Leave Her to Heaven (8) (Rediscovered Classics)

I thought I was going to like this story even more than I did. Having seen the movie several times, I thought it would be interesting and entertaining to go deeper, especially into the Ellen character, into her noir depravity.Ellen is sometimes mentioned as the most fatale of femme fatales, unrelentingly malicious. And that’s true of Ellen in the book.It kicks in when she meets the story’s protagonist, Richard Harland, on a train from Chicago to New Mexico. Neither knows it but both are bound for a visit to the same ranch in New Mexico. They are seated across from each other in the train’s observation car. Harland is completely taken and distracted by Ellen’s beauty, daydreaming himself into a fantasy. Ellen coincidentally is reading a novel written by Harland himself. She falls asleep while reading it, with Harland still staring at her.In fact, once she awakens, she’s the one to apologize for staring at him, saying that he looks very much like her father.It’s a moment when Ellen’s obsessive, possessive love for her father passes like a spirit from her deceased father to Harland. Before their visit to New Mexico is over, they are married. She vows, with too literal a truth, to never let him go.And Ellen’s mother chimes in to Harland, “She’ll eat you alive and gnaw your bones!”And she does, figuratively anyway. She can’t bear anything that intrudes on their life together. Harland’s devotion to his younger brother Danny, stricken with infantile paralysis, is a threat. Ellen plots his removal.Turn after turn, this is Ellen. Bearing her own child, by Harland, she finds the unborn child a threat. Like Danny, it must be removed.She is driven, not just as femme fatale to the man she’s ensnared, but to herself as well. Her possessiveness is self-destructive. And, in classic noir style, we watch it unfold, as it threatens to take down Harland, Ellen’s sister (and of course, rival), Ruth, and herself. She’s a human grenade.But as I said, the die is pretty much cast from the beginning. Ellen is not really deep or complex — that’s one thing I was missing in the story. The noir inevitability she nurtures is linear and clear — what makes the story more than ordinary is just that hard groove of ruthless possessiveness.One thing that caught me was the experience of Harland’s despair. The author makes us experience it right along with Harland. He’s as stuck as stuck gets when he realizes who he is married to, the things she has done and will do, and the condemned life he feels he has to live from that point on.Okay, pretty gloomy. You have to be a serious noir fan, I think, to enjoy such a reading experience.If you’re not, and you get on the train with Harland and Ellen anyway, hang in there, because things will get better. Much better for Harland and others in his life by the end of the story. Maybe even a little too much better, as if the author just couldn't let the story end as darkly as it wanted to.The writing itself didn’t flow as quickly as you might expect of a more pulpy noir, like a Hammett or a Cain story. It moves a bit slowly.But the author does perform some nicely done stylistic turns — the beginning of the story is told first from Harland’s perspective, then Ellen’s, and then from Harland’s brother Danny’s. It’s like three trains headed for an intersection.Okay, enough train metaphors.

If you have followed any of my reviews, you’ll know I often read books that became films. This is yet another and I am so glad I read it! A story told from multiple perspectives about a woman who will make your hair stand on end. I haven’t researched the author but I have to wonder if he met such a person and based the story on her personality. I don’t want to spoil the story especially if you haven’t read it or seen the film. I will say Ellen is one scary lady!

This is one of my favorite books. I first read it nearly 40 years ago. Great character development. Intriguing story with a nice courtroom trial.A classic story about love, murder, loss, revenge, and good vs evil. The story begins with a successful, young novelist. He is single and wealthy; and quickly becomes enamored of a beautiful young woman. He also is the only family to his younger, polio stricken brother. There is a rapid marriage to the woman (Ellen), who has proven to be jealous and possessive of any man she loves.Other characters are Ellen's mother, her adopted sister, the man's handyman friend, and Ellen's former fiancé who has become a district attorney. Ellen shows herself to be willful and manipulative after the marriage.The rest of the story revolves around events that occur after the marriage, including a murder, the loss of a pregnancy, a second marriage, and a trial. The culmination is the rebirth of the man, following the trial.The story is beautifully laid out, with lovely prose, and holds one's interest the entire book. There are a number of typos in this Kindle version, so bear with it.As a sidebar, the movie version is very well done, with Gene Tierney playing the complicated wife.

I read the hard cover years ago but it was lost in moving so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was available in Kindle .I see from a number of reviews that many could not seem to get past the typos. Too bad, they missed the enjoyment of a classic story written by an extremely talented author who so very aptly described and illustrated the character of each person in the book.That in depth but subtle character development is woefully missing in many more recent authors and stories and is what is riveting in this book.The writing style is different now than back in the 1940's, more formal, but somehow even more interesting and enjoyable.I have never seen the movie, but cannot imagine that the same story and character development would be anywhere near as in depth in the movie as in the book.As far as the typos, there might very well be a revised version in the future for those who have issues with this one.

I saw the film years ago and really liked it because it was quite different from most crime dramas. It was also very against type for Gene Tierney. However, the novel was out of print at the time.I am glad there was enough renewed interest to not only get it back in print, but to find it on Kindle.The book goes more into the internal dialog of the main characters and provides more backstory than the film was able to do. There were also some differences that make the book a stronger story but it would involve spoilers to go into detail.Ellen Berent Harland is one of the coldest, calculating femme fatales in 20th century literature, especially when she sits in a boat and watches her invalid brother-in-law drown.Some of the language and sentiments are dated but this does not detract from the strengths of the story.The characters are well-developed and have depth. It is a compelling study of a truly sociopathic personality and the lengths to which she will go to keep her hold over others.I wonder who Mr Williams used for inspiration.

Highly recommended.

So happy to have this book! I ❤️❤️ the movie & it follows the book closely. A great read!

Loved this book! I read it years ago and watched the movie starring Gene Tierney and the book didn’t disappoint a second time.

Livre reçu dans un bon emballage d'expédition très solide. L'état du livre est en effet acceptable, qui sent bien le bon vieux livre qui a connu l'humidité mais j'aurais aimé l'avoir avec la couverture d'origine c'était la raison pour laquelle j'ai commandé le livre...tant pis.