Speak Now

Once again, Kaylie Jones has written a novel that perfectly captures and calibrates the emotional inner lives of people--the true thoughts and feelings a person has, believing no one else knows or sees. What puts Jones over the top as a writer is her ability to create a forward-moving plot in addition to that emotional depth, so that a growing sense of real world urgency develops as the story progresses. To pay attention to both these elements--a rare combination in fiction and an even rarer ability in writers--makes Jones a standout in the contemporary literary world.But in the end, it is the emotional depth and complexity of her characters that so pierces. Each one is fully drawn, without judgment or glibness. Jones is an astonishing talent.

The title cover of this novel immediately transposes a gloom over the reader that draws me to desire the nightmare thrill I crave to fulfill my fantasies.Miss Jones writing gives me the heebie jeebies I sooo love when attempting to psychoanalyze the psychotic personalities plotting the labyrinth of evil here.I so admire her adjectival usages in love moments which capture the essence of the animal in the primates and hope this becomes a movie in a short space of time.She deserves it !!!

Not only does is this one suspenseful novel--almost unbearably so--but it's also a meditation on the far reaching effects of unspeakable horror. It's also about love, loyalty, strength, and survival. Jones excels at portraying the ennobling struggle of people building better lives for themselves and their families. One masterful stroke is how she creates a villain who is truly frightening, and yet will ineluctably evoke the reader's sympathy. This is a book you can return to again and again.

In a time when literature seems divided into two classes-the literary and the popular (or, more appropriately, the literary versus the popular), it is refreshing to read books like Ms. Jones' new novel, SPEAK NOW, as they mark, perhaps, the next evolutionary step in literature-a union between the gripping, suspenseful story that is so popular today, and the timeless importance of writing that brings a reader back not only to recapture a few good thrills, but also because he or she wants to admire, for a second or third time, how authors like Kaylie Jones are able to craft a story and it characters. SPEAK NOW is, among other things, the story of addiction-addiction to drugs and alcohol, certainly, but more importantly, our strange addiction to suffering, whether it be through reliving past sins, or enduring the touch of a dangerous and manipulative lover. It is a story of abuse of others, and of the abuse we inflict upon ourselves through guilt and the fear that we do not deserve the blessings that we have. This idea is offered masterfully, through the kind of temporal weaving that only an experienced and talented author can conceptualize and execute. Here, in SPEAK NOW, Jones seamlessly takes us through three distinct time periods-the present, in which Clara Sverdlow struggles to rise above her addictions and find the courage to hold on to those she loves; Clara's youth, wherein she meets the man who will haunt her for years to come; and finally, the distant past, in which we learn of her father's role in the concentration camps during World War II, of his eventual escape from those nightmares, and finally of the effect that his experiences have had on Clara. As a result of her thorough research, the author is able to create scenes and characters that shine not only because of the writing or the action, but also because of myriad interesting facts, placed as purposefully and artistically as ornaments on a Christmas tree. We learn of little details-the clear plastic bags that people in shelters must use, so that the shelter can see the contents within-and appreciate such details not only because they are new and interesting to us, but also because, in many instances, such details support the invasion of privacy motif that runs throughout the novel. Her characters are equally well researched, the greatest example being, perhaps, Niko Kamemski. Here, Jones has created a sort of distorted Jay Gatsby, a man who is convinced that he has found his love at a tender age, that, by destiny, she belongs to him, and finally, that he must use any means of building up wealth and power to secure her for himself. He is an obsessed and driven man, and he-as well as the women who have suffered abuse from other men in the novel-is crafted honestly, and much to the author's credit, without judgment from the writer herself. Also concerning Niko, it is interesting to point out that his occupation and his own addictions make him not only a physical threat to Cl

Jones does such a good job in building up suspense that I was tempted half way through to skip to the last chapter and find out what happened. But what's most striking about this book is the way the author is able to use dispassionate, matter-of-fact language with respect to the particulars of her main characters' drug and booze problems while maintaining an emotional intensity that doesn't let up until the story is over. The result is to make things we've become used to shocking again. Unlike so many books, there are no underdeveloped characters here. In fact, both major and minor characters are unusually original and compelling; Jones has done her homework without turning in a labored performance. The Manhattan backdrop is skillfully drawn, and makes this one of the best "New York" novels in a long time as well.