One of my favorite - and most frequently re-read - Vines. My last re-read was Summer 2006, and I'm feeling it 'call' to me. Rendell has called this her "Henry James novel."7/04/11: I didn't re-read it when I made the above comment, probably two years ago, but I am re-reading it now.7/07/11: This novel has a very leisurely pace, which works perfectly in its favor. One of Vine/Rendell's hallmarks as a writer is her extraordinary ability to to go back and forth in time within the space of a page or even a couple of paragraphs. The narrator, Elizabeth Vetch, who lives under the shadow of Huntington's Chorea (approaching forty, she's not quite out of the woods yet) looks back from the 1980s upon the swinging London of the late 1960s, in particular her friendship with her cousin-by-marriage, the generous and loving Cosette Kingsley, who opens her London house (known as 'the house of stairs' because a stairway of 106 stairs leads to its uppermost - and ultimately most dangerous - level) to a group of disparate hangers-on. And there is Bell, the enigmatic, mysterious young woman with a tragic past who fascinates Elizabeth, and who brings her brother, Mark, to the House of Stairs, thus setting in motion a series of events that ultimately will end in unexpected violent tragedy that will shatter these relationships.7/08/11: This is always in my "Top Five Vines," and won't lose that ranking anytime soon. The hallmark of a great suspense novel is that it keeps you turning pages even on a re-read - this one does so in first-rate fashion.
This is, I think, the third of Ruth Rendell's psychological thrillers written under the name Barbara Vine, distinguishing them from her more conventional murder mystery novels. The House of Stairs is a very literate novel - elegantly written, referencing Henry James and Bronzino along the way. The narrator, Elizabeth, is a writer, aware that the work she churns out is not worthy of her, but also conscious of the need to earn money.The novel opens with Elizabeth spotting in the street a woman with whom she used to be friends. The sight of this woman, Bell, recently released from prison, triggers a sequence of memories. Vine mixes the current story with lengthy flashbacks, which in lesser hands would lead to confusion and mess. Vine, though, executes her story perfectly as Elizabeth gradual reveals exactly what Bell did. Right from the start we know whodunit, but not why, how, or even who the victim was.In the flashback scenes, we see Elizabeth moving into the House of Stairs, a property owned by newly-widowed and wealthy Cosette, whom Elizabeth looks upon almost as a mother. Cosette enjoys having people - especially young people - around her, and indulges them. Not surprisingly, many of them take advantage of her generosity. Elizabeth invites Bell to stay in the House of Stairs - a decision that will lead to disastrous and fatal consequences.This is not a face-paced thriller - the tension builds slowly but inexorably, as Vine demonstrates how hard a grip the past has upon the present. [November 2007]
What do You think about The House Of Stairs (1988)?
Vine/Rendell creates a creeping sense of dread as the narrative continues through its chronological complexities. The narrator, Elizabeth, is recalling events that occurred more than a decade and a half ago, and the question of her reliability is never wholly resolved. She certainly withholds information from the reader; some of it she eventually releases, some of it she doesn't. And she gets some key things wrong; again, she has become aware over time of some of her mistakes and misinterpretations but not of all. That ambiguity kept me successfully off-balance throughout the book.
—Leslie
Out of print. This is my favorite Barbara Vine novel. Incredible structure, with a perfect amount of foreshadowing. Narrator's voice is pitch perfect throughout. This book is worth reading more than once, as I just have, taking advantage of the fact that it is now available in ebook format.I have placed this book on my shelf of "books-about-books" because Rendell (here under her pseudonym) borrows her main story line, events that are recalled, from "The Wings of the Dove" by Henry James. In fact, the narrator admits she has caused events to unfold because she tells another character the plot of the classic. The narrator begins her story seeming surprising sane despite the burdens she bears, but somewhere in the last chunk of the book her vision, as it were, narrows as we understand she is either becoming ill or is suffering from a mental breakdown. What's interesting is that we'll never know what does happen to her because the book ends on a ringing phone, which creates a deep-seated fear in the reader. Or at least it did the first time I read it. Now, I see that the author does let us know many times before the end what the real "end of the story" will be.
—Angie
So here's a question. If you work at some terrible, terrible job teaching English while you're trying to learn enough French for a real job, and your boss, who likes to keep you there on site so that she can feel like she's getting her money's worth even when she doesn't have a lot of clients lined up, schedules you for like a lesson at 8h30, then one from 11h30 to 13h30, and then a last one at the very end of the day before the office closes, so that you're trapped on site all day with not much to do and you've forgotten your book at home, and you browse the textbook shelves in desperation and you end up reading the simplified version of this novel for language learners all in one go because your only other option is putting out your own eyes just for something to do, does that mean you've read the book? Or does that mean you haven't really read the book?
—Nicole
