In a Debut Thriller, Suspicion Mars an Upper Crust Engagement. Photo. Credit. Alison Du. Bois WE COULD BE BEAUTIFULBy Swan Huntley. Doubleday. 2. 5. At age 4. Catherine West the narrator of Swan Huntleys debut novel, We Could Be Beautiful has almost everything shes ever wanted. She has an impeccably decorated West Village apartment, an eye popping trust fund and an extraordinarily patient support staff. Divx Movies Download Looney Tunes: Stranger Than Fiction there. She has a jobvanity project in the form of a high end stationery store, and she has a body that, we are told, has really held up. Despite it all, Catherine is unhappy. She longs for a husband and a family, to the point of misery, but she is aware that her wealth complicates her right to be so despondent If you had money, you had no excuse. And people didnt feel sorry for you either. They said, If youre sad, cant you buy a new house somewhere, cant you take a trip Dont you have so many choices, so many resourcesThey said, Were not stupid and we know you cant buy happiness, but we also know you sort of can, too. Catherines hyperactive self awareness serves multiple functions throughout We Could Be Beautiful. With her privilege pre emptively critiqued, readers dont have to worry about doing it for her instead, we can relax into the pleasures of gawking at, envying and deriding her 1 percent lifestyle, which is almost as much fun. Catherines acknowledgment of her own absurdities, as well as her perilous proximity to stereotype, is also a source of much of the books humor I hated to be such a clich, but if I had nothing to do, I shopped. Which was bad, but better than drugs. Of course I was grateful to have the luxury to buy whatever I wanted, but I also knew I didnt fully understand material things like other people did. By other people I obviously meant poorer people, which also happened to be most people. I actually resented my good fortune sometimes I may have had distorted, oversimplified notions that romanticized a hunter gatherer, stranded on a desert island in a good way type life and this, the resenting, proved that I didnt get it at all. By suggesting she doesnt deserve our pity, Catherine goes a long way toward earning it. From the beginning, shes haunted by a sense of emptiness that seems darker and weirder than loneliness. I had always felt incomplete, she explains, even as a small child. I have a memory of myself, age 4, cheek pressed against the cold black smoky design of the bathroom tiles, my hot breath fogging the smooth marble, thinking, I am dead. I am dead and this is a dream. The adult Catherines world isnt devoid of companionship she goes shopping with her best friend she has lunch dates with her sister and their ailing mother she banters with her housekeeper and her trainer and her preternaturally committed massage therapist but theres something emotionally bankrupt about most of these dynamics. A mercenary, transactional feeling inflects even the most intimate of Catherines relationships, and this problem seems deeper and more interesting than anything another person can solve. Enter William Stockton monstrously tall, enigmatically accented and endlessly devoted to Catherine. Williams family, it turns out, are old friends of Catherines their love, apparently, is meant to be. William quickly moves in, then proposes. Catherine tries to relax into her happiness, telling herself that, yes, some people are indeed this lucky. Huntley is adept at deploying Catherines good fortune as a fulcrum of suspense. After all, doesnt Catherine deserve to have something bad happen to her, just once And isnt it inevitable that, sooner or later, her luck will run out William is, of course, a little too perfect from the get go. Catherine can find no fault with him beyond his baffling devotion to Roman Catholicism and his much maligned dachshund, Herman. Everything about William his precision, his formality he doesnt even swear, his relentless sincerity invites us to anticipate something truly sinister. Much of the books dramatic tension comes from waiting for the other shoe to drop. Continue reading the main story. CPuZEWI/UFZEput7QaI/AAAAAAAAMU4/wCAVawgxGZc/s1600/The+Possession+Screenshot+2.jpg' alt='Suspense Thriller Movies Possessions At High Crest' title='Suspense Thriller Movies Possessions At High Crest' />Suspense Thriller Movies Possessions CrosswordWatch a huge selection of Action movies on SHOWTIME. Suspense Thriller Movies Possessions ResaleIncludes an overview, awards, reviews, plot summary, quotes, and other information. A Thriller is a story that is usually a mix of fear and excitement. It has traits from the suspense genre and often from the action, adventure or mystery genres, but. Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and written by Joseph Stefano, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh. Free movie review papers, essays, and research papers.