrossing one and is sure to touch any reader with a past and who doesn't have one of those in one form or another. It revolves around our past catching up to us and always being a part of us throughout our lives, despite our thinking it's been left behind. The connections this story makes are intricate ones. All in all, this is a wonderful one not to be missed. I'm looking forward to more works from this very talented author.
    • 4/5
      An unusually good first novel, I look forward to more from Ellison. Shifting across two decades from age twenty to her forties, Annie Black reflects on her past and present as she speaks to her gravely injured son. She traveled to London for a short time in her youth, becoming caught up in relationships with two men. One, her married boss, the other, an artist who captivates her and she cannot forget. Her actions with the men seem careless, reckless, and at times she almost passively seems to fall heedlessly into situations with potentially disastrous consequences. Annie comes across as naive during this period, but understandable for someone that young.At the end of this period, Annie meets an American doctor, and just as passively drifts into the next phase of her life. Wife, mother and shop owner in San Francisco. While she loves her hpusband, she can't forget the intriguing artist from her days in London. A mysterious young woman enters her life as a renter and shopkeeper. Without realizing that mistakes from the past are influencing her in the present, Annie makes decisions that almost destroy her marriage and family.Some of the plot twists were a little confusing and unnecessarily convluted. A side story about Alice's parents seemed superfluous. Still, a very good and engaging first novel that is worth the read.
    • 3/5
      A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison did not grab my attention beyond the moments I read it. Annie Black, age 19, moves to London from the United States to escape her father, to drink, to have an adventure, to find love. She quickly becomes part of the complicated and fraught dynamics of her bosses family and the reverberations of that time eventually impact her current family of origin in later years. While it was a good read in moments I did become weary of the ins and outs and the pretense of the story. I do not have to like characters to love a book and one of my favorite narratives are about intricate family relationships but although I had some mild interest inthe beginning of the book by the time the paternity issue transpired I lost it. If you want to lose yourself for a few hours you may enjoy this book but I wish it involved me more deeplyThank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.
    • 5/5
      First, I received this ARC e-book from NetGalley (Random House) for my review and enjoyment. By far, one of the very best new authors and books I have read in 2014! The story rallied back and forth from Annie's early 20's to the present, but the author succeeded in carrying me back and forth with little hesitation. The ending held me all the way, could not put this book down until I knew the entire story. Excellent job, well done, Jan Ellison. Bring us more!
    • 3/5
      A mother and wife is writing to "you," her son. There has been an accident. She is looking back at events in her life, trying to piece together the events that have led to this moment.Jan Ellison is a very good writer. I am giving her debut novel three stars mostly because of her smooth, readable prose and her intelligence about her characters which allows for very few cliched moments. But on the other hand what a better book this would have been if Ellison had not employed one of the most convoluted narrative structures I have ever encountered. Our narrator, Annie, scatters her reminiscences all over the timeline. Almost every chapter and sometimes even sections within chapters need an introductory sentence like this: Four months ago, the day before the letter came. It is now two months since the day your father did such and such. Last June, after you came home from school but before so and so entered our lives. And so on. She veers between a pivotal time in London back in the eighties, her present day, the time before the accident, the time right after the accident, etc. etc. Why in heaven's name did Ellison do this? Why not write the story in bigger chunks? There is also a fairly major character and pivot in the story who is woefully underdeveloped. But all in all I really enjoyed the book, a testament, as I said before, to Ellison's writing and sensibility. "We are only flesh and blood . . . We are, every last one of us, plagued by useless want." Ultimately, A Small Indiscretion is a modern story of love and forgiveness.
    • 5/5
      I think that the title of this book should be Some Big Indiscretions as the author is being way too kind to her main character, Annie Black, who seem to me pretty self centered throughout. However, you do not have to like the main character to like the book and I really likes Ms. Ellison's writing style and the way she skillfully develops the plot. At one point the book even seems to have a lover's quadrangle- a step beyond a triangle. This is a book that proves the thought that what we do when we are young can haunt us the rest of our lives. Read it!
    • 4/5
      A curious title for a book in which bold decisions reverberate across the years, affecting our protagonist, Annie Black, and those she loves most. I struggled early on with this story, trying to keep up with the fluctuating timeline and when key events took place in relation to each other. I also found the second-person narrative a bit distracting, as I often had to remind myself who "you" was in this story. However, when we finally settled into the backstory of Annie's youth in London, I found I couldn't pull myself away. Effortless writing and a slowly unfolding mystery kept me hooked and I couldn't help but gasp with the final twist. Annie's story evokes both sympathy and distaste, but ultimately it is forgiveness which is what she seeks, from those she has hurt and from herself.
    • 1/5
      Much ado about nothing...I couldn't finish this book. There was no compelling story. I kept waiting for the hook, the reason to keep going, but never found it.
    • 4/5
      4. Some predictable parts, yes. But Ellison writes some beautiful sentences. She creates characters that are seemingly despicable yet human and vulnerable. Unreliable memories rather than narrators may make these characters their harshest critics as we so often are in reality. Perhaps we loved and lamented more in our past than we care to admit. Does that make us worse for being a traitor to the memory or to ourselves?Provided by publisher
    • 2/5
      Annie heads for London where she gets a job and her goal is to spend her night drinking herself into oblivion. Malcolm Church, Annie's employer, has arranged a lover for his wife Louise, who is a complaining pain. Her lover, Patrick is an arrogant, selfish jerk who beds women and leaves them and Annie is no different while Malcolm wants Annie as his lover but Annie doesn't love him. The switching between narrative and letter format to her comatose son feels awkward and jarring. When Emme appears you know that she's ghost from Annie's past, during which she did more than a few stupid things, like going to France with Malcolm and Louise Church and Patrick. Then years later having when she goes to London for a lighting show, Annie looks up Patrick and has a one night stand with him. Not smart. The car accident in which Emme was driving also exposed the fact that Jonathan Gunnlaugson wasn't Robbie's father which leaves two other men as candidates.
    • 3/5
      A woman's past comes back to haunt her present, or secrets of the past are exposed. A common enough theme in novels, but this one is presented in a unique way; as a letter to her son who is twenty and is not to be found. I had to think about my reaction to this book and why I had trouble connecting with the story. First of all, I neither liked nor disliked the main characters, I felt a distance from them. I think the format of the novel, kept me from feeling the closeness to the characters that I needed to fully embrace this story.It was very well written and there were many things I did like. I did want to find out what happened and I especially liked how when something was revealed in the present, the author took us back twenty years to see how what happened then,led to the present. So this was a mixed bag for me, and I am sure not everyone will react the same way I did. If a different reader can feel the connection that was missing for me I am sure they will have a different view of this story.ARC from NetGalley A woman's past comes back to haunt her present, or secrets of the past are exposed. A common enough theme in novels, but this one is presented in a unique way; as a letter to her son who is twenty and is not to be found. I had to think about my reaction to this book and why I had trouble connecting with the story. First of all, I neither liked nor disliked the main characters, I felt a distance from them. I think the format of the novel, kept me from feeling the closeness to the characters that I needed to fully embrace this story.It was very well written and there were many things I did like. I did want to find out what happened and I especially liked how when something was revealed in the present, the author took us back twenty years to see how what happened then,led to the present. So this was a mixed bag for me, and I am sure not everyone will react the same way I did. If a different reader can feel the connection that was missing for me I am sure they will have a different view of this story.ARC from NetGalley
    • 3/5
      *I received this book through GoodReads First Reads.*I generally liked this story of how a woman's past comes back to haunt her life and her family, but the nonlinear story structure made it difficult to follow the tale at times. The story moves between multiple timelines, which for the first half of the book, creates a very fractured picture of the plot. The story does eventually come full circle, with most of the pieces filled in - and one twist I anticipated before it was even revealed. A good story overall.
    • 4/5
      An absorbing, well written debut novel. I couldn't put it down. Ellison's story forces us to consider how decisions and actions taken in youth can reverberate throughout our lives, and the lives of those we love. The title could refer to any of a number of small indiscretions, by the narrator Annie, or other characters. Recommended; in fact I've already passed it on to a friend.
    • 5/5
      Epic!I can see why it was an Oprah's Book Club Editor's Pick. It's about family, love and the power of holding back. There were many twists and turns to get you to the end, but somehow, they all made sense.The story was brilliantly written and told.A mother writing to her child as a lengthy explanation of sorts. It was a unique way to read a story, as well as take it in. It pulled you in, almost like you had found the letter and were secretly reading it to yourself. I loved this book! Even during the heartbreaking moments. I was still so incredibly immersed in the story that I had to keep reading for the resolve. Much like I would in real life, I suppose.I'm so glad I was given the chance to read this authors' work. Her style has a uniqueness of its own. I'm sure this won't be the last I read of hers.
    • 4/5
      I am so glad I won this book through First Reads. Although I struggled at first trying to figure out exactly who the protagonist is telling this story to, and what exactly she is talking about, but once I figured it out I love how it unfolded. She is, in fact, speaking to her son who the reader believes to be in a coma from a serious car accident he suffered at some point in the recent past. The tale she tells is one of herself from 20 years ago. She weaves it in with pieces of what is happening in her current life, alternating the story between a youthful adventure in Europe and her current life with her estranged husband and young daughters in San Francisco.
      The narrator, Annie Black, tells a story so nakedly raw while dropping hints throughout the tale about an underlying mystery, one a smart reader will pick up on and have figured out long before it's revealed by Annie. Yet there are several twists and a couple of blind turns that will keep the reader interested long after other secrets are revealed.
      This interesting tale is beautifully written, evokes emotion, develops realistic characters, and is from an author who knows what she's doing and should definitely bring more stories to life. Fantastic debut novel, thank you for the free copy!
    • 4/5
      Written as a letter to her son, Robbie, this novel tells the story of Annie Black whose seemingly idyllic life with her husband and three children is disrupted when a photo from her past arrives in the mail. It isn't the photo itself that outlines any possible transgression, but rather the events that surround it. It is the beginning of the unraveling of her life, and Annie is forced to reflect on her past and the choices she has made.There were very few surprises in A Small Indiscretion. From what that "small indiscretion" could be (it's pretty obvious almost right away) to the role various characters played in the story and the actions they would take. Still, I was never exactly sure of Robbie's fate or what direction the author would take the story, especially in the end. There's the unhappily married couple, Malcolm and Louise, the mysterious and somewhat charming Patrick, Annie's ever reliable husband Jonathan, their best friend Mitch, and Emme, the wayward stranger turned employee.The biggest draw for me to the book was not just the beautiful writing, which I found compelling and thought provoking, but also the characters themselves. I felt a certain disconnect with all the characters in the novel, but I am not sure that is a bad thing in this case. As Annie recalls the events from her past and ties them to what is going on in her life in the present, she is trying to be as objective as possible in terms of laying out her memories of what happened, why she made the choices she did, and the consequences that came after. She holds nothing back, not even in taking blame for her own actions.I liked that that the author brings into question the validity of memories. This was a more minor point really, given the circumstances, but one can't help but wonder how reliable are memories really? The author brings this point up late in the novel, which at first I thought wasn't really fair as I would like to have seen that side of the story explored more. And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I thought perhaps it was well-placed, this doubt the author suddenly had thrown my way. It gave me a chance to reflect on what had happened up to that point and re-evaluate my assessment of Annie.I admit that Annie Black did not endear herself to me, not as a young woman trying to find her path in life nor really the more mature family oriented version of herself--and yet I was fascinated by her and could not help but feel pulled into her story. She was at times reckless and selfish (but aren't we all selfish to some degree?). I could understand why Annie made the choices she made even if I didn't always agree with them. I came to care about her as time went on. I saw a young woman, trying to make her way in the world on her own, but getting lost in loneliness and insecurities. She used alcohol as a balm. It was easy to see how she could get caught up with Malcolm and Louise and Patrick: Louise and Malcolm with their broken marriage, both of them pathetic and sad, really; and Patrick who seemed less a mystery artist type and more of a poser to me.In the present, Annie is married to Jonathan, a doctor and loving husband. She feels as if she should be happy. She has a thriving business of her own, and yet there are moments when she feels restless and cannot help but wonder what might have been. When the photo arrives in her mailbox it brings it all back full force, however. It seems to be the domino that sets the other dominoes falling. She is forced to face secrets she has long kept hidden. Annie feels helpless and alone with the life she's built falling apart around her.Jan Ellison does an amazing job of bringing out the inner turmoil Annie was and is feeling as well as giving us a good idea of what the other characters must have been going through too. Even Jonathan, who seemed more like a victim in all of this, isn't perfect by far. There is a scene near the end in which it becomes even more clear how the pieces of Annie's past fall into place--and I couldn't help but think of Jonathan's own past and how little we know about that and yet how he, like Annie, has his own ghosts, even if maybe not quite as prominent. It's another reminder of how the choices we make early on in our lives can impact us--as well as others--years later.A Small Indiscretion hit two of my buttons in terms of topics that make me uncomfortable to read about because I have such strong opinions on them, one of which I suspected but decided to take the plunge anyway. I like to avoid those topics generally, but occasionally I think it's good to take them on, not just to challenge myself but also to take in a different perspective.I had mixed feelings about the novel when I finished it. I loved the writing, but the novel left me in a dark place. At the risk of spoiling the end, it wasn't a particularly sad ending. It was more promising and hopeful than not. Still, I couldn't help but feel sad and a bit hollow as I finished reading it. Maybe even exhausted. I carried Annie and Jonathan and Robbie with me even after I finished the last page. Annie may have frustrated me more often than not, but Jan Ellison's novel was quite compelling and thought provoking. Most of all, what I took away from this novel is about the role forgiveness can ultimately plays in our lives. Not just forgiveness of those we love, but also of ourselves.
    • 2/5
      I thought this book sounded like a fine way to spend an evening. But the author's "quirk" of using second-person narration grated on my nerves too much to even get through the first few pages. There's a reason why it's not a commonly used point of view!
    • 4/5
      "And it was all ancient history now, anyway. Of course it is upon the rubble of ancient history that the present stands."I liked this book. It deals with themes forgiveness (especially of self) and the mistakes of the past affecting the future. I wasn't always anxious to pick it back up, but it was easy to read once I did. There were many beautiful passages.Why I rated it 3 star:* Annie Black is reminiscing in a stream of consciousnesses throughout the novel and the narrative is a bit jumpy and confusing, especially in the beginning of the book and in the present-day storyline. I read a lot of non-linear books (it seems like most modern literary fiction authors use this technique these days), but I have never had to write down a timeline before. It was confusing because there were many varying time markers mentioned in quick succession and not necessarily in chronological order. So much time jumping on a single page!* The constant allusions to the future became distracting and made the book seem longer than it was, because the events alluded too didn't happen until a great many chapters later. * The characters weren't fully fleshed out and I wish we would have gotten to know the husband and son better. I didn't feel like the son's story was fully resolved in the end. Annie Black's actions were frustrating sometimes and I was never really rooting for her. Once the photo arrives on her doorstep, it seems like her 40 year old self instantly reverts to her 20 year old self.* Because it was written as a letter to her son, anything that was TMI took me out of the story. That eventually becomes a non-issue, but I didn't know that until the end! * Pronouns became confusing in passages dealing with the husband and the son. Despite those issues, I think Ellison's writing is very engaging. I think if you enjoy this genre (domestic mysteries, bored housewives, etc.), you will enjoy this book. It is a good, lazy weekend read!"But maybe even that wantonness was forgivable. We are only flesh and blood. We are only chemicals mixing and circuits firing, sometimes in disarray. We are, every last one of us, plagued by useless want."
    • 3/5
      So Gone Girl was wildly successful and ever since new books have been compared to it, with the hope that we'll all buy just as many copies. This is one of those books. It does share a certain similarity to Gone Girl; the author is female and the book is a psychological thriller type story involving relationships and the main character is not easy to like. Beyond that, the comparison is tenuous. Moving back and forth in time, A Small Indiscretion tells the story of Annie Black, who spent time working in London when she was a young woman, but who has since settled happily down in the San Francisco Bay area, married, raising her three children and running a small, successful store. The book is told from Annie's point of view, with the conceit of it being the story she is writing down for her son, who at the beginning of the book, was in a car accident which sent him into a coma. Annie's love life in London was complicated and things happened, which not only explain things in her present but are also revealed slowly, as the events triggered by them unfold as she tells her story. It's a good enough story, although any tension relies wholly on the reader not being privy to what happened earlier; events that the protagonist narrator withholds from the reader. Hints are laid about liberally, but she skips over the missing information, sometimes clumsily. The book is suspenseful because the main character is being coy, not from any tension naturally arising from the plot. There is a big, dramatic conclusion, but with the big reveal from Annie's past coming just pages before the dramatic conclusion, there's no time to explain how x caused y. What happened in Annie's past was a little tawdry, but she was less an actor than a passive bystander and much too tangential to make the reverberations in her present make sense. This wasn't a bad book; it just wasn't a good one, either.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those mixed reviews. The writing for this book was excellent and the plot carries you along enough that it makes it hard to put down. But it seems like the book is building up to some shocking conclusion and the conclusion was more of an 'oh really' for me. I don't know if the end was supposed to be a surprise, but I wasn't surprised. And I never guess any ending. I didn't really like any of the characters, so that also was a negative for me. Also, I know we all make stupid mistakes that we regret when we are older, but the narrator continued to make stupid mistakes, which was a bit annoying. But, it definitely could be an interesting one for a bookclub discussion.
    • 3/5
      This book took a long time to get through. Just not a story/plot that gripped me.