Title: Pretentious, stilted and melodramatic
Review: Although there are interesting issues brought up in this book, (among them, a suffocatingly intimate mother-daughter relationship) the writing is so insufferably stilted that I could barely read the book.The story centers around a piano teacher in her late thirties (often melodramatically described as "decaying" and "old") who lives with her controlling mother. She mutilates herself whenever she feels sad and lonely.A virile young student with conventional ideas of romance falls in love with the her. However, the teacher's concept of love is of the S&M; variety. The handsome student misunderstands her intentions towards him and interprets them as rejection. His wounded pride eventually leads him to beat her up and rape her, breaking her nose and rib. The teacher walks around in a short dress afterwards, carrying around a knife to mutilate herself further.This book tries too hard to be disturbing and the results are over-the-top and irritating.
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