What a bizarre tale Ms. Oates has spun. I believe JCO is a very gifted writer, however, this story was a little to weird for me.

The Protagonist is a highly intelligent woman who became the first female Presidnet of an ivy league University.

She may be an intellect, but she is also a social misfit and seems to be very awkward & uncomfortable around pepole. Her life begins to unravel as she remembers and focuses on her tramatic childhood in which her mother tossed her out "in the mud" to die. She was found, nursed back to physical health and adopted by a couple who had lost their little girl recently, naming Meredith the same name as their deceased daughter. That alone was very strange.

So many times the line between reality and fantasy was so blurred, I didn't know what was going on. It kind of annoyed me, because it felt too disjointed.

So, she didn't really kill a colleague of hers, right? and dismember his body and dispose of it in pieces in the garbage? He was terribly rude to her and I thought he was getting what he was headed for. But, I think that didn't really happen.

The ending of the book was rather unsatisfying. Nothing was resolved: did she go back to her position at the University, did she really have a lover who wanted to be with her? hmmmmm