I had super high hopes for The Harpy, and it delivered - just not in the way I expected. I love stories of revenge, and deceit, and I assumed The Harpy would be fairly similar to other books with cheating/revenge plot lines that I've read, and in some ways it was. But I think there's something really unique about The Harpy, that I can't quite explain. I really loved this book, especially the writing. Hunter has an incredibly poetic style, that really shines through. Thank you so much to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this incredible book!

Isn’t that an amazing cover? You know you’re in for something a little out of the ordinary with The Harpy by Megan Hunter (Grove Press, 2020). For starters, let’s review our Greek and Roman mythology. According to such, a harpy is a ravenous monster with a woman’s head and body and a bird’s wings and claws. It’s the perfect emotional description of Lucy, a married young mother who is understandably devastated in the aftermath of her husband Jake’s affair.

Think you know this story? Think again. With writing that slices right through the page, Megan Hunter gives her reader a sinister twist: to even the score between them, Lucy and Jake agree that she gets to hurt him three times, with no warning. A mesmerizing suspenseful page-turner that will be one of my favorites of 2020. The Harpy will be published on November 3.

Lucy is a married woman, who finds that her husband Jake has cheated on her; after she catches him, the Jake agrees to let Lucy harm him 3 times—whenever and without retaliation. From the title and cover alone, I was immediately drawn to Megan Hunter’s, “The Harpy.” From Greek mythology, the Harpy is known as a half-bird, half-woman personification of storm winds, a monster of the skies and a hater of men. As I continued to read, I was disappointed to find that the invocation of the harpy, was superficial and lackluster. While there is no question that Hunter’s prose is beautiful and haunting, for me, “The Harpy “ fell flat. The plot—“an eye for an eye?”—was confusing and its themes were oftentimes conflicting.

‘The Harpy’ by Megan Hunter is a fascinating, evocative, and poetically written domestic novel. It is a very short novel with a very dark and incisive tone reminiscent of Ottessa Moshfegh or Sally Rooney. At the beginning, the narrator is a typical mother and wife whose world is rocked by learning of her husband’s infidelity. Through the protagonist’s narration, a number of issues are addressed about women and motherhood: from the expectation of sacrifice to the invisibility of women and their unending domestic labor. ‘The Harpy’ swiftly becomes a story about revenge and the protagonist asserting herself and slowly giving up on unyielding family obligations. Throughout the novel, we learn about harpies in mythology and begin to view their behavior as a reaction to men’s bad, selfish, careless, and sometimes violent behavior. The narrator’s journey subtly brings her out of invisibility as she begins to act out more and more and against her husband’s behavior, which somehow she is partly blamed for. I listened to the audiobook, which is expertly performed by Clare Corbett. Her superb narration brought so much to this text. Overall, ‘The Harpy’ was enticing, thought-provoking, and beautifully written.

Thank you Grove Atlantic/Grove Press and Recorded Books for providing this digital and audiobook ARC.

The ending - really. As much as I enjoy a vague, poetic ending - this one seriously challenged me. It made me question my entire understanding of the book. I may have to read it again just to delve deeper.
Infidelity. Male Infidelity.
Lucy receives a voicemail on an normal, average, carting the children around, making meals day. A man informs Lucy her husband, Jake, is having an affair with his wife. Though Jake is often late home from work, Lucy has never questioned Jake's behavior.
Lucy was exposed to domestic violence as a young child- warping her sense of power, forgiveness. These memories are reviewed while Lucy tries to forgive Jake, to move on.
Jake agrees Lucy can hurt him three times. Lucy chooses violence, control, fear to forgive her husband .
A part of me doesn't think she is wrong. Lucy doesn't understand how to work through her anger, depression, sense of safety. She must rob Jake of his.
Lucy's obsession with harpies from a young age through college provide self exploration, vindicating Lucy's three forms of harm.
Aren't women the root of all the world's problems?

I enjoyed the audiobook. The accent, intonation were great. Pauses well timed.

Reviewed via NPR, 'The Harpy' Doesn't Need Monsters To Break Up A Marriage. Published November 4, 2020. See full review via https://www.npr.org/2020/11/04/930896665/the-harpy-doesnt-need-monsters-to-break-up-a-marriage

So, yeah, I find myself turning into a harpy sometimes, too, and damn it feels good to be a harpy!

At times ethereal and other times hardcore heavy, this book is uniquely engrossing. I flew through this book both literally and figuratively - I stayed up late devouring it and felt almost intoxicated as I read. I felt like I was floating along beside Lucy while she cooked up some good stuff, as she pressed send on an email, as she flicked her phone into the water, while she sliced, as she peddled away on her bicycle, and finally when she flew away, I flew with her.

Thank you to Megan Hunter, Grove Atlantic, and #NetGallery for an eARC of #TheHarpy in exchange for an honest review. Review will be posted on NetGallery, Goodreads, and Facebook.

3.5 stars

When I saw the cover, the title and the synopsis, I thought this book was a rewriting of the myth of the harpy. And, in a way, it is. But maybe not as I expected it.

We follow Lucy who discovers that her husband, Jake, has an affair with an older woman. Her reaction is... atypical? I can't say too much, so I won't say anything, but I was a bit ill-at-ease with what she does.
Still, I can say that this book deals with heavy topics: adultery, male and female relationships, sexual violence.

Subtly, this book shows the reader how women are meant to be invisible, in the background, making sure that everything works, working only part-time because they have to be there for the children and the husband, cooking, cleaning, making errands. As I just finished Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, the least I can say is that this novel perfectly echoed this non-fiction. And how unbearable the fact that the adultery is blamed on the wife, not the husband, how hypocritical everyone around can be about it.

Even if I expected something different, I still loved the rewriting of the myth. This book can be placed in the "fantastique" genre: is it real, is it not?


So, a good book rewriting the myth of the Harpy in an original way!

The Harpy is a bold and subversive novel about loyalty, marriage and pain. It begins when Lucy discovers her husband has been having an affair with a colleague. She is shocked, angry and hurt. She is a cutter and turns the razor on herself, pushing the pain inward. But as the novel progresses, there is a shift and she wants Jake to feel the pain she’s feeling. First, she accidently scrapes his forearm with her nail and then she moves to more aggressive tactics as the novel progresses. Moments where the couple navigates their fraught relationship are juxtaposed against the tale of the Harpy, birds with women’s faces who swoop down to torture unicorns; birds that punish men for their actions, a perfect metaphor for Lucy’s vengeance. This book is sparse and moving, innovative and poetic. It is a meditation on pain, both psychological and physical and it is a novel about power. The author, much like a harpy, has managed to swoop and make her mark on me with this intense and compelling read. Thank you to Grove Atlantic and to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Read an ARC via NetGalley
Content warning: Blood play, suicidal ideal, infidelity, sexual assault (not depicted but heavily implied)

It took me a few days after finishing this one to figure out how I felt about it. On one hand, it is a literary fiction about someone getting cheated on. On the other hand, this one is from the point of view of the one being cheated on, and her evolving bitterness towards the factors that may or may not have contributed to the cheating, and her pre-motherhood love of harpies.

I was mesmerized by the simplicity of rage's slowburn throughout this novel. The actions are simple, there isn't too much going on as far as plot goes, even given the tight page count. The mother is cheated on, and she finds ways to deal with it.

One of the themes that this book explores is around the idea of retaliation. Her husband betrayed trust and bored into insecurities Lucy hadn't even been aware of. She concocts plans for revenge, some of which do and do not come to fruition. But the bitterness drenches every sentence and interaction. There are no easy answers. There are things that feel good in the moment, things that end poorly, things that don't start, and all of it is rooted in a deeply interior narrative. The anecdotes between chapters of Lucy's relationship to harpies serve as perfect end caps.

The ending makes perfect sense, regardless of how literally you take it.

The Harpy is a tale of dark and winding descent. As we read Lucy's story of marital torpor, she gives us glimpses of an unstable childhood and an almost obsessive fascination with the mythical harpy that follows her throughout life. Though she is told they are ugly and deadly and dangerous, she can't help but see similarities in herself since childhood. As her mental and emotional state suffers under the stress of her husband's infidelity, and the pressures of motherhood leading up to this point in her life, Lucy's grasp on the mythical creature seems to superimpose itself on her reality.

Would recommend for those wanting to read themes of motherhood, mental and emotional health, dark fairytales, and feminist themes.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital arc.

This is a story about a woman named Lucy, going about her everyday life, when she discovers that her husband is cheating on her. They come to an agreement that she can hurt him, however she wants, whenever she wants, three times to "get even". Not a great situation for either of them.

The writing style was different than what I usually read, but in a good way. It was odd at times, but I enjoyed it! The ending took a turn, and confused me a bit. Still not really sure what happened. Did she turn into a harpy? Did she have a mental break from the stress of her situation? Is she ok? Who knows. Not me. Either way, do recommend.


Thank you to Megan Hunter, Grove Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Harpy was genre bending in the best way. Magical Realism/fantasy don't always work for me, but it absolutely worked here! I never knew a story about infidelity could be so beautiful. It really puts the reader it a morally ambiguous place and makes you ask yourself...what would I do? Highly recommend!

“I had become one of those women. The ones I’d read about, who have slipped away from the world, who exist on their own plane of scorn. My hands were no longer my own, I began to suspect. They belonged to someone else…who became a wife, and mother, who would never be a real person again.”
This was fun to read as I imagine it was fun to write. There are potentially familiar thoughts at times we keep unspoken mixed with a certain type of mundane depravity of which we also never speak. A tale of a woman losing herself & feeling guilty in the moments that she wishes to not get lost in other people alongside the draw in finding a fantasy in an other worldly creature that has none of these ties.
I do think the story was really too short to try to narrowly touch on the character's psychological background but - thoroughly entertaining read.

The Harpy is a different twist on a story of infidelity. Lucy and Jake seemed to have a perfect marriage, along with two kids and a home. Then one day, everything changes when Lucy receives a phone call from. a man telling her that her husband is having an affair with his wife. It's a tale as old as time, but the twist is in how Lucy handles the information and responds to it.

I liked the poetic feel of the story and tying in the harpy mythology to this situation. It was an unusual read which appeals to me. I would have enjoyed a more concrete ending. However, I understand why the author wrote it this way and the beauty of an open-ending for your own interpretation.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review this book and the opinions contained within are my own.

Very lyrical poetic writing. It wasn't the style I'm used to or most comfortable reading, but it held a lot of beauty and a lot of truth. So many of the lines about being a mother to young children and a wife really resonated with me. It was powerful at times. That being said the actual storyline didn't really grab me so I'm not sure how I really feel about the book overall.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for gifting me a digital ARC of this novel by Megan Hunter. 4 stars for a quick, well-written read that draws you into the story. 4 stars.

A harpy is a mythical creature with a woman's face whose mission is to harm those who have harmed her. Quite the lead in to a story about a wronged woman! Lucy is married to Jake and mom to two boys. Instead of the fulfilling career she intended, she works part-time from home writing copy. A call comes to her from a man claiming that her husband is having an affair with one of his coworkers. When Lucy confronts Jake, they agree to her settling the score by allowing her three paybacks towards him.

This book was wonderfully written, like a dark fairy tale, with glimpses of Lucy's past explaining her fixation with the harpy. I couldn't put it down but have to say that the ending fell short with me and left me wanting more of a resolution.

A dark fairytale of betrayal and revenge, I found this story of a woman’s retaliation and obsession to be beautifully written and completely chilling.
The concept alone is unsettling -Lucy discovers her husband has cheated on her, and they agree that she can hurt him three times... but he won’t know it’s coming. Tackling themes of motherhood, retribution and the myth of the Harpy, Lucy deals with trauma both past and present, slowly losing her grip on reality. Original, poetic and visceral, I was disturbed but couldn’t put it down. Loved it. And that cover! Just Gorgeous.....

Having struggled somewhat with Hunter's debut novel, The End We Start From, I probably was not the best audience for this, her second novel. But there were positive early reviews so I decided to give it a go anyway as the plot sounded intriguing.

The premise - a woman finds out her husband is cheating on her, and they subsequently agree that she can harm him three times to even the score.

This might've worked better as a short story but it felt slightly prolonged as a novel. I struggle with fiction which is meandering and vague, and this book fell into both categories. Not for me!

This is a difficult book to review. It is super short, and the author packs every moment of this book with development that will make your head swoon at times. You cannot miss a word or sentence or you very likely miss something.

Jake and Lucy are married with 2 kids. When the book opens Lucy finds out her husband is having an affair with another woman. This is the setup for what is to come. When Lucy confronts Jake, he gives all the staple responses that you expect, which Lucy quickly notices. As you would expect things are quite terse with them. After an minor incident Jake texts Lucy and says she can get revenge on him three times and then this needs to be forgotten.

This is where we get to the crux of this story. Immediately Lucy delivers her first act of revenge, and boy is she is satisfied. As the story develops , Lucy continues to spiral downward knowing of her husband’s infidelity. I won’t say much more because the end of the book is quite a surprise.

Why I find this hard to review, is the “fairy tale” element. To mix these elements confused me at times. The style goes back and forth a lot and I really had to take stock of what exactly was going on. The author does a wonderful job describing what is like to learn to live with this awful relationship altering news, but when you add these other elements it just changes the dynamic of the entire book and I am not sure I liked it.

The form is original, but I feel this will work for some and other people will be turned off by the style. The good news it is extremely short and moves incredibly fast, so I think it worth giving a try. I would love to hear more feedback from other readers once this book makes it into the world.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.