I have to agree with the other readers, this book is a gem. You will feel like you're right there with the characters! A must read.

One of the best contemporary novels I have read. The scene from which the title comes offers a BEAUTIFUL, original and mouth watering image that will stick with the reader forever.

I read this book 7 years ago in college and still think of it frequently. Moore's lush settings and precise literary technique underscore the personal, deeply held pain of Mamie and Claire's past. I have read all of Moore's books and this one is the best.

This is a stunning history/personal memoir by Hawaii-born Moore, author of four other books. It captures the layered and complicated history of the Hawaiian Islands and at the same time deftly blends in the author's contemporary perspective. A page-turning must-read for anyone interested in Hawaii, or not.

Using the same characters that appear in the first two books of her Hawaiian trilogy (My Old Sweetheart and The Whiteness of Bones), Moore continues to explore the dilemma of tradition and culture --- and what one is to do with these precious things. Her love of nature is manifest, as in her earlier books, but her attempt to discover what it means to be a woman is moving and heart-breaking. Whereas The Whiteness of Bones seems to be a milder, dress-rehearsal for her later novel, In the Cut, this book is concerned with the importance of cultural history --- it can't be an accident that the heroine's name is Clio, who is also the muse of history. It's also very sexy --- Clio marries a movie star and tries to escape her heritage by running off to Hollywood. I don't understand why this book is never mentioned when Moore's work is under its (sometimes controversial) discussion...

The other reviewer of this book gave it five stars, calling it "intelligent and top of the line." Yes, it is a beautifully photographed book, and Stefandis is one of the great decorators of our era. But I was looking for a book that would help me decorate and design my new house, bought in 2002. And, alas, "Living by Design" is already dated. It was published in 1997 but was photographed earlier, AND IT SHOWS.

John Stefanidis does live by design; and with purpose and clarity he also designed his home and gardens, with wonderful results. He used his own textile designs to good use throughout the home, which is indicative of a man who knows his own mind when it comes to design. The results of the transformation of old stables into a comfortable home are spectacularly simple, by design, making the home a most usable, gracious, and gentle environment for him. There are also numerous design elements which any would be designer/decorator could use to good advantage in their own homes.

Not your ordinary coffee-table book; an essential guide for anyone interested in a house and garden that is original, witty, mindful of place and time. The photographs are unusually good and the text compelling --- it makes the good life seem accessible and comfortable.

This book is great for those who are just becoming independant readers. The sentences are short and the vocabulary is simple enough so it is easy for them to understand. Also the pictures correspond well to the story. The story will keep their interest, they will follow the pursuit to find the baseball, seeing how Cam uses her photographic memory to help solve the mystery. This story teaches young children how photgraphic memories work in a simple way. I liked how they used Cam, short for camera as her nickname.

my old sweetheart is a beautifully written story about the complexity of human relationships and the richness of human experiences. It was presented in a 12-year old girl's perspective of issues such as disillusionment, adultery,and , suicide.
A very moving story that is totally unsentimental.

I loved this novel. It kept me interested until the last page. The book never gets boring

I was student of Susanna Moore in a creative writing class at Yale. I take SERIOUS offense -for Susanna's/Ms. Moor's sake- when I hear someone disrespecting her as I have seen in one review above... Susanna Moore is EXTREMELY APPROACHABLE- perhaps "haughty" only in a fun sense of "playing a character"- but I found her to be more delightfully quirky- with a child's innocence, and yet NOT AT ALL, actually. She was a fine teacher also- able to field a group and be truly honest... I don't remember shat she stopped herself from saying much- kkinda liek another teacher I had before- both of whom could show how teaching is about fearlessness and honesty. I wanted to reply just to clarify that I can't - after numerous classes with Susanna Moore- I think I even used her in a college video documentary- I never, ever experienced a negative side to her character! Seh was completely approachable- and not just by me- by most of the class- I think. Some people thought she was a "character" - but- well- she is- a zany but cool one.

This 1995 novel by Susanna Moore is going to be made into a film starring Nicole Kidman.

Set in Greenwich Village, the protagonist is a writing teacher who becomes involved in a murder investigation because she has accidentally witnessed a sex act in a bar involving the victim. Written with gritty realism, the reader is drawn into the writing teacher's own graphically erotic sex scenes with a detective, as well as her fear of being stalked by an the unknown murderer.

The plot twists and turns and seems to be a basic murder mystery. But then, the book ends suddenly in a sick and sadistic way. And the reader is shocked, not only because of the brutality of this conclusion, but because there was no real foreshadowing of this kind of development. I cringed when I read it. But I can't say it haunted me because it was just so discordantly out-of-context that I couldn't identify with it. For that reason I can't recommend this book.

But even though I still get occasional negative chills recalling the book, I'm sure I'll want to see the movie.

A literary novella with underpinnings in the erotic fiction and murder-mystery genres, Susanna Moore's "In the Cut" attempts-in its brisk 180 pages-to be many things at once: an examination of class struggle and identity, a study of feminine obsession and desire, a meditation on the role of slang in street culture. In the end, however, "In the Cut" will probably be remembered most for its somewhat explicit depictions of sex and violence. Not that there's anything you'll find here that hasn't already been done before, in more garish detail and to higher extremes of depravity. But there is something mildly disconcerting in the way that Moore's strikingly elegant style of prose is put to the service of the story to such shocking effect. This isn't your typical work of hardcore erotica or splatterpunk. Rather, it is a quiet psychological exploration into the mind a white, middle-class, thirtysomething female making her way through a volatile cultural and emotional landscape.

Frannie, the story's protagonist, is a mild-mannered English teacher with a fascination in the regional colloquialisms of urban minority groups. Her research frequently takes her into the streets of New York City where, late one night in a bar, a stolen glimpse of an illicit sexual encounter sets off a series of events which may or may not connect her to the victim of a grisly murder. Soon she finds herself engaged in a passionate liaison with a rugged police detective who could be hiding a dark secret. The book is not structured as a conventional murder-mystery; for the most part Frannie has little interest in finding the killer and nor, it seems, do any of the other characters. The murder serves as more of a backdrop to Frannie's ever-increasingly complicated relationship with the detective. Likewise, although sexually graphic, the book is not a conventional work of erotica. Instead, the sex is used as a way of probing Frannie's inner psyche, revealing deep-seated needs and fixations, leaving the reader feeling more anxious than aroused.

The most problematic aspect of "In the Cut" is that Frannie is not a very sympathetic heroine. Though intelligent and articulate, she is abhorrently self-centered, a reckless risk-taker, and exceedingly stuck-up. It is not until the book's final thirty pages that we begin to feel much compassion for her, which means that the first five-sixths of the book will be, for some, rather frustrating to get through. I am assuming that this is quite intentional on Moore's part; the story's unsettling conclusion seems to reveal a kind of karmic logic that validates much of what leads up to that point. Many have found the book's morbid and gratuitous ending to be morally offensive, but it is ultimately Moore's refusal to supply the reader with an easy resolution that makes the story resonant and affecting.

What is particularly notable about "In the Cut" is the quality of its prose. Moore is a bold and assured writer, and fills the story's passages with style and edge. It is a smart, graceful and refined work of literary fiction that employs the conventions of popular pulp genres as a device for exploring deeper emotional terrain. A worthy read for those interested in gritty, uncompromising storytelling, but not recommended for the faint of heart.

Susanna Moore's "In the Cut" is a gripping, chilling and disturbing erotic thriller. The protagonist, Frannie, is an English teacher fascinated by the language of the street. As the novel opens, she has, against her better judgment, gone to a bar with one of her students to help him on a paper topic. While looking for the bathroom, Frannie witnesses a lewd act between a redheaded woman and a man with a visible tattoo. The next day, a cop shows up at Frannie's upscale Greenwich Village apartment, and tells her that a woman was killed the previous night after leaving the same bar Frannie was at with her student. Soon, Frannie is involved in a disturbing affair with the cop,and by extension the search for a serial killer.

Frannie's background is only alluded to, but her upscale lifestyle in Greenwich Village, as well as her voyaristic fascination with the working class, made her an only somewhat sympathetic heroine. We sense she has an intellectual pretension, and feels superior to her cop lover and to her inner city students. There are hints that this is an exploration of social values, and parts of this exploration make excellent, thought-provoking fiction. But, unfortunately, the book takes a turn in the final act and focuses entirely on the silly, by-the- numbers serial murder plot. The final page of this novel regains the hints of earlier brilliance, and it's almost enough--almost-- to save it from the dopey climax.