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Reviewed by Rachel |
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The Other Side of Midnight – Sidney Sheldon The other side of midnight is the story of two women who grow up in
completely different circumstances. However, one day their stories meet and
that is when the big problem starts. One woman is Noelle Page, who by the end of the book, has become a
famous and wealthy actress. She was born in The second woman is Catherine Alexander, born in Things change when Larry goes to This is the moment when Catherine’s and Noelle’s lives mix. Noelle,
who hadn’t lost track of Larry over the years, had arranged for Larry to work
for Constantin. Catherine was convinced that Larry was happy with her, but
after a while things get worse again. This is because Noelle has finally won
Larry over and she will not accept any other woman at his side. She wants
Larry to divorce Catherine but Catherine will not grant him the divorce,
because she is still hopelessly in love with him, hoping that things will
sort themselves out again. Noelle and Larry create a wicked plan to kill Catherine. They nearly
succeed, but Catherine finds out and runs away in the middle of a storm. In a
state of confusion she doesn’t exactly know what she is doing and all her
memories mix up. She ends up drowning herself in the lake next to the
bungalow. At least this is what is generally believed, although her body has
never been found. The last pages of the book are the murder trial of Noelle Page and
Larry Douglas for killing Catherine Douglas-Alexander, even though they
really did not kill her after all. It is a long and trying trial, during
which Noelle and Larry are lulled into a false net of security telling them
that everything will work out fine if they only admit the crime. No one tells
them though that in The Other Side of Midnight is quite a page-turner. The reason for this
can quite easily be found in the structure of the book. It is divided into
different chapters always switching from Noelle to Catherine. The chapters
end with a question to which the reader wants to know the answer as quickly
as possible. Also the characters make the book very interesting, because they
are all so different. Especially Catherine and Noelle: The one is Daddy’s
girl whereas the other doesn’t care for anything. Also Constantin Demiris
plays his part to add interest to the book. He seems to be the wittiest and
most evil person on earth, but then, from time to time, you discover his
weakness, his feelings. And Larry too, makes the book an interesting one.
Catherine is warned various times that Larry is not a sincere person, but the
reader cannot see why. This makes one want to read on and on. How can Larry
be such a horrible person? Well, in time one does find out. One thing that was quite tiring about the story is that it really goes
into all the detail of Noelle’s affaires. At first one gets the feeling that
this is the only thing the book is about, but in time it gets more diverse
and the affairs move more into the background and no longer remain the main
interest of the book. The book’s language is not too challenging. It might not be something
one would call an easy read, but it can certainly be read without too many
problems. It is very pleasant to read, not disturbing at all. I can recommend this book to anyone who likes murder stories and
enjoys getting to the bottom of things. Also it can be interesting, even if
only for a short while, to people who are interested in social situations of
the pre-World War II times. I enjoyed the book very much, as soon as the
story really got going, which did take quite some time, but it sure was worth
it. At the end I could hardly put it down, for it had captured me so much. The Clipping I have chosen is more towards the end of the book, when
Noelle is trying hardest to destroy Larry, who already is working for
Constantin: “If
it had not been for Noelle Page, Larry Douglas would have had no worries. He
was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do. He enjoyed his job,
the people he met, and the man for whom he worked. On the ground his life was
equally satisfactory. When he was not flying, he spent a good part of his
time with Catherine; but because Larry’s job was so mobile, Catherine was not
always aware of where he was, and Larry found innumerable opportunities to go
out on his own. He went to parties with Count Pappas and Paul Metaxas, his
copilot, and a satisfying number of them turned into orgies. Greek women were
filled with passion and fire. He had found a new one, Helena, a stewardess
who worked for Demiris, and when they had a stopover away from
Except
for Demiris’ blond bitch mistress. Larry
had not the slightest clue as to what made Noelle Page despise him, but
whatever it was, it was endangering his way of life. Larry had tried being
polite, aloof, friendly, and each time Noelle Page succeeded in making him
look like a fool. Larry knew he could go to Demiris, but he had no illusions
about what would happen if it came to a choice between him and Noelle. Twice,
he had arranged for Paul Metaxas to take over Noelle’s flight but shortly
before each flight Demiris’ secretary had phoned to tell him that Mr. Demiris
would like to have Larry pilot her himself. On
an early morning in late November Larry received a call that he was to fly
Noelle Page to ‘Jesus
Christ,’ Paul Metaxas exclaimed. ‘She must be in one hell of a hurry to get
to But
Larry had the feeling that I have chosen this clipping, because I think it reveals quite a bit of
Larry’s character. I also think it shows how much power Noelle has over him
at that time. A main theme of the book is jealousy, so I will choose this as the
topic for my theme page to my work. But why is jealousy a theme of my book? The plot summary might not
make it so clear, but all of Noelle’s actions are based on the fact that she
thinks Larry’s attention is meant for her and not for anyone else. Short explanation of jealousy: Jealousy is an emotion, which people develop when they think that
something, which is theirs, is directed to someone else. Usually it appears
when love, affection and attention are involved. This means that jealousy is
one of the most common and most powerful feelings in a relationship. There is
a distinction between envy and jealousy. Jealousy is based on the ground that
one wants to keep what one has, whereas envy is the emotion one feels when
one wants what someone else has. For more information on jealousy in general and for jealousy in
relationships these pages could be interesting: Jealousy: http://joe.bi.org/jealousy.html Romantic Jealousy: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19920301-000032.html Links on Jealousy: http://humanityquest.com/topic/index.asp?theme1=jealousy Research Topics on Jealousy: http://www.questia.com/search/jealousy Jealousy in men, women not so different: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s868482.htm Jealousy is not only an aspect in this novel; it has always been a
main theme of many novels, for example in Shakespeare’s plays, in some of
Tolstoy’s novels and in many more, since I am only mentioning very few here. And as a last thing on my theme page I would like to put some
quotations that are linked with jealousy: Fame is the penalty of
success. Jealousy is the penalty of fame. Sivananda (1887 - 1963)
Indian physician Jealousy is all the fun you
think they had. Erica Jong (1942) US author,
poet Anger and jealousy can no
more bear to lose sight of their objects than love. George Eliot (1819 - 1880)
English novelist Jealousy is no more than
feeling alone against smiling enemies. Elizabeth Bowen (1899 -
1973) Irish author Nothing is more capable of
troubling our reason, and consuming our health, than secret notions of
jealousy in solitude. Aphra Behn (1640 - 1689)
English playwright, poet
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