The Honey Wall: A Novel

By Karen Latuchie

Book Overview

Nina and Tony are twenty years into a turbulent marriage-like relationship. Her world is centered at home in rural Pennsylvania: she builds intricate kinetic toys, her solitude both solace and confinement. He is a painter, in New York much of the time. Bill, the ailing caretaker of a nearby farm, a virtual stranger to Nina, tells her the story of his affair with his brother's wife forty years before. In intertwining narratives, we see how Bill's troubled life unfolded, and how his story comes to obsess Nina, triggering her own memories: of fiery years with Tony, of their infidelities and ineluctable passion for each other, and of her struggle with the boundaries of the relationship--real and imagined.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393058379
• ISBN13: 9780393058376
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.1" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Tidy Debut

Ms. Latuchie's debut novel rings out quite nicely. Told in a "non-liner-made-simple" style, the story showcases several characters who infect each other's lives with love, distrust, friendship and loss. Mostly, The Honey Wall shapes up around the pitfalls of infidelity, the ill-obsession that comes afterwards.Nina, a mechanic gone mechanical-artist, will drain you with worry over her significant other, Tony, an artist-painter, college instructor . Ms. Latuchie does a fine job in depicting the constant, aching wonder that fills Nina's head. Throughout a good chunk of her life, Nina finds herself consumed with the possibility that every woman or student Tony meets, will be the one he sleeps with. This couple seems to thrive on cheating or at most the idea behind it, and yet they possess a striking, monogamous passion for one another.There is hardly a plot to this project, the denouement sort of distilled. However, Ms. Latuchie's novel would probably make a resonant independent film. The prose closely examines body language, gestures, glances, touches, stares and smells. Nature. Senses are provoked and interpreted. Physical movement in the book is described carefully. It often juxtaposes the complications and perils of dwelling inside the head, living too near spite, of veining too spiritually in jealousy. I so enjoy the more complex novels with non-linear structures. But this was a nice break and decently entertaining.

A Wonderful Debut

I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to read this novel. Karen Latuchie fills every page with flawlessly constructed sentences which convey mood and atmosphere in the simplest ways. I found myself marveling over her mastery of language...truly amazing. The story is wonderfully simple and is propelled along by the complex characters that she has created. I can't explain how much I loved this book and I hope it finds it's way into as many hands as possible. Read this book!!

Rich novel, compelling characters

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, memorable novel. The tangled relationships between the principal characters are complex, conflicted, and nuanced, yet familiar and never tedious. The author's lucid and sharp descriptions of important landscape, setting, and life history details are remarkable, and aid an understanding of the characters and their lives. I have recommended this novel to friends.

I couldn't put it down

This is so beautifully written, and lush, and it really draws you into the lives of its characters. It's not about action, or plot; really it's about lives lived in the past and present and the emotional toll our actions and relationships have on us. It seems quite real and vivivdly imagined. Just a stunning book and a very satisfying read.