Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Jane Campion and starring Meg Ryan
In theaters this fall
By day, Frannie teaches her writing... read full description
In theaters this fall
By day, Frannie teaches her writing... read full description
reviews
Dec 16, 2009
Ken
rated it: 
In The Cut was a quick read. It kept me turning the pages, wanting to know what would happen. The main character intrigued me at first. And that's about as close as I can get to praise for this book.
If you can stomach gruesome, twisted violence and enjoy analyzing it on a symbolic or literary level, then you may appreciate this book more than I. I don't think this book had anywhere near enough to say, however, to justify its sickening level of brutality.
At its heart, this More...
If you can stomach gruesome, twisted violence and enjoy analyzing it on a symbolic or literary level, then you may appreciate this book more than I. I don't think this book had anywhere near enough to say, however, to justify its sickening level of brutality.
At its heart, this More...
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Feb 16, 2008
Lisa
rated it: 
this book is amazing and one that many probably haven't read. I stumbled upon it in the library one day. It haunted me for days. Things aren't always as they seem in matters of love, sexuality, etc. The ending is haunting.
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Mar 24, 2008
Stacey
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 18, 2011
Tim
rated it: 
This book was on Ethan Iverson's list of the ten most shocking thrillers and it lives up to its billing as a very satisfying mystery/thriller. The protagonist is a female literature professor at an unnamed New York City college. When she meets one of her students at a bar, and inadvertently sees something she shouldn't, and sets off a chain of events that lead to a shocking conclusion. This was a well written book with nice elements of dark, dry wit, at least in the beginning before things start
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Feb 27, 2011
switterbug (Betsey)
rated it:
The ethereal writing of Moore reminds me of a female James Salter--a purposeful detachment that conveys the protagonist's (Frannie's) detachment from her own life. Startling ironies hint at Frannie's personal tragedies--accumulated and melancholied--heaped in a corner of her heart and cresting to bleed out onto the pages. It is this prose that creates a vivid depth of feeling and a taut, fresh, exciting rigor of momentum.
Frannie is a scholarly woman--a linguist and a Creative Writing prof More...
Frannie is a scholarly woman--a linguist and a Creative Writing prof More...
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Feb 15, 2011
Haley
rated it:
"In The Cut" begins as Frannie, a creative writing teacher in New York City, becomes entranced watching a brawny man receive a blowjob in the back of a bar. Frannie is stubborn and well-intentioned - in her free time she works on a book of slang and colloquialisms. She also gives her students her home address. Suddenly her desolate existence heats up when her student Cornelius consistently and inappropriately follows her around New York, and a detective visits to investigate local murd
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Aug 17, 2010
Lowrha
rated it:
It took a long, frustrating Chinatown bus ride for the first few chapters of this book to grasp my attention, but I'm glad it was the one I had with me. Moore suspends a dreamy, transitional mood that mesmerizes me. Her comments on the similarity between memories and dreams stick with me and help define what I mean--I feel parts of the story could have been from a book I read or a dream I had. I'm partial to books with writer protagonists, and the scattered notes on words throughout the book are
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Oct 21, 2009
Lori
rated it:
Susanna Moore's book is an edgy, taut, fast paced thriller. The story begins with Franny an NYU professor working with students from the projects in a writing class. This is a convenient relationship for her as she is able to work on her own book and fufill her obsessions with language forms, particularly slang usage in this area of NYC. Some professors comment on her inappropriately close relationship with her students as she often sees them outside of class to discuss their projects as well as
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Oct 13, 2009
Nicola
rated it:
When I first read In the Cut, I was swept up in its surface pleasures: the protagonist, Franny moves through seedy parts of New York City, but there’s a dark wonder to every scene; the poetry posted on the subway forms the backdrop to her story, as if it were placed there especially for her. As a teacher and writer, she rolls words on her tongue, obsessing over etymology, even dividing words into ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It’s a wonderful world in which to immerse yourself. All of Franny’s experiences –
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Dec 12, 2011
M
rated it:
I've heard it called porn; I disagree.
If you've seen the movie, you know quite a lot about the book, but not enough. The film is fairly faithful to the novel (dare I say it?) right up to the end; there the film detours into the prescribed Hollywood ending. The movement of Ms. Moore's tale is not hindered by a sudden and violent path into cliche, but rushes on to its inevitable and powerful conclusion with satisfying drama and an oddly self-realized central character who remains tru More...
If you've seen the movie, you know quite a lot about the book, but not enough. The film is fairly faithful to the novel (dare I say it?) right up to the end; there the film detours into the prescribed Hollywood ending. The movement of Ms. Moore's tale is not hindered by a sudden and violent path into cliche, but rushes on to its inevitable and powerful conclusion with satisfying drama and an oddly self-realized central character who remains tru More...
Dec 16, 2011
Vanessa
rated it:
I picked this book up out of sheer perversity. Since this is billed as an erotic thriller, I should probably elaborate. Come closer, won't you?
So, the movie they made of this book. It has a good pedigree: interesting actors like Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Jason Leigh star (also starring but not very interesting is Meg Ryan) and Jane Campion directs. It's terrible. It's ludicrous. It is compellingly watchable in its awfulness like a grittily rendered "Showgirls." It's been airi More...
So, the movie they made of this book. It has a good pedigree: interesting actors like Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Jason Leigh star (also starring but not very interesting is Meg Ryan) and Jane Campion directs. It's terrible. It's ludicrous. It is compellingly watchable in its awfulness like a grittily rendered "Showgirls." It's been airi More...
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Jan 04, 2012
Christina Marie
rated it:
I thought that In The Cut was going to be about boxing.
In The Cut by Susanna Moore is an erotic thriller. It does not involve a boxer of any kind, not even canine.
I was not expecting the main character to be a Creative Writing college professor who has an affinity for street slang. I was not expecting a very detailed description of a blow job in the first few pages. I was not expecting a very detailed description of bloody dismemberment anywhere in the book. Between sex a More...
In The Cut by Susanna Moore is an erotic thriller. It does not involve a boxer of any kind, not even canine.
I was not expecting the main character to be a Creative Writing college professor who has an affinity for street slang. I was not expecting a very detailed description of a blow job in the first few pages. I was not expecting a very detailed description of bloody dismemberment anywhere in the book. Between sex a More...
Oct 28, 2007
Sabrina
rated it:
I liked the raw sex scenes. That pretty much was the whole appeal for me.
Update- I just reread this and even the sex scenes weren't that good. I think the author was trying to hard to be artsy. In my reread I got the impression the author was trying to make the main character seem cerebral and deep but it just made for disjointed dialogue and forced interactions. I couldn't finish it the second time.
Update- I just reread this and even the sex scenes weren't that good. I think the author was trying to hard to be artsy. In my reread I got the impression the author was trying to make the main character seem cerebral and deep but it just made for disjointed dialogue and forced interactions. I couldn't finish it the second time.
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Dec 17, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
Very strange book. Moore seems to hate her characters as much as Scott Smith hates his...she has no compassion for any of them and, as such, anything goes. The end is easily the most disturbing ending of any book I've ever read (Hollywood ditched the ending for the movie), sorta reminiscent of Blair Witch (in terms of making you say "holy crap, did that just happen?" vs supernatural). Not for the faint of heart.
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Dec 07, 2009
Trish
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 03, 2007
Jessica
rated it: 
This is a sort of Looking For Mr. Goodbar-come-lately story about an ostensibly tough, sexually confident woman who likes to Sleep With Danger and becomes entangled with a sadistic murderer. Although atmospheric and sexually provocative, at heart this is really a damsel-in-distress-meets-serial-killer story that isn't particularly innovative or surprising.
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Feb 12, 2011
Evan
rated it:
In the Cut was made into a movie just a scant few years ago by artsy feminist director Jane Campion, with Meg Ryan the all-American girl trying to pull the mid-life star comeback and the sexy image-changing turn (with Oscar-bait glum acting chops and the requisite nudity) in the role of the language scholar and teacher who succumbs to the pull of the seamy side of NYC. Shades of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, perhaps.
The book, in a nutshell, is about a divorced English teacher in New York, More...
The book, in a nutshell, is about a divorced English teacher in New York, More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 20, 2012
Eve
rated it:
To start from the beginning: saw the movie first. Campion is one of my favorite directors and this movie was something...something that haunted me for days and weeks and months, I actually watched it more than 20 times. It was by mistake that I came across the book at a shop. I bought it right away and felt that it will be if not more, than at least as good as the movie. Of course it goes onto a different ending, but .. BUT... The book is more haunting than the film. Saw many negative reviews re
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Dec 16, 2009
Adam
rated it:
I tore through this really quickly. It's probably not for everyone, but the combination of spare prose, precise language, graphic sex, and cooly observed violence really worked for me. Definitely worth reading, even if you've already seen the movie.
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Oct 26, 2007
Vinessa
rated it:
Dark, disturbing, tight edgy writing. Have reread it at least four times. Great opening...tells the whole story without giving anything away...unexpected ending.
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Nov 26, 2009
Anne
rated it:
I liked her voice. A lot. But I'm still trying to figure out how this story is different from all the crap that lets rip with a strong female character, who has a dark sense of humor/fantasy that can't quite fight loneliness, a wide circle of friends across all kinds of tracks, and Lucite heels. And ends up dead after using "bad judgement," aka too much (intellectual) curiosity. This one @ the hands of a particularly fetishised Puerto Rican cop. "Mr. Goodbar" comes to mind, t
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Aug 16, 2008
Deborah
rated it:
A book as gorgeously crafted as it is tremendously disturbing. This teacher with a dark side tells us right from the start that she is doing something she knows she should not do and that her story will deal with irony and realism. Knowing that, we let her lead us into a brutal but tempting world of ironic twists and realistic hard edges that surround every new encounter or ominous remark, and every strangely erotic act or brush with kink. And through it all she expounds so brilliantly on litera
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Sep 11, 2010
Stacy
rated it:
If I had had time to rate this yesterday when I finished it, it would have been one star...zero stars, if goodreads allowed such things. However, I had time to think about it and realized that while it really was a quite terrible book, I've never read anything like it.
Frannie is a teacher of literature in New York City who runs a fairly unorthodox class...she holds no office hours, but allows students to come to her home or goes with them to bars to discuss their work. For a teac More...
Frannie is a teacher of literature in New York City who runs a fairly unorthodox class...she holds no office hours, but allows students to come to her home or goes with them to bars to discuss their work. For a teac More...
Mar 13, 2011
JaclynJune
rated it:
I've read better, I've read worse.
This book is a cautionary tale for the protagonist of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, either way.
Everyone was raving about how great this book was, and how well-written it was. I found neither to be particularly true. Erotic, yes. But the prose felt contrived, some of the characters are such stereotypes it gets ridiculous, and the narrator is such. a. dumb. broad.
The ending, however, is appropriate. You do feel the dumb broad get
This book is a cautionary tale for the protagonist of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, either way.
Everyone was raving about how great this book was, and how well-written it was. I found neither to be particularly true. Erotic, yes. But the prose felt contrived, some of the characters are such stereotypes it gets ridiculous, and the narrator is such. a. dumb. broad.
The ending, however, is appropriate. You do feel the dumb broad get
Aug 26, 2010
some books come to your attention via media frenzy. meg ryan's movie did that for this novel. it was raved about as sexy, dark, literary - it was a jane campion movie! so i read it and although it is told from an interesting perspective (serial killer/sexual exploration from an intelligent woman's point of view with a literary twist) it did not live up to the hype for me.
and unlike the jump to screen that 'the secretary' short story made (from political corruption and dreary sex More...
and unlike the jump to screen that 'the secretary' short story made (from political corruption and dreary sex More...
May 12, 2011
Marna
rated it:
I stumbled on this relatively short book while wandering quite aimlessly in the library. WHat I can tell you: please don't even bother taking this one off the shelf, let alone out of the library (and don't even think about purchasing it!). What promised to be an erotic thriller turned out to be a poorly written bore. I skimmed through most of this, stopping at what I thought might be fairly interesting erotic scenes, only to find that these too were poorly written.
Oct 14, 2011
Dan
rated it:
I love sexy books, but this is not that sexy. It's just a cop story with a bit of kinkier sex than usual. There are a lot of these around these days.
I think it is special because it is better written than most cop books that you see. But not that much better really. I didn't find myself getting excited wanting to know who did it, or if the heroine is in danger.
It's just an OK book. I don't know if I would recommend it at all, since there are a lot of better things to read. But it's More...
I think it is special because it is better written than most cop books that you see. But not that much better really. I didn't find myself getting excited wanting to know who did it, or if the heroine is in danger.
It's just an OK book. I don't know if I would recommend it at all, since there are a lot of better things to read. But it's More...
Aug 20, 2007
Loren
rated it:
Franny teaches English while writing a book about American street slang. One night she witnesses a steamy bj in the basement of her favorite local bar and enjoys the vicarious titillation until a detective knocks on her door and asks her what she knows about the recent murder of a 26 year-old woman who may or may not be the bj-giver from the night before. Franny lies about what she has seen while beginning an affair with the detective. She learns a bunch of new American street slang and also tha
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Dec 31, 2009
Tonya
rated it:
I was so dissapointed in the movie but the book was awesome and even though I saw the movie before I read the book, I made no reference to the characters in the movie. Moore has such a way with description it will leave you panting. It also taught me that you don't have to be a man to write like one.
Oct 27, 2007
Rebecca
rated it:
I couldn't get terribly far in this book, and I honestly can't think of another book that I voluntarily gave up reading because I couldn't stand it anymore. I'm just not the kind of girl who doesn't finish reading something.
The main character is a supposedly intelligent college professor in NYC. Yet, she wanders stupidly around the basements of bars and peeps on people getting blow jobs, invites men wearing plain clothes- who claim to be cops- into her apartment without asking for any More...
The main character is a supposedly intelligent college professor in NYC. Yet, she wanders stupidly around the basements of bars and peeps on people getting blow jobs, invites men wearing plain clothes- who claim to be cops- into her apartment without asking for any More...
