The cover is just stunning, first off. What stood out for me in this book was relate-ability of the stress and the boredom and the never enough-ness of the middle to upper-class every-woman. It speaks volumes about the pull of feminism and how it clashes with family life and a mother's "duty" to her children, her mate, and her (perceived) standing in society. As we follow along, Lucy learns of her husband's infidelity - with an older woman. Lucy gives a kind of grudging credit to her husband for not being cliche and finding a younger woman to sleep with - one of the most relatable aspects of Lucy's character. We understand her plight, and we get why she must hurt him in order to gain back what little power she lost with his infidelity.

This fits into a very niche spot of 'rich white woman problems' and can possibly be dismissed as whiny and self-indulgent to any class of woman outside that demographic. However I appreciate what it's saying and how. I did not feel the sections at the end of chapters talking about Lucy's prior obsession with harpies were necessary; I think I would prefer the story to stand on its own, with maybe a relevant (but not personal) harpy passage here and there. It felt a little heavy-handed, overall and less could be more here, especially given the ending, which I feel could also be a bit more polished, Afterall, what is a decent into madness without a bit of mystery?

Enjoyed this one. 3 stars.

I loved the premise and the fairytale writing vibe was exciting.
Although the story was alright, I found Jake annoying (and predictable) and Lucy was just plain sad (and crazy).
If you are so angry that you can set out to purposely hurt the person you love, regardless of what they may have done to you, then maybe it's time to just let go and move on. The whole calculated revenge thing is just wrong and hard to grasp. At the end I found myself disappointed.
Readers who enjoy a dark, twisted yet slightly whimsical story with a Brother's Grimm vibe might find this book enjoyable. .
Thank you Megan Hunter, Grove Atlantic Grove Press and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.

I want to start this off saying I may come back to this to up the rating to a 5-star read later. I have a feeling this book will stick with me in a way that will make me return to it. That being said upon initially finishing it I am giving it a strong 4-star rating. The ending just has me flustered in a way I need to sit with for a while.

The way this book explored the all-consuming nature of being a stay-at-home parent and the loneliness/lack of self that can result was poignant and poetic. I felt so much sympathy for our lead Lucy. I understood how she would slip into this fugue state of hurting and being hurt.

On top of being an intriguing character study, the prose was just outstanding. I flew through this book in a day, even though story-wise it is a tense slow build-up.

I want to thank NetGalley, Grove Atlantic, and author Megan Hunter for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

This was a gripping story. I was drawn in by the cool cover and so excited when my request was approved. This reminded me of Circe, which is one of my all-time favorite books, so this was definitely a good fit for me. It took its time gaining steam, but once it did it went off perfectly. The author’s writing style in and of itself was completely enjoyable and quite beautiful. What a different take on infidelity and the repercussions that come along with it. This is not your normal “my husband cheated on me” storyline. Parts of this reminded me of Black Swan in that Lucy was kind of writing her own mythological story as a harpy along the way. What a different and refreshing read.

Thank you to those named above for allowing me to read and review this ARC!

3 stars for the beautiful writing in this book however I was unable to finish it it just didn't grab my attention.

I really wanted to like this book more, but even the title bothered me. A harpy is an unreal creature-always a woman, and, to be honest, the whole title didn’t fit. A woman finds out her husband is having an affair. Ok- but leave him! Instead the husband says she can do three bad things to him and all will be fine. I couldn’t get my mind wrapped around this. Everything that followed became weirder and weirder. It should have been better. Thank to NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Women's rage is a wholly different beast than the rage of men. Most commonly articulated through the lens of vengeance for a wrongdoing (hell hath no fury like a woman scorned), it seems larger than any force imaginable. Women are afraid of the rage of men, but everyone fears a woman's rage. It can take enough forms that it's embodied and expressed through myriad mythical creatures.

Lucy's rage is quiet, fierce, and all-consuming. Her husband has cheated on her with a co-worker, and in the midst of his apology they reach an agreement: as vengeance, Lucy can hurt her husband three times.

No advance warning.

No real limits.

It is through her chosen methods that we see the full spectrum of her rage and her pain. She becomes cold and calculating, and the further the novel progresses the deeper she descends.

Lucy has always been fascinated by harpies. Vengeful creatures of myth who traditionally punish the guilty on their way to the underworld. Megan Hunter creates and explores this fascination to articulate the complexities of Lucy's feelings. One half of her life is lived as Mrs. Stephenson, faithful wife and loving mother. The other, as a harpy-esque seeker of revenge, no matter the cost. With smoothly sinister writing and a pace the pulls you along deeper and deeper into Lucy's mind, Hunter has crafted a story that sinks its unforgiving talons in and refuses to release.

This is truly seething domestic horror with an entirely unique twist. A marriage in danger of mythic proportions. An unapologetically rage-propelled wife. I loved every pitch black second of it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Harpy.

I'm not gonna lie, the cool cover drew me in so I was excited when my request was approved.

The premise is nothing new; an adultering husband named Jake is outed when the husband of the homewrecker calls Jake's wife, Lucy, to tell her the unfortunate news.

I was interested in the second half of this cliche plot; Lucy is allowed to hurt her husband three times for revenge and retribution and they will call it even stevens.

What can possibly equal the damage and pain over a transgression as hurtful as an affair?

In my opinion, nothing. But, I was curious to see what the author came up with.

I was hoping for torrents of blood and suffering, tragedy and tears, but the author added a dark fairytale-ish twist to the narrative; Lucy's obsession with the harpy, a figure in myths and legends.

As Lucy anger and resentment grows, her thoughts turn more and more frequently to the origins of the harpy, and her sorrow begins to shape her into something...other.

The Harpy isn't really about adultering or a mythological figure; its about how a woman grew up in a household of domestic violence, how she rationalized it as she watched the anger and abuse between her parents play out, and how Jack's blatant disloyalty and affair is a form of domestic abuse. It hurts her in a variety of ways; emotional, psychological, and mental, and leads to her eventual disintegration in both mind and body.

Even though I foresaw the ending, it still made me unhappy. When authors, especially female authors, go this route, it appears to leave the adulterer, almost always a man, free and blameless for his actions.

Lucy even notes that once her affair is discovered, frenemies and neighbors look at her with pity, even though her husband was unfaithful, she was the one who is bearing the brunt of the shame and humiliation.

A woman just can't win.

The ending is dissatisfying, and seems to underscore that men will be men, and still get away with whatever they choose to do, and women are relegated to acting and becoming a stereotype; a sad, pitiful, scorned and shamed woman even though she is blameless for her husband's disloyalty and unfaithfulness.

The parts about the harpy were more interesting than Lucy and her thoughts, which were becoming more jumbled and disjointed as her mind began to crumble under the stress of Jake's disloyalty.

I was hoping for a revenge tale, but the character development was weak and the ending was unsatisfactory. The writing wasn't bad.

The Harpy wasn't for me, but it might interest some readers.

Definitely not what I was expecting...The dark and lyrical writing was the only thing I enjoyed from this read; everything else fell short and the ending went completely over my head. Overall, it was just an odd mix of domestic noir and fairytale with no resolution.

The Harpy by Megan Hunter is published by Grove Press. I was initially struck by its dazzling cover of wings over a woman’s face, but the plot intrigued me even more. The basic gist of the story is that a woman named Lucy discovers that her husband is having an affair with a coworker of his. In order to proceed with their marriage, they play a game of revenge with one another. However, this barely touches the surface of this intense adult fiction.

Hunter introduces Lucy to readers by showcasing her normal life. She is a mother to two boys, Paddy and Ted, and a stay at home mom who also works from home as a writer. She is an expert in her motherly routine, growing complacent in her role as dutiful wife and caregiver. Lucy has sidelined her personal career goals to adjust her life to her husband, Jake. It’s with swiftness that Hunter delivers the chilling news of Jake’s infidelity. By stylizing her writing through dreamy prose in italics, Hunter subtly keys readers into the disconnection Lucy is experiencing. Her life is being turned over by an unknown number telling her that in her marriage, she is the second choice to a man she has done nothing but give to.

The way that The Harpy explores the emotions that encompass a failing marriage is riveting. The initial shock of the news does nothing to alter her expected role as mother and wife, an exploration Hunter indulges in. The critiques of expectations are layered within Lucy’s grief for her marriage. She is self-aware and understands that her story is no different than any other woman subjected to this emotional violence. Hunter has no qualms with not explaining Jake’s internal thoughts to readers, as if to say that he’s had it good for too long. Lucy’s internal dialogue makes it clear that Jake represents every man who has made a woman suffer. Meanwhile, Lucy represents a revenge fantasy, one that seeks power and control over an abuser.

What makes Lucy unique is her obsession with The Harpy, a creature she has been infatuated with since she was a girl. Within the context of this novel, harpies are creatures that, “punish men for what they do.” Lucy’s husband allows her three chances to, “get back” at him. As if only three actions of violence against him is enough to rectify the situation. However, it is within this parameter that Lucy realizes her sense of self has been lost to the routine of her marriage. Paralleling her day to day thoughts, the italicized prose of Lucy’s relationship with The Harpy strengthens. Lucy begins to find pleasure in seeing her husband feel pain. Hunter characterizes her initial stages of guilt over these actions well. It’s almost as if you are rooting for Lucy to exist outside of the invisible confinements of her marriage. Important questions are explored through the crime and punishment that make up the novel. Do you owe your husband your loyalty? Do you pretend to be a normal family for your children’s sake? Do three acts of physical violence against a partner outweigh their emotional violence? Can you be whole again after you’ve lost yourself?

The fantastical starts to sweep into the narrative as each of these questions are answered. Lucy’s revelations about how motherhood made her feel like an outsider to her own body showcase why her mental retreat into the comfort of The Harpy is important. The Harpy represents the safety and warmth of a bird-life creature, able to nest and fly away on a whim. No one to answer to, no one to please and that is not the case with being a mom. Hunter’s simple, matter-of-fact tone throughout the novel provides a sense of grounding. It is easy to understand that Lucy felt like a foreigner to herself carrying a child that is morphing her body into something she deems unsatisfying to her husband’s gaze. She feels like an alien, expected to care for a human she’s not even sure she loves. She feels like she’s not a good mother but is expected to be the best with no help from her career hungry husband. However, The Harpy is always at the back of Lucy’s mind, waiting to be awakened one day. As the stakes rise in this novel, Hunter does not hesitate to display how Lucy punishes Jake as The Harpy sinks into her day to day life. She balances the actions well. It never feels like Hunter is condoning domestic violence against a partner. She goes so far as to have a chapter commenting on how Lucy with her complicated feelings. It’s through The Harpy that the metaphor for revenge comes through. This smart choice to intertwine action and identity with a mythical creature allows for a great depth of exploration and Hunter utilizes that well.

This novel is a dark and introspective marriage story. It is filled to the brim with hard questions that no one should have to ask of their significant other. It is a breeze to get through with its lyrical prose and a brisk pace. The Harpy is a revenge fantasy served on the wings of finding yourself and breaking free of the chains of expectations imposed on you.

The Harpy is available everywhere on August 11th, 2020.

Wow this was absolutely terrible. Lucy is just full of issues as a character and quite honestly why stay married to someone you want to hurt this badly? Both physically and mentally. Just leave.

Instead Lucy goes off the rails herself. Making absolutely no sense as a character at all. The little blurbs about the harpy that are interspersed are way more interesting than Lucy herself.

The ending was laughably bad.

This one is for your "weird and wonderful' shelf. Exquisite prose, compelling narration. It made me think of "Circe" and "White Oleander". I was totally hooked from the start.

Interesting premise but I feel like I missed something along the way as the end felt ineffective. Didn’t quite connect with me.

**Copied from my Goodreads review.

Rating: 4.3 / 5

Special thanks for ARC from Netgalley for honest review!

At its heart, this novel has a horrible reality facing the reader as its starting point: a husband has cheated on his wife. Of course, this is in no means original or even uncommon--unfortunately--but the way in which we access this highly personal event is something that puts us at the very heart of it, and from thereon begins the lingering proximity that makes you feel like you're in desperate need of a shower.

This is that.

However, what was most startling to me was not the premise, the characters, nor the progression of the story (symbolism of the harpy included) in itself, but rather what was blatantly missing from the details that would have made this novel more understandable and therefore more forgettable. The details of which I speak are as follows:

The reason(s) behind the cheating

So, as mentioned, the whole cheating husband plot-line is the one we're going with, proceeding on a downwards spiral as we take in the wife's reaction. The husband, Jake, cheats with an older woman, Vanessa, and it's Vanessa's husband who contacts the wife, Lucy. A few things stood out to me in this situation: 1) that Vanessa is an older woman in her fifties, 2) that Vanessa's husband feels the need to tell Lucy's what's up and then abandons all the cuckolded husband clichés afterwards, and 3) that Jake and Lucy don't seem to have anything wrong with their relationship, either in communicating with each other or just general sex, so why the heck is Jake cheating at all then?

What's funny about this is that Lucy herself doesn't ask Jake the big "why". In fact, neither of them bring it up at all, either to ask questions or to explain the "why" of the situation. This could be the result of several possibilities--either that the way that the reader is presented their relationship isn't entirely honest (it's in Lucy's first person p.o.v., so this is likely), or that they both are already aware of a reason that the reader themselves just isn't exposed to, or even because they just don't need much of a reason and are more fixated on resolving the cheating issue without knowing the reasons behind it. In any case though, it's just never discussed, and the closest the reader gets to an explanation if when Lucy mentions several times that she and Jake got married very young when they were both still practically kids and didn't really know what they were doing. But still, it's just bizarre to be placed in the middle of such an angst-y situation without knowing the cause behind it. At one point, Lucy describes herself as being a hole, perpetually empty, and the reader can't help but feel the same way at not receiving satisfaction for knowing why this happened. Again, Jake and Lucy are not an argumentative or abusive couple; if anything, they're completely "normal", and that's what's scariest about where their situation goes.

The logic & subsequent lack of satisfaction in the whole "revenge" plan

Basically, following the cheating itself, reasons unknown, the deal that Lucy and Jake come to are that she's allowed to hurt him three times as payback, and that this will essentially make them even. It's an...odd strategy to save one's marriage, and one that I personally thought was doomed to failure from the beginning. After all, besides the fact that two wrongs don't make a right, I didn't find this plan so much "dealing with it" as it was trying to one-up each other's pain--at least on Lucy's behalf.

Now, I won't give away what the methods of revenge are, but let's just say that none of them were satisfying for me as a reader. Were they harsh? Well, yeah, but the lack of satisfaction comes from the fact that the methods of revenge are in different types of pain from the ones caused by cheating, and are therefore incomparable. I mean, it's one thing to get over x and x done to you, but another thing to get an image of your spouse with someone else out of your head. In real life, I've met and spoken with women who've been cheated on before, and, shockingly to me, some of them have actually forgiven their spouses, even if only after a period of several years. There was no payback involved in any of these stories of forgiveness; if anything, the forgiveness these women described was almost detached from the spouses themselves, and done for the women's own peace of mind and fulfillment. The cheaters...become a non-entity. In Lucy and Jake's plan though, Jake is the entire focus of Lucy's receiving emotions, and while she does seek fulfillment of some sort in getting back at him, at the same time she expresses dissatisfaction at how things are going, specifically because it's Jake who agrees and submits to them as well. Just not as fun to exact torture if you have the other person's consent, I guess?

But anyway, the surprise to me is that, at first, I was on-board with this plan and really rooting for it to work. I mean, just on the principle I uphold that a person who cheats doesn't deserve to be forgiven for anything short of taking a bullet for you, I was curious to see how the whole "get your own revenge" idea would work. Never did I suspect that Jake's consent to it or Lucy's progression through the stages would make the entire thing feel...hollow. Like...not a real revenge so much as an illusion of one wherein nothing is made better and, for Jake at least, it's the equivalent of staunching all future guilt and psychological repercussions for the future. Even though he's the one getting hurt, it felt more like a healing for him than for Lucy; and, quite frankly, I hated that.

And, lastly,

The fact that there is no resolution

By this, I don't mean the conclusion of the novel. No, I'm keeping everything in very much spoiler-free territory. By "no resolution", what I mean is no resolution to the marriage as an institution of trust once it has been broken, and not Jake and Lucy's marriage in itself--the conclusion of which I will not reveal.

But anyway, to go back to how Jake and Lucy are a completely normal couple and how what's shocking is how they represent that infidelity could happen to anyone, the truth of the matter is that the readers themselves will be unable to view Jake and Lucy as an ordinary couple hereafter. At the beginning, we get the lowdown of domestic life, routine, etc. But then, as soon as cheating enters into the mix, much like their friends and neighbours in the novel, the reader will no longer be able to associate Jake and Lucy as being a happy husband-and-wife couple. The definitions are broken down and changed, the expectations different. Suddenly, Jake and Lucy are not interacting as a couple, but rather "coping" with the cheating element of their relationship and, in a way, having that define them. Lucy is not "a wife", but rather "the wife", and that 'the' has a lot of connotations following it; same for Jake, except with perhaps more disgust and oomph added to the 'the'.

However, what's horrific about this isn't just the fact in itself, but rather that even though it does happen and end up that way, there's no tragedy in it. Instead, there's only the question of whether something was worth it in the beginning, if so-and-so is how it gets broken up in the end. Lucy and Jake have built a life together, the typical two-children-and-a-mortgage reality that many people live. They do what's expected of them, including keep this a secret from their kids and even try to keep things "normal" on the surface by throwing a yearly party. Again though, all of it is hollow and unfulfilled with this thing between them. No longer is love, trust, respect, understanding and so on the foundation of their relationship; no, it's the cheating, and since that's "all it took" to break down the relationship, one really questions whether there was anything worth it behind everything. There's definitely an official quote about this somewhere, but let me just break it down by saying that in the same way that a full man is not a man that eats, a happy man is not a man that cheats. So, again, we're brought back to questioning the why of what happened, and therefore reevaluating the entire relationship.

Do we get answers to this?
--Well, if we did, then maybe The Harpy wouldn't be so complex.

As it is though, for all of the above reasons in what's missing from the story, I think it finds its excellence. I can't say that I really "liked" the story, as I was ready to grow claws of my own and claw my own eyes out to ease the pain of reading it; but, at the same time, I understood it for what it was and kind of had to accept it as such. Ask yourself the following questions, and then determine if, through my answers, this is something that would ultimately interest you:

Is it a story that gives any positive emotion to its reader? No.

Does it give any satisfaction? Absolutely not.

Does it make you feel hollow inside? Yes.

Then...does it at least make you think and perhaps that's why it's good and memorable?

Yes. Yes, I would say that.

I liked the story and the idea of it. I just didn't quite connect to it the way I thought I would.. Lucy was a loving wife and mother. working from home living life day by day until she finds out about her husbands infidelity. This is a wake up call for her and thus her self evaluation and transformation begins. We get this story completely from Lucy's POV, which really turned out to be a bit haunting by the end. The story was well written and flowed smoothly, but I just thought it was missing something for me. 3.5*
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of The Harpy by Megan Hunter in exchange for an honest review.

In the synopsis of The Harpy, we are promised a darkly lyrical fairy tale - full of metamorphosis - as a woman struggles with the realization that her husband had an affair. Her life long fascination with the harpy, a mythical creature of feminine violence, begins to shape her response both emotionally and physically.

And despite these promises, I forgot that was the book I was supposed to be reading and instead struggled to get through the story of a woman whose husband cheated on her. When he promises her that she can hurt him three times in retribution...I kept thinking it felt like overkill as a response to infidelity. I kept forgetting this was supposed to be a fairy tale. The modern setting and modern language (while beautifully written) contributed to this sense of forgetfulness. There was nothing “otherworldly” about the book until...that ending.

Because of this, I struggled to get through it, and by the time I reached the ending, I was completely confused about what I was reading. Then once I reacquainted myself with the summary and read some of the other reviews, I was able to place more accurately what the author was trying to do.

Again, the prose was beautiful, the cover is pure art, and the concept of a darkly twisted modern fairy tale (that isn’t just a romance novel) is fresh and novel.

Description
Lucy and Jake live in a house by a field where the sun burns like a ball of fire. Lucy has set her career aside in order to devote her life to the children, to their finely tuned routine, and to the house itself, which comforts her like an old, sly friend. But then a man calls one afternoon with a shattering message: his wife has been having an affair with Lucy’s husband, Jake.
The revelation marks a turning point: Lucy and Jake decide to stay together, but make a special arrangement designed to even the score and save their marriage—she will hurt him three times.

As the couple submits to a delicate game of crime and punishment, Lucy herself begins to change, surrendering to a transformation of both mind and body from which there is no return.

Told in dazzling, musical prose, The Harpy is a dark, staggering fairy tale, at once mythical and otherworldly and fiercely contemporary. It is a novel of love, marriage, and its failures, of power, control, and revenge, of metamorphosis and renewal.

It was a fairy tale of sorts.Bizarre yet interesting. This story will suck you in and it is one wild ride. The prose of this story, centering on Jake's infidelity and Lucy's retribution. Just a beautiful written book.

This book is chock full of fairy tale imagery, yet is one of the most morbid and creative books I have read in some time. Lucy lives a quiet life with her husband and her two sons and has devoted herself to their care. It is obvious as the book continues that she definitely has some dark affinities. When she receives a phone call one day, everything changes and she becomes preoccupied with her feelings and the darkness comes sweeping in. She finds out her husband has had an affair and they decide that she will punish him three times. Each time is edgier than the last and by the end she no longer exists as she was before. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and really appreciated the unique voice of this author. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

One day, amid the daily humdrum of chores and child-care, a phone call stirs the silence. A message is delivered. Lucy's husband is having an affair. And, just like that, or maybe long before, the harpy is awoken.

This novel was constructed in such an interesting format. Lucy, when faced with her husband's infidelity, moves through the range of emotions movies and TV shows have taught her to feel. These are experienced only at surface level and, beneath them, the only way she truly feels she can heal begins to reveal itself - three hurts for the ongoing one he has done to her.

Sequestering these scenes from Lucy's life are the movements of the harpy, a mythological being combining the features of a woman with those of a bird. These are brief and detail Lucy's childhood attachment with them, her university research reveals their journey from Greek and Roman mythology to the present, and her present predicament welcomes their arrival.

Despite the catastrophe that is played out, this is somehow still a quiet novel. It is very inwardly focused, relying on simmering emotion amongst daily suburban trivialities and small acts of vengeance which later culminate to one of staggering and unprecedented proportions.

The ending feels glaringly inconclusive, but not in an unlikable fashion. It felt fitting that the reader gets to decide whether this harpy grew her wings and took flight, or uncurled her talons for one final act against those who had wronged her.

Powerful, empowering, timeless; Hunter's "The Harpy" delves into the themes of infidelity, motherhood, identity, betrayal and discomfort through a lyrical, personal and poignant prose and through the symbolism the archetypal Harpy, the creature from Greek and Roman mythology, carries. The figure of the Harpy is definitely critical, being the element that gives the story an edge and a unique grip on the otherwise trite handling of womanhood.