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The Harpy
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
21 posts | 21 read | 29 to read
From the acclaimed author of The End We Start From, The Harpy is a fierce tale of love, betrayal and revenge. Lucy and Jake live in a house by a field where the sun burns like a ball of fire. Lucy works from home but devotes her life to the children, to their finely tuned routine, and to the house itself, which comforts her like an old, sly friend. But then a man calls one afternoon with a shattering message: his wife has been having an affair with Lucys husband, he wants her to know. The revelation marks a turning point: Lucy and Jake decide to stay together, but in a special arrangement designed to even the score and save their marriage, she will hurt him three times. Jake will not know when the hurt is coming, nor what form it will take. As the couple submit to a delicate game of crime and punishment, Lucy herself begins to change, surrendering to a transformation of both mind and body from which there is no return. Told in dazzling, musical prose, The Harpy by Megan Hunter is a dark, staggering fairy tale, at once mythical and otherworldly and fiercely contemporary. It is a novel of love, marriage and its failures, of power and revenge, of metamorphosis and renewal. The Harpy is brilliant. Hunter imbues the everyday with apocalyptic unease. A deeply unsettling, excellent read. Daisy Johnson
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SaraBeagle
Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Her writing about motherhood, in both this book and in The End We Start From… just amazing.

13 likes2 stack adds
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Clwojick
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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The Harpy is finished, and I‘m well into Not My Boy, which is my second #BookSpinBingo choice of the month. I‘m really hoping to get through all of these this month! Here‘s to hoping I can clear the board🤞🏻

BennettBookworm ❤️rose code and lost apothecary! 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
61 likes2 comments
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Clwojick
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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I decided to fill this months #BookSpinBingo with #NetGalley books only! I have so many on my phone that I‘ve run out of space 😅 I have to read more so I can request more…. Because you know I‘m not going to stop requesting more lol

TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! 3y
Vansa This is such a problem for me too!!! 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️ 3y
73 likes2 comments
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ElleSkel
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Mehso-so

It wasn‘t what I thought it would be. But, it was beautifully written. I added a picture of my friend Leia because I just could t leave this review without a pic.
@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin finished in Jan 2021

Ericalambbrown Leia is adorable 🥰 4y
ElleSkel @Ericalambbrown Isn‘t she!? She is my good friend‘s fur-baby but she stays with me whenever her mom goes out of town. She is a great fur-buddy! ❤️🐾 4y
Ericalambbrown @ElleSkel awwww! I bet she‘s fun to puppy-sit 😊🐶 4y
wanderinglynn What a cutie! ❤️🐶 4y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 4y
38 likes5 comments
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Cathyloves2read
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
Mehso-so

This book was so good!!.....Until the end. The story revolves around an ordinary marriage, and then infidelity strikes. In an attempt to retaliate, Lucy is allowed to “hurt” her cheating husband 3 times. I sped through this book, because I couldn‘t wait to see how it ended. After finishing it, I‘m still not sure how it ended. Can someone please read it and let me know what you think the ending means?? Thank you, Goodreads, for the ARC.

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ElleSkel
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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26 likes1 comment
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sarahbarnes
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

A woman can be judged for so many things - her mothering, her husband‘s behavior, her public response to that behavior. Lucy tries to control her rage toward all of this, to meet the impossible expectations of others and herself. She pays a heavy price for that decision, in a world where expectations of women don‘t include rage or revenge.

merelybookish Great review! I have this one stacked. (I do love me some mother rage. 😂) 4y
Cathythoughts I have this stacked too ... nice review! Looking forward to it 4y
vivastory Looking forward to this one & what a cover! 4y
sarahbarnes @merelybookish @Cathythoughts @vivastory looking forward to hearing your thoughts! And yes, @merelybookish I really do, too! 😂 4y
30 likes1 stack add4 comments
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emmaturi
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Mehso-so

I am still not sure how I feel about this book. Lucy finds out that her husband has cheated on her. They decide to stay together, but she is allowed to hurt him three times. I didn't like Lucy, I know she was wronged but getting revenge by hurting him I also didn't like. I also didn't get the ending. I have heard it will be made into either a tv show or movie. I would watch it though. #books

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batsy
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

Crystalline, elegant prose that I found intoxicating & hard to put down. But while it isn't fair to judge a book on what it could have been than what it actually is, I think Hunter could have gone wild(er). Dug deeper, got dirtier, more ferocious. It was too restrained for all of the anger that was simmering underneath. I felt that the book took on a dark, foreboding fairy-tale element only towards the end & I felt chills. But by then it was over.

batsy I still found it a deeply poignant, unflinching look at what marriage can be like after a betrayal. And the person we become when transformed by anger and sorrow. I'll look out for her future books and will definitely read her first novel. 4y
Freespirit Another beautiful review😊 4y
Cinfhen Fabulous review!! This one surprised me but I agree with your thoughts 4y
See All 17 Comments
Hamlet Your reviews are the best! This is the sort of insightful, even encouraging review that I hope an author would benefit from reading. Well done! 4y
batsy @Freespirit @Hamlet Thank you for your kind words!! 💜 4y
batsy @Cinfhen Thank you! And you're right, the best thing about this book is that nothing was predictable. And it's really a dark little story that gets under one's skin. 4y
Billypar Great review! I think about 'what could have been' with a lot of books. I always question if it's a hard to pin down criticism or just a preference for a certain kind of story on my part. And I'm never quite sure 🙂 4y
nathandrake1997 A great review that is both concise and eloquent ? Also, "what this book could have been" is something that I think about quite often as well. An example would be Jonathan Ames' "YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE". While it is a well written thriller with almost zero bloat, I felt it could have dug much deeper into the psychological aspects of its protagonist's modus operandi...... 4y
nathandrake1997 ...... something that it's exquisite film adaptation by Lynne Ramsay did. This book to film translation is one of the rare cases of the film being better (and I mean much, much, much, much...........better) than its source material. 4y
erzascarletbookgasm Terrific and insightful review, Suba!✨Will look this up. 4y
batsy @nathandrake1997 Thank you! And your comments have got me really excited because I love Morvern Callar (and have long wanted to watch Ratcatcher). And now You Were Never Really Here! I have to do the book vs film experiment so I'm definitely going to have to read it first 😆 4y
batsy @erzascarletbookgasm Thank you, Jessie! 😘 4y
Cathythoughts Wow ! Great review 👍🏻❤️ I gave this stacked already 4y
LeahBergen You sure can write a review! 4y
batsy @Cathythoughts @LeahBergen Thank you 😘😘 4y
sarahbarnes Great review! I just finished this one as well. 4y
batsy @sarahbarnes Thank you! I'm glad to see it was a pick for you, too. 4y
102 likes9 stack adds17 comments
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BilboBookends
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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''Sometimes, as a child, I would get the book out just to look at the harpies, to trace the way the wings grew out of their backs, easy extensions of their shoulders, lifting into the air. I wanted to know why their faces were like that: sunken, creased by hate. I wanted to ask my mother more questions, but the words dried in my mouth, sat sour under my tongue, unspoken.''

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emmaturi
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Currently reading these two books!

Cathythoughts I have The Harpy stacked ... looking forward to your thoughts 4y
emmaturi Well it is a very short book and already 80 odd pages in, so won't take long @Cathythoughts 4y
Cathythoughts 😁👍🏻 4y
34 likes3 comments
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TorieStorieS
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

This dark novella certainly has a gorgeous cover to draw the reader in- but this won‘t be one for everyone! Superbly written- though with a narrator that will certainly be problematic for some. Lucy has harbored an obsession with harpies and when her marriage falls apart the lines of her psyche are blurred...beautifully written, this becomes hard to put down but then one you‘ll be eager to discuss!!

Cinfhen Great review/ one of the few books I read in October 4y
TorieStorieS @Cinfhen Thanks!! That ending definitely made me want to talk about this with fellow readers!! 😬😬😬 4y
51 likes1 stack add2 comments
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KarenUK
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

A dark fairytale of betrayal and revenge, I found this story to be beautifully written and completely unsettling.
Lucy discovers her husband has cheated on her, and they agree that she can hurt him three times, but he won‘t know it‘s coming. Tackling themes of motherhood, retribution and the myth of the Harpy, Lucy deals with trauma, past and present, slowly losing her grip on reality. Original, poetic and visceral, and I couldn‘t put it down.

45 likes4 stack adds
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emmaturi
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Some of the many library books I have out! These two are really short books so shouldn't long to read! #tbr

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Lauren.Archer
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

Very strange book, but I think it is worth the read.

http://obsessedbookaholic.com/2020/10/28/the-harpy-book-review/

55 likes1 stack add
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Cinfhen
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

It wasn‘t until I started reading this book that I made the connection to the author, Megan Hunter. If you‘ve read The End We Start From, you will immediately recognize the author‘s unsettling attitude towards motherhood & marriage. Similar in style, Hunter writes with poetic/dreamy prose but vague & detached in content & plot. The ambiguous ending will probably antagonize some readers, who prefer a cleaner story. Cover art is spectacular ♥️#ARC

ChaoticMissAdventures I had an advance of this and I have yet to see people talking about it! So glad you liked it too. Unsettling is the perfect word for it. But in such a good way. 4y
Cathythoughts The cover art is beautiful, as you say 👍🏻🤍 and strange 👍🏻 (edited) 4y
Cathythoughts And I like unsettling vibes. Stacking 4y
See All 8 Comments
Cinfhen I‘m not sure if I really enjoyed the book @ChaoticMissAdventures but I was riveted @Cathythoughts I‘m still mulling over the ending 🤔🤔 4y
paper.reveries Cover art is most definitely spectacular! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one. :) 4y
Cinfhen Thanks @daisyheadmaesie 🤗🤗🤗 4y
TrishB I shall probably read this because her other one intrigued me enough! 4y
Reviewsbylola This sounds good but not my thing. 4y
92 likes8 comments
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Cinfhen
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Actually sitting and reading on the couch 💕This #ARC has my interest peaked, cover is STUNNING but man the protagonist is one sour lemon 🍋 she‘s quite a bitter pill #Netgalley

Centique Your jeans look cool too! 4y
Cinfhen Thanks @Centique xx 4y
63 likes2 comments
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ElleMNOpe
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Mehso-so

Beautiful, wonderful, & poetic writing. The premise is interesting, dark, & weird. Lucy's story is full of emotions & fairly rapid mental decline that borders psychopathic. An intriguing book & I liked the read, but the execution was lacking. Lucy's character was what primarily didn't work for me, as she felt unrealistic & parts of her personality were highly conflicting, leaving me unable to be fully immersed. It was decent, but didn't grip me.

8 likes1 stack add
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Clare_Riley
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

I think I‘ve found my spirit animal? Beast? Creature? Anyway, I‘ve found it! Lucy finds out her husband Jake is having an affair, and they agree that she can do three things to him as a punishment. It doesn‘t end particularly well, and goes some way to explaining that revenge isn‘t necessarily good for your sanity. This is a flipping marvellous book! Loved it!

BilboBookends SO 👏🏻 GOOD 👏🏻 4y
24 likes1 stack add1 comment
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ChaoticMissAdventures
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Pickpick

Thank you Edel Weiss for the advanced copy.

This was so interesting, the language is very rich, and the story telling is done well. It is such an interesting concept, husband cheats, and give the wife three opportunities to hurt him back and even the score. I did not expect the story to be as atmospheric and still easily digestible.
the characters are easy to see, and picture in your own neighborhood.

18 likes1 stack add
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ChaoticMissAdventures
The Harpy | Megan Hunter
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Starting this today.

11 likes1 stack add