The Fainting Room, Sarah Pemberton Strong
The Fainting Room, Sarah Pemberton Strong
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The Fainting Room
A Novel

Author: Sarah Pemberton Strong

Narrator: Khristine Hvam

Unabridged: 12 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/30/2020

Synopsis

Ray Shepard is a wealthy architect who has mystified his friends by marrying Evelyn, a woman who works at a nail salon. Evelyn, in turn, hides a secret past about her former life in the circus, her ex-husband's mysterious death, and the colorful tattoos she carefully conceals under her clothes.

When Evelyn starts to cave under the pressure of living in Ray's rarified world, she suggests they take in Ingrid, a sixteen-year-old girl with blue hair, a pet iguana, and no place to stay for the summer. As Evelyn and Ray both make her their confidante, drawing her into the heart of what threatens their marriage, Ingrid increasingly adopts the noir alter ego of "Detective Slade"—fedora and all—in order to solve the mysteries that engulf all three characters.

Contains mature themes.

About Sarah Pemberton Strong

Sarah Pemberton Strong is the author of the novel Burning the Sea and a collection of poems, Tour of the Breath Gallery, winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Award. She is the poetry editor for New Haven Review, and her poetry has appeared in journals such as the Southwest Review, the Southern Review, Cream City Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, RATTLE, and the Sun. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her spouse and daughter.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Travis on July 15, 2013

My review from The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here: [URL not allowed] -- Sarah Pemberton Strong's The Fainting Room is a dirty, dirty novel. And for this white, liberal, 30-ish, heterosexual male, calling this novel dirty isn't as easy as it sounds. The fact......more

Goodreads review by Jenn on May 21, 2015

The compression and drama make this a horrifyingly, devastatingly good read. I felt compassion for the characters even as I wanted to scream at them--the kind of visceral reaction to the the story that only comes from well-crafted writing. And SPS knows her craft. Part pulp, part literary fiction, p......more

Goodreads review by Leigh on February 07, 2022

The story line was very good. Enjoyed the read up until an woman has sex with a minor. There should be a trigger warning that it contains graphic content with a minor. It could have been a great story minus the hook up with the 16 yr old. Yuck!......more

Goodreads review by marjorie on May 30, 2021

went back and forth with this one but ended up liking it a lot BUT I've never read a book with so many typeset mistakes - I imagine Sarah Pemberton Strong must have been furious at the publisher......more

Goodreads review by Simone on January 16, 2021

I tried to be open-minded about this book, but it just seemed exploitative and gratuitous. The characters were complex, but Evelyn was the only one who was compelling.......more

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