Tony and Susan [Hardcover]

The late Austin Wright gave readers a beautiful gift with Tony and Susan. He presented parallel stories, ushering us into two fictional worlds both of which are irresistibly compelling.

We first meet Susan Morrow who is surprised to hear from her first husband after 20 years - he has written a book, and would she like to read it? "Damn! But this book is good. How much he had learned about life and craft. He wanted to show her, let her read and see, judge for herself. " When they were married this had been a touchy subject; she was a harsh critic and he was a nascent writer.

She receives the manuscript shortly, but sets it aside for some three months. Susan is a worrier. In addition to household chores and looking after the children, she spends time in worry, not always certain what it is that keeps crossing her mind although Arnold, her husband, is often in those plaguing thoughts.

Nonetheless, at last she picks up Edward's manuscript titled Nocturnal Animals, and soon finds herself totally engrossed in the story of Tony Hastings. Married to Laura with one daughter, Helen, "He was a mathematics professor who took pride in reliability and good sense." They were traveling by car in northern Pennsylvania on their way to their summer cottage in Maine. On a lark they decide to drive all night rather than stopping to rest. Tony "was liberated by the irresponsibility of not having to hunt for a place to stay...."

That feeling of freedom was short lived as the Hastings family suddenly and irrevocably loses every shred of the safety and serenity they once enjoyed. At the same time as Susan continues her reading of Edward's manuscript she is forced to face the truth about herself, a truth she does not like at all.

So perfectly written, so imaginatively conceived Tony & Susan will stay with you long after reading the last page.

- Gail Cooke

Susan is reading a novel (Nocturnal Animals) about a man named Tony, written by her ex, Edward. The vast majority of the book comprises Nocturnal Animals .... and for me, here's the problem - it's not in fact a very good book. It has an explosive opening, where a 'good' family make a chance night-time encounter on a deserted highway with a bunch of bad guys who try to run them off the road. Immediately we are thrown into a violent thriller where the readers attention is maintained by the danger in which the characters are placed. What Tony and Susan adds to this is that in parallel with the traditional thriller featuring Tony, we have a more subtle thriller involving Susan as she reads the book. Edward is coming to visit and Susan works herself into a lather wondering if the violence in the book is a message to her, whose marriage to Edward ended after she was unfaithful to him.

My hopes were raised by the cover quotation from no lesser writer than Saul Bellow who describes Tony and Susan as being "marvellously written". In parts it is but equally, in parts we get "When that young Susan on Edward's bed saw Arnold Morrow's alarming penis suddenly come into view with swollen purpose, she heard a gong in her head. She heard another soon after, when she decided to let it in" which to my mind puts it in the running for that bad sex writing award that gets dished out every year.

Ultimately, it's not a bad book. Certainly interesting in parts, particularly in its deeper considerations of how we read books and, in part what books mean to their writers. But does it warrant the praise heaped on it by the publishers who have republished it after the initial failure of the book to make any headway describing it as "the most astounding lost masterpiece of American fiction since Revolutionary Road"? That's a big claim, and one that it doesn't, for me, deliver on.

Susan is married to Arnold, but she used to be married to Edward. Edward had dreams of becoming a writer. One day, Susan unexpectedly receives a package from her first husband containing the manuscript of a novel he has written entitled `Nocturnal Animals'. As she reads the novel, she begins to take stock of her life, notably her life with Edward and the failure of that marriage, and her life with Arnold and her fears that he is embarking on an affair with a colleague.

Tony is the lead character in the novel Edward has written. As Susan reads the novel, we read along with her: `Tony and Susan' is a story within a story.

Austin Wright's novel, originally published in 1993 and reissued in 2010 to critical acclaim in the UK, successfully welds its thriller component, `Nocturnal Animals', with Susan's reaction to it to form an impressive and unusual work.

`Nocturnal Animals' is an engaging thriller in its own right. Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor, is driving late at night with his wife and daughter on their way to their holiday home. Their car is forced off the road by some thugs who abduct the female passengers.

Susan's reading elicits various responses as she attempts to categorize the story and second guess the plot based on her knowledge of her ex-husband. But more than that, `Tony and Susan' puts the concept of a novel as a piece of media to the fore. Every reader's interpretation of fictional writing is different. The story that plays out in one's mind, the characters and the setting are visualized uniquely by each reader. Susan's dissection of `Nocturnal Animals' and the way she relates it to her own life, by way of the author's relationship with her and her reactions to the lead character's actions, give a fascinating insight into the way we relate to fiction.

My only gripes, and these are quite minor given how enjoyable this novel is, are that both strands begin to pall a little towards the end of the book. I felt that there could have been a little more editing here and there. However, as a whole, this is a superbly written novel and is highly recommended.