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    Bound: A Novel
    Bound: A Novel
    Bound: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Bound: A Novel

    Written by Antonya Nelson

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    Antonya Nelson is known for her razor-sharp depictions of contemporary family life in all of its sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious complexity. Her latest novel has roots in her own youth in Wichita, in the neighborhood stalked by the serial killer known as BTK (Bind, Torture, and Kill). A story of wayward love and lost memory, of public and private lives twisting out of control, Bound is Nelson's most accomplished and emotionally riveting work.

    Catherine and Oliver, young wife and older entrepreneurial husband, are negotiating their difference in age and a plethora of well-concealed secrets. Oliver, now in his sixties, is a serial adulterer and has just fallen giddily in love yet again. Catherine, seemingly placid and content, has ghosts of a past she scarcely remembers. When Catherine's long-forgotten high school friend dies and leaves Catherine the guardian of her teenage daughter, that past comes rushing back. As Oliver manages his new love, and Catherine her new charge and darker past, local news reports turn up the volume on a serial killer who has reappeared after years of quiet.

    In a time of haunting and new revelations, Nelson's characters grapple with their public and private obligations, continually choosing between the suppression or indulgence of wild desires. Which way they turn, and what balance they find, may only be determined by those who love them most.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 29, 2010
    ISBN9781400188642
    Author

    Antonya Nelson

    Antonya Nelson is the author of three short story collections, The Expendables , which received the Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction, In the Land of Men , and Family Terrorists . She has won numerous awards and grants, including the PEN/Nelson Algren Award, three PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards, and the Mademoiselle Short Fiction Prize. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Mademoiselle, and Redbook as well as various literary magazines. She lives in New Mexico and Colorado with her husband, the writer Robert Boswell, and their two children.

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    Reviews for Bound

    3/5

    41 ratings41 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The first 2/3s of this book held a great deal of promise, with good character development and the author's usual gift of establishing a strong sense of place and time. The disparate plot lines that I erroneously assumed would eventually be 'bound' together, all seemed to fizzle out in a deeply unsatisfying way. What became of Randall? What function did repeatedly referencing a serial killer serve? The initial meeting of the Catherines, so long in the making, wasn't even mentioned; turn a page and they were abruptly together and comfortable with eachother.I've admired this author's past works, but I'm afraid in the end, this one disappoints.
    • 3/5
      The story starts off well: a blend of mystery, curious circumstances and precise descriptions, there is an atmosphere of confusion which piqued my interest and enticed me to learn more. From there, the story develops in a series of flat portraits, disconnected reminiscences and flashes into the past in which the characters are connected with biographical precision but no meaningful emotion.I disliked all the characters: Catherine is vapid and stupid, Oliver manipulative and vain and Cattie bland. Misty had some potential; shroud with an air of mystery, having overcome the odds of poverty, she stands out as having a tough multifaceted personality, but this is not explored and ultimately the reader learns nothing about her motivations and growth.Finally, I found that this book had no aim: the characters don't really evolve or grow; they don't learn any lessons; there is no epiphany; the serial killings in the background were, as far as I can tell, a way of rallying the community, a discussion around fate, but those interpretations are tenuous at best... the ending is a vague attempt at reconciling two characters from the beginning that had nothing to do with the main story... dull, pointless stuff.The title is the element that ended up intriguing me most: Bound to what? The past, one's history, family, one's geographical location, community? Bound homeward or to some other destination? I can only guess.Well-written but bland and disappointing.
    • 3/5
      Bound is a story that takes its name from the BTK Killer, and much of the story’s action takes place in Wichita, Kansas, the killer’s hunting ground in the late 1970s. Fast forward 30 years, and he is assumed dead. To prove that he’s still there, he starts releasing information to the media, proof that he went dormant but did not disappear. The citizens of Wichita are not alone in their fascination with the tale, watching the events closely until the killer’s identity is revealed, and he is arrested. It’s an interesting story. However, it doesn’t do a lot to move along the plot of the story, so it’s not entirely clear why it’s such a recurrent theme in the story. In fact, Nelson’s attempts to keep his narrative going throughout her own seem forced. Her story is about being “bound” by the ties of friendship, by shared experiences, and by obligation. It has very little to do with a serial killer.The story focuses on the ties that bind Catherine to Cattie, her namesake and the daughter of her best childhood friend. When Cattie's mother dies in a car accident while she is away at boarding school, Cattie thinks that she is all alone in the world. She "disappears" to avoid ending up in foster care. Meanwhile, Catherine learns that she has been named the girl's guardian and must decide how she is going to proceed. Their paths finally cross when Cattie decides to return to Houston and is found by the police a on the road not far from Wichita. Catherine, in Houston to handle Misty's estate, has her husband pick Cattie up and bring her home. The two Catherine's quickly bond. The emptiness that Cattie knew she was feeling is somewhat alleviated, and the hole that Catherine does not even know she has her in her life is filled by teenager's presence. Through their bond, they are both able to reconnect with Misty in a way that neither would have ever been able to do had she lived.The most interesting, and most poignant, bond that forged in this story, however, has very little to do with Catherine or Cattie. When Catherine makes her trip to Houston, her husban, Oliver, agrees to visit her mother in the nursing home where she has lived since having a stroke. The two have never gotten along; Oliver is just a few years younger than Dr. Grace Harding, and she has always felt that he married her daughter so that he could have a "trophy". On this particular visit, however, they are able to bond over a virtual trip to Rome. The two adversaries are able to realize they have more in common than they would have expected.The story is very well-written; Nelson's command of the language is unquestioned. She is more known for her short fiction, and her skill in that area is made apparent throughout the novel. Each chapter is told almost as a story in and of itself. This approach can work very effectively when the stories are only thematically related and not meant to be telling an on-going story about a set group of characters (see Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles). It is not as effective here; the different threads are meant to be woven together, but she leaves too many dangling. The beauty of the individual stories is diminished by the attempt to make them all work together.Overall, it is a very pleasant read. In this case, however, the parts outshine the whole.
    • 2/5
      This isn't a long book but it felt like it was...although the writing is excellent, and the characters are richly drawn and described, this feels like a book about nothing. I kept waiting for the book to start, and then it was over. Add to that a mix of characters who are all sort of aimless, and ethereal, and vague in thought and action....you get the picture. On the good news side, Nelson is obviously a talented writer, and throughout the book there were phrases and descriptions that I wanted to highlight and remember.
    • 1/5
      The most appealing feature of this book is it's length. It's short. Blissfully so. Flat, dull, meandering.
    • 1/5
      Geez, I tried. Several times, I tried. Just could not get into this book or connect with its characters. A different style of writing that required too much effort on the part of the reader, in my opinion.I did receive this book from a Library Thing giveaway, which has obviously not influenced my review. Thank you for the opportunity.
    • 3/5
      Bound was ultimately an unsatisfying read for me. The beginning really hooked me in, and I had high hopes for the novel as a whole. Nelson's characters are interesting and she describes them very well. But somehow, despite her descriptive skill, her narration seems to me to be so removed as to be uninvolving. Her omniscent narration leaves me feeling as if she has created interesting people but that she doesn't really know them. To my mind, the most interesting character was neither of the female protagonists, but the philandering older husband.
    • 2/5
      Antonya Nelson was recently named by the Huffington Post as one of most overrated writers of contemporary literature. As the article states: "[S]he's a dull craftswoman who has never questioned realism, and has no clue about history or politics." Her first novel in ten years (after Living To Tell), proves this point.Bound is the story of Catherine Desplaines, third wife of entrepreneur Oliver Desplaines, and her estranged friend Misty Mueller, but it doesn't start with Catherine. It starts with the death of Misty, surprisingly from the point of view of her dog, Max, who witnesses her car accident, and later runs away from the car wreck to be found and adopted by Elise, a woman with relationship troubles--but this is much later (in fact the last page) and not important. What is important is the events that follows afer Misty's death: a letter Catherine finds at a nursery home for nearly insane elderly folks (where her stroke-victim mother lives) and the girl left in her charge, also named Catherine, but called Cattie.We meet Cattie in a boarding school. She's a grunge teen, who likes being alone, and Nelson beautifully characterizes and develops her. For example:"Young, she'd had a neighborhood friend, a boy whose sidekick qualities had been second nature to her. There he'd been, for as long as she could recall, and friends they'd inevitably become. Since then, it semed that friendship required foresight and effort and connivance. To Cattie, it seemed not only like work, but vaguely false. People accused her of being selfish; maybe not needing others was what they meant."Also:"Along with taking long walks, Cattie read a lot of books. They'd taught her a fair amount about mistakes. She thought of herself, often, as a characer in a book, in the third person, wandering a world that could be described as if from above, and beyond. Narrated. Seeing herself in a scene, rather than feeling caught up in that same scene, was a sensation she had lived with for a long time."Indeed, in a recent interview with The Writer Nelson praised the third person point of view, which is also what she does in this novel. The third person, she says, allows readers to see things that the characters don't: "The latitude that the third-person narrator supplies for the writer is a remarkable one; it's so limiting to have to be constrained by the character's literal vocabulary...rather than to have the amazing versatility of the third-person character's multiple sensual understandings of the world," she says. In the case of this novel, it allows the readers to see the ways the characters are connected (bound) to one another, despite trying to forget the past (as Catherine does) or runaway from the present (like Cattie does after her mother dies). Nelson seems to point out that we cannot escape each other, we influence one another's daily lives, something we as individualists do not necessarily see. Thus the third person ominicisent narrator.But Nelson does not mention the possible weak points of the third person POV, and does nothing to remedy the problem in Bound.The problem--or maybe just a side effect--with the third person is the distance created between reader and character. David Jauss argues in his book Alone With All That Could Happen: Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft of Fiction that the third person point of view should be used when you want to create that distance. The problem with Nelson's work is that she's been so used to using it, that she doesn't even question it, doesn't see the problem with her own work.Bound is about the ties that binds us to our histories and specifically, to other people. Yet, Nelson jumps into the heads of so many people and things (we start with the dog, then we go to Catherine, then we're in her mother's head, then Oliver's head, then Cattie's, then her gay best friend, then the mysterious solider Randall who saw his friend die, but not in war, but of alcohol poisoning)--that it all becomes too exhausting to pay attention, to make connection with any character. The distance too far for readers to put effort into the story.In fact, reading Bound feels like reading something that is not a novel, or a work of literature. Literature is made to connect, written to feel empathy with other situations and peoples. Yet time and again, Nelson kicks the reader out, as if not wanting to let her audience into the story. Along with the character jumps, she unrealistically polarizes her characters (all women are moody and emotional, all men are emotionalless cheating beasts, despite an emotional past, all gay men are devices to further the plot). Furthermore, she creates motifs and characters and story lines that are supposed to touch upon one another and show the way we are "bound" to each other, yet most of these fall into flat sentimentality (for example, Catherine driving around town remembering her past) or are just weak: the best example of this is Nelson's use of the BTK killer, which we can only guess she used because the "B" in BTK stands for "bind." Her theme.As Adam Kirsch writes on Nelson:"Nelson never chafes against the limitations of her chosen form, the realistic, well-made story. It's the ideal medium for a writer who isn't afraid to remind us of the familiar, who values insight over epiphany. Nor is Nelson particularly interested in the way the world at large shapes our private lives."Translation: overall, Nelson writes an unrealistic realism (I use the term "realism" here as a genre) based on a dreamt up dyfunctional middle class. She does everything that is taught in writing programs across the nation--show back stories, be particular about each person's traits (be quirky!), end by linking the beginning to the end. She is a teacher herself, which is perhaps what makes her work cheap and boring.
    • 3/5
      I got this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. I have no real quibbles with the book, except that it's largely forgettable. I read it in two days - the story certainly carries you along and the characters are well-drawn (which I understand is Antonya Nelson's forte). But it left me with more questions that I started with. And, well, I wanted something to HAPPEN. But, as a character study, it is a nicely done book, and well written. Just don't ask me what it was about a month from now...
    • 3/5
      Catherine who considers herself a 'throphy wife' finds out she has been left guardian to 15 year old "Catty". The daughter of her best friend from high school that she lost touch with over the years. -- There was alot of potential to this story, but I felt disappointed at the end. It left you hanging and wanting more.
    • 3/5
      A quick and easy read, but not enough plot. Character development is rich and the multiple viewpoints from multiple characters is interesting, but not much happens. The serial killer mentioned in the book's description promises excitement, but this part of the story is barely more than an afterthought; no suspense there. Wouldn't recommend.
    • 2/5
      I've had a little difficulty getting through this book. The writing's okay, but Nelson gets a bit long-winded for my taste. The characters are interesting to read about, but I don't know if I believe any of them. On the positive side, there are many interesting story lines to navigate. Maybe my review will improve when I can finish the book.
    • 3/5
      Nelson's title sums up the scope and themes of her novel, which explores the various ties that bind: mothers and daughters, friends, husbands and wives, pets and owners, lovers, fathers and daughters, even complete strangers. For good measure--well, maybe more for bad measure, in my opinion--she throws the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killer into the mix. I'm not quite sure what he's doing there. Linking the past and the present, through two girls' obsession with the 1970s murders and through various characters' obsessions with his re-emergence and capture? Demonstrating that people are not always what they seem to be on the surface? Telling us that secrets will always come out? Oliver, the novel's aging, thrice-married philanderer, compares his own desire for gratification to BTK's, so perhaps Nelson intends us to see his history with women as a parallel: he binds women to him, their relationships become torturous, and he eventually 'kills' (leaves) them. I just don't know . . . On the plus side, I thought the novels characters were, for the most part, realistic and well drawn. Several other reviewers have complained that there wasn't enough plot for their taste, but I am a reader who likes to explore characters' psychological depths. Nelson provides plenty of this in the cases of Catherine, Oliver, and Cattie, her main characters, making us privy not only to their inner thoughts but exposing the histories that made them who they are. While they are not always likeable, each has moments of redemption--even the self-absorbed Oliver. Nelson has also given us some intriguing secondary characters: Dr. Harding, Catherine's professor-mother, left speechless by a stroke; Randall, a creepy young veteran; Dr. Harding's friend, Dr. Yasmine Keene, and her ominous black stick; Miriam, Oliver's wounded, promiscuous daughter. I would have liked to have learned more about them.Dogs also play a significant role in the story, the characters' relationships to them giving us additional insight. They also remind us that perhaps we are not as "bound" as we think. Max, Misty and Cattie's mongrel, survives the car crash that takes Misty's life; her fate concludes the novel. Bitch and her eight puppies initially draw together Cattie and the hermit-like Randall. The childless Catherine goes through a series of progressively smaller dog pairs, all disliked by Oliver but the last eventually winning him over.I have to agree with those who feel that the novel would have benefited from one last revision. There are a lot of loose ends, a number of things that need further development, and a number of others that need to be reconsidered, maybe even scratched. But overall, the writing is fine and the characters interesting, and the novel kept my attentiont throughout.
    • 3/5
      A book where the parts are greater than the whole. Interesting characters, but they don't change, or grow. Oliver is the aging serial husband, trading in for a newer, younger model every twenty years. Catherine, wife number 3, and named guardian to her high school friend's orphaned daughter is struggling with her role as grownup with strong husband and mother dominating her life. Cattie, the namesake orphan runs away from her private school. Randall was the army guy, possible PTSD, who drives the car and saves the dogs. Plus, there is a serial killer on the news from Catherine's hometown. Individual sections were easy to read, but they just didn't connect for me into a whole cohesive story.Part of the problem is I couldn't see how the characters all connected, and some of them disappeared completely randomly. How the serial killer connected the disparate stories is also not clear to me. People are bound to their background, to their towns, to their traditions, and the killer bound his victims. Maybe that's the connection.
    • 2/5
      After starting quite a few times, I finally managed to plough through and finish. This is definitely not my kind of book. It's one that sounds good in theory but it just didn't come together for me. I found the writing to be way too over-the-top and flowery which I thought was a strange combination considering the topic. I wanted to enjoy it but it just fell flat.
    • 4/5
      This book really grabbed my attention from the opening sentence, from the point of view of a dog. Written from different characters' perspectives in each chapter, it was well done and completely held my interest. However, I found the references to the BTK serial killer unnecessary and pointless. Overall I really enjoyed Antonya Nelson's style and story.
    • 4/5
      Antonya Nelson is best known for her short stories, but in this novel she uses the extra space to wonderful effect. This is a thoughtful, elliptical novel and the gentle pace may not grab all readers, which is a pity because this is a beautifully written, deeply insightful novel about the lives of three women in Kansas. Catherine is in her 40s, and married to much-Oliver, a vain and self-indulgent man on his third marriage, although one senses it may not be his last. Misty is Catherine's childhood friend, whose life diverged from Catherine's into more turbulent, and messier, waters. The book opens when Misty, with a dog in the back of the car, drives off a road to her death. Her daughter, Cattie is a teenager is 'willed' to Catherine and when she learns of her mother's death, skips out on her Eastern boarding school with $500 in her pocket, a rather dodgy travelling companion and a stray dog. If you are looking for a page-turning plot, perhaps this isn't your book, because things happen slowly here, and apart from the intial car crash, without much violence, even though the BTK Killer hovers like a malevolent spirit in the background. Nelson's territory is interior and this is the landscape on which she works her considerable magic. Her focus shifts, at one moment bringing Catherine and Oliver's marriage into the spotlight, at another turning it onto Oliver's infidelities, or Cattie's journey . . . All flows together seamlessly, creating a vivid and intriguing portrait of these people's lives. On cannot help but think of Chekhov.The story begins and ends with the dog from the back of Misty's car, and it is testment to the grace of Nelson's writing that this feels right and good and not a bit maudlin. Settle in. Get a good cup of tea. Relax. Take your time and enjoy this terrific book.
    • 3/5
      This book had interesting characters, and a topical framing in contemporary Wichita, colored by the identity speculation and then capture of the BTK murderer. However, the novel as a whole didn't live up to the narrative point of view of the first chapter. I wanted more of that unique level of insight, and never quite got it.
    • 3/5
      This was just ok for me. It sounded more interesting than it really was, having the BTK Killer always lurking in the background I found that nothing really happened in the end, no big climax. People had problems, stuff happened and it all worked out ok in the end. I like my fiction to be a lot darker than this, I kept expecting something to happen. All of the characters had secrets the reader was aware of but they never became a part of the plot, making me wonder what the point was. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I do not like this type of pointless, almost forced, happy ending.
    • 4/5
      I love Antonya Nelson's writing, and this book doesn't disappoint. This is a novel about character more than about plot. Nelson protrays nuanced relationships in a masterful and realistic way. And she does it without using many words.
    • 4/5
      The novel never gelled for me. The subplot of a serial killer did not seem threatening and credible.
    • 4/5
      I was so excited when I won this book from goodreads. Bound is a character-driven drama that keeps you reading even though it doesn't have much of a story line. Antonya Nelson is a very talented author that describes everything in such detail that you find yourself visualizing it. Nelson's characters were so vivid and unique. The beginning of the book was particularly well written and intense. This book followed the characters in their journeys through life, but the problem is none of the characters really learned or grew from their journeys. I particularly liked the ending where it said you weren't stuck with just one name, that there were choices that could change everything. This book was a tad short and left me with some questions as to what happened to the characters, the most prominent question in my mind: Does Catherine ever find out about Oliver's affair and hook up with someone her own age? All in all, this was a good book and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to read it.
    • 4/5
      I was given the ARC to read and then give a honest review in exchange. When I was asked to be a tour host for this book...I was beyond excited. Since I haven't done too many yet. I have been wanting to read this series, but until now had yet to read anything from Elisabeth Naughton. I have to say after reading Bound, I can't believe that I haven't read her yet. For one thing I just love it when Greek Mythology (or any kind of mythology) is mixed in with the story plot. The author writes it in such a way that enthralls the reader from the very first page, and I found it near impossible to put it down. I love the focus and the detail that is very thoroughly portrayed through the story. Even though when I first started reading this, I was a bit lost since I hadn't read the previous books in the series, I did catch on after the first few chapters, and I found myself totally drawn in with the story. I also enjoyed how Naughton puts in serious issues that we all deal with in a paranormal themed romance that helps the reader connect with the characters and the story line in a very real way. The emotions that were so vividly portrayed were so heart wrenching at times, that I did cry a few times. It had such a powerful effect on my emotions, that I felt like I was being overwhelmed at times with a sea of emotional effect that takes you on a adventure to rival any. I also found some great qualities that came with this author's writing, and her unique style will just captivate you and before you know it, you have fallen in love with the story and the characters that will take your breath away. A Poignant and intense love story that will take you places you can only dream about. I am now totally addicted to this story, and I can't wait until I can get my hands on the other works in the series!!! A True Treasure that will excited you and charm you!! Plus how can you resist such a gorgeous cover...with the water trickling down in the sexiest way. Utterly irresistible!!
    • 3/5
      This was a really sweet book about some complicated people. A woman married to a much older adulterous man finds that she has become the guardian of "Catty," a 15 year old girl who is the daughter of her childhood best friend, who has passed away. She hasn't heard from this friend since they were both teenagers. Finding out about the existence of Catty opens up so many memories for Catherine of time spent with her mother when they were young, both about the fun they had and the mistakes they made. In the book, Catherine doesn't have any conflict with these memories, she merely enjoys them, and can look back at them from her place of contentment in the present. Catty is of course having her own emotional issues, after finding out that her mother has died in a car crash, she abandons her boarding school and goes to stay at the house of a school acquaintance. Catherine must spend time tracking her down. Much time is also spent on the perspective of Catherine's husband, who is currently cheating on her with a woman even younger than she is. During the book he also spends a lot of time visiting Catherine's mother, who never liked him, but has suffered a stroke which renders her mute. From the view of Catherine's husband, they are able to build a very fulfilling relationship now that she cannot speak. Catherine's mother's opinion is never consulted in this.Overall, the characters were beautiful and complex. It was pretty obvious that this author is a short story writer, however, because there just isn't much time wasted. She also tends to jump from one perspective to another fairly quickly. At the end of the book, though, I just wasn't sure what the point was. I felt like I must have been missing the second half of the book, and I was disappointed that I wasn't getting closure with the characters that the author leads you to care so much about.
    • 3/5
      Antonya Nelson's Bound is a book that holds lots of promise, but just doesn't seem to really get it togther to quite "bind" the story line.There is a meandering, stilted quality to this story. The characters are often people I just don't "get". There's Misty, who arrives to the story dead on the scene, with her dog sniffing her corpse, which is trapped in her car, after her car has inadvertently gone over a mountainside and into a ravine. Misty, an ultra reformed recovering addict and alcoholic, has just sent her prized daughter away from their Huston home, to a boarding school in Texas. She has apparently found the economic stability and suburban family life she completed lacked as a child. There is no father mentioned for her daughter, Cattie, and no real reason supplied as to why Misty sends her away, or why she has gone traveling to Colorado at this time. She does have memories of a vacation trip she took with her much more socially mobile best friend Catherine, but, no reason for this spur of the moment revisitation of a childhood memory is given.Meanwhile, we are introduced to Catherine, the third wife of a wealthy small town businessman. Catherine is attractive and completely vanilla. Her husband Oliver is a vigorous, fastidious gernaphobe of a man who is approaching seventy, and appears to collect lovers and wives of a younger vintage in an effort to stave off his own mortality. Catherine has no children of her own, and appears to spend her time caring for her ailing, ultra-feminist retired professor mother, who is in a local nursing home, breezing into her husband's businesses and caring for their two dogs. She and Oliver have separate bedrooms, and neither her husband or her mother seem to have much use for her any more - her husband boring of her, and her mother appalled by her apparent reliance on her attractiveness to "get by", rather than become a person of substance.When Cattie learns of her mother's death, she runs away from the boarding school, and eventually hooks up with an odd PTSD'd veteran, with whom she attempts to make it from New England back to Texas, with lots of sideshow oddness.Catherine, who explored her rebel oats in middle and high school with Misty, her BFF from the other side of the tracks, goes to visit her mother at the nursing home, and happens upon a letter sent to her weeks before, indicating she has been appointed guardian of Misty's daughter Cattie (which is, natch, short for Catherine). Her husband can't be bothered with this distraction, and he has his own maladapted spawn to contend with. Catherine seems in no particular hurry to discover much about this child, and seems to stumble and bumble her way to Misty's old place in Huston. She had lost touch with her old drugging/sexing/boozing pal Misty, and had no idea she had a child, much less that she would leave the child to Catherine.In the background of this story line, Nelson introduces the thread of a serial killer dormant for some year, who is now active again. This story line seemed promising, but like much of the rest of the book seems to go nowhere fast. the BTK killer turns out to be such a disappointing little thread, and I had a hard time seeing how it related to the rest of the story.The characters seem wooden and stilted. Their motivations are completely baffling and their reactions to jarring events seem muffled and distorted.Nelson's writing, her choice of words and descriptions are excellent, but I had more hopes for the plot line than what actually developed. It was an easy read, which flowed, and there were tensions, they just didn't seem to have a satisfying resolution.
    • 3/5
      I'm a real fan of Antonya Nelson, having first discovered her through a short story published in The New Yorker. I haven't read any reviews of this book yet so I'm not sure how it's been received. I'm not enjoying it as much as some of her other titles, The relationships don't feel real; I find most of them preposterous. Despite that, I wanted to know what Catherine's decision is about her godchild. And I like Oliver in spite of his self-centeredness.
    • 2/5
      LuxuryReading.com Review - Nelson’s description of setting and place is truly mesmerizing, but the characters are only sort of likable. There are many characters that come and go throughout the novel. There are some that only appear a time or two and appear to have importance, but are later forgotten, one character simply walks out of the novel, while another one dies to tie up the loose end.The novel is riddled with many parallel plot lines. Some intersect and others only seem as though they may touch, but never actually do. This creates an element of suspense and in the end a bit of frustration. The anticipation of the story lines possibly intersecting will keep you reading. The novel is a quick read with only moments of depth. There are moments of brilliance hidden in this novel along with some unforgettable, vivid descriptions. For that alone, it could be worth the read, just don’t go in for the plot.
    • 3/5
      This book just was. It wasn't good it wasn't bad. It filled a few days time. The plot was ok. I did like the story form a narrative from 3 different characters point of view. I disliked the lack of character development and some parts of the plot seemed forced to make a happy ending. Not the natural progression of events.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable enough book. I liked the content, and would be quite willing to recommend this to others!! Ms Nelson has a quick wit, and keeps a reader willing to continue. This is an entirely readable book, and I would, and will!, let others know that they need to discover this virtually unknown author! I think Ms Nelson will go far in her career in writing and can't wait for the day that she is a household name! Best of luck and I know that good things-Library Things, will be coming for you!
    • 4/5
      In the past I've always had trouble with Antonya Nelson's writing. It struck me as cluttered and distracted, hard to become immersed in.Thankfully, "Bound" changed that. Nelson's sentences can still be a bit busy and long-winded but her characters more than make up for it. Especially Cattie, a quiet 17-year-old whose seemingly matured attitude belies a sense of loss and bewilderment.Cattie is the ward of her late mother's best friend, Catherine, who learns of her charge only after the fact. Married to an older man, Catherine has always been the cared after and not the care-taker. Until her severe and disapproving mother is moved into a retirement home and Cattie's existence comes to light.The novel is set mainly in Wichita against the back-drop of the real life BKT killer. For the most part Nelson toggles between Catherine and her namesake but the scenes with Oliver, Catherine's self-absorbed, age-fearing husband, are delightful as well as worth a couple head shakes. Thanks to the author's deft touch he comes across as both irritating and wistful.This is a novel where the bulk of the action happens in the first 10 pages. But the repercussions are enough to sustain the reader through a story of discovery and joy.Recommended for readers who like Jean Thompson, Tessa Hadley and Margot Livesey.