I did not like this book at first. Then, I got sucked in by the concept and the intricacies of the characters. Lastly, the ending was a letdown.

When I first saw the cover of The Harpy, I knew I wanted to read the book. It's stunning! Yes, I'm that person who judges a book by the cover. and I love literary fiction. The premise of the story is unique--a woman catches her husband cheating and in return they decide she can hurt him three time. The narrator is flawed but also sympathetic and interesting, and the prose is beautiful.. It would definitely be a great book club pick. So much to discuss. Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A painful look into a woman's spiral into dark places within herself after the ultimate betrayal in a relationship. Well written and full of dark emotion. A quick, easy page turner.

Thank you netgalley for the arc

'The Harpy' by Megan Hunter has left me speechless. It is easily one of the most lyrical and deeply emotional stories I have ever read. Our narrator, Lucy, tells us the story of her husband's infidelity and how they attempt to mend their relationship. Told in snapshots that stretch out like eternities, 'The Harpy' is all-consuming and evokes visceral imagery and tangible emotions from the reader. Hunter's ability to bring the mundane into sharp focus through Lucy as she navigates her new terrain and explores her range of emotions from grief, horror, rage, disgust, and resolution while she comes to grips with what her life has become is - simply put - exquisite writing.

Underlying the primary narrative is the symbolism of the the harpy. The female half-birds, harbingers of storms, bringers of death. Hunter layers references to the harpy throughout the story, usually at moments of highest tension, adding a magically peculiar frame story to the narrative. The harpy, retold from the Classical and Medieval periods and in contemporary literature, all serve as metaphor for a woman's rage and self-possession.

''The Harpy' is addictive, compelling, and I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve had an awesome run of books lately and The Harpy is no exception. This story follows Lucy, a wife and mother of two, who receives a call one day stating that her husband is cheating with an older coworker. Lucy is allowed to exact revenge (at least of sorts) three times. These acts change Lucy in mind and body.

There’s an interlacing story about how Lucy has always been obsessed with the harpy and I think this is a thing a lot of women can identify with later in life, or at at some point in life at the very least.

I really dug this story. Some people might find Lucy to be a lot, but I think that she’s right in a lot of her feelings. Maybe not always so much in how she chooses to repair the damage done but grief and betrayal have no clear cut solutions. I didn’t care as much for the open-ended ending, but it didn’t detract so much from the overall story. This is another 4 star read for me!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Grove Press for a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Love the cover, was intrigued by the blurb, but the writing style isn’t for me. I think I expected more magical realism, something that inspired awe, if not wonder. But everything here is very mundane and the voice didn’t pull me in. I found myself skimming the pages not able to immerse myself. I guess I expected the harpy to be a bit of an alternate reality, madness mounting, that type of psychological descent. Instead the harpy depictions are more like flashbacks of childhood scenes. I was not interested by the main character at all and so I was bored. I guess this book is more for people wanting every day drama, there is a strange mix of naiveness and perversion. Not for me.

This novel focuses on themes that I usually love— female rage, desire, and revenge. But I was expecting and craving a much darker, more sinister, more disruptive novel than what I was given here. The writing is wonderful, especially in the beginning, and for someone who has been cheated on, Hunter really captures that anguish, disgust, and craving to hurt the person that hurt you. I also absolutely loved the constant mentioning of the harpy throughout the book and expected this novel to create a modern myth, but unfortunately I was left underwhelmed after the first handful of pages.

It is a story of Lucy and Jake; their marriage and their family.
Lucy discovers her husband’s infidelity after years of marriage with their two little boys. She enters into this state of introspection recalling her childhood, the domestic violence she witnessed, and the disturbing image of the Harpy that became a part of her identity.
This story was incredible and I very much enjoyed reading this! So much that I'm looking to see more books from this author.
Very well written and the characters were very well developed!

This book unfortunately was just not for me. It’s marketed as kind of a sci-fi/thriller but to me it just felt stuck in the middle of those two places I. A way that felt off. That said definitely interesting and unique.

"I asked my mother what a Harpy was, and she told me: They punish men for the things they do."

Lucy and Jake are married with 2 children. Lucy is already a bid frustrated and unfulfilled to have given up her career to be a stay at home mom, when she discovers that Jake is having an affair.
Jake seems very remorseful and suggests that Lucy is allowed to hurt him 3 times, without warning and without retaliation. What follows is a fast paced, well written story, but one that unfortunately didn't work for me.

It leaves the reader a bit unsettled, but perhaps that was the point.....

2 STARS

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.

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I was first drawn to THE HARPY because of it's absolutely enthralling cover. Unfortunately, that's about all I really liked about it. Sorry not sorry. Perhaps I'm not the "right" target audience as I'm not a reader that liked to go "deep" into the metaphors an author provides and this book is definitely ONE GIANT metaphor. Which I can appreciate on a literary level, but as a reader all it did was confuse me.

I think that part of the issue for me was that I went into this thinking it was a juicy domestic drama. Instead, THE HARPY is a work of literary fantasy that makes you question what is really happening to Lucy and what is just her deteriorating mental state. I think that this book could have been a massive success with just a few more tweaks. While I love the idea of THE HARPY, I don't love the execution.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC.

I don't really know how I feel about this book. The writing was beautiful and poetic, focusing on a story of betrayal, pain and love. There were definitely parts that made me love this story. However, it was not quite what I was expecting from the Blurb. I was so intrigued by the cover and the blurb, but found the story a bit lacking, boring and almost long winded at times for such a short book. I did not by any means hate it, I'm sure it will speak wonderfully to some people. I, unfortunately am not one of those people.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Press for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher, who provided an advance copy in return for an honest review.

This took me longer than it needed to, and I'm glad I took my time. Every page is almost a poem unto itself, as you read the words of a woman who has embroidered herself over the years into - possibly? - something less and less true to herself, and who begins to unravel the threads to - hopefully? - transition into the harpy of her childhood imaginings, if only to right a massive wrong.

There are a lot of layers here, and it will take me time to absorb it all. I really enjoyed the book; pure magic.

All I can say is WOW. This book was a quick read and I couldn't put it down.. It was a powerful dive into a woman driven to madness after her husband betrays her. It was haunting and painful to peek inside the breakdown of her sanity.

I can't decide which I like more, the incredible prose or the gripping storyline. How rare it is to find both in a novel. I knew before reading this book that it was one that critics had raved about, and that made me nervous, would it be so highfalutin that I couldn't enjoy it? Nope! What Lucy endures is such a familiar story, infidelity while married with children, and it is told utterly compellingly and convincingly. I loved the way that her feelings of dismay, resentment, and anger simmered and grew throughout the novel. The quid pro quo the couple comes up with to move their relationship forward was shockingly and deliciously twisted. The way the author weaved Greek mythology into the novel was seamless. I just loved this. If you're a feminist, if you like literary fiction, if you have a little bit of a dark side, then read this book. Fantastic.

This was a quick read. The cover is beautiful and haunting.
Without giving too much away, you hear about a mystical creature called the "harpy".
A man is cheating on his wife.
She becomes obsessed with her husband's behavior.
I devoured this in one afternoon. I loved the author's writing style.

I took one look at the cover and knew that I wanted this book. Then, I read the blurb and I wanted to be reading it right then and there. Luckily Netgalley approved my request and I got to do that. The premise is ah-mazing. A straying husband is found out by his wife. They make a deal: she will forget his forays if he lets her cut him several times. I mean, mind blown!

But those were the only good things I can say about this read. Some things that ruined the book for me are as follows. One, the character rambles into lengthy inner monologues a lot. Most of the time, they add nothing to the overall plot of the book. She also comes off as someone raising children just because she has to and not because she loves them. It’s weird since she claims motherhood as the standard against which women should be judged.

Secondly, the cutting serves no purpose or doesn’t free the protagonist in any sense. Heck, it doesn’t even fix their relationship. Thirdly, she had this weird fixation on harpies, which came off as intriguing in the blurb. But rather than using that to actually transform her into an actual harpy, the author drops the whole thing right before the book ends. Fourthly, the conclusion is weirdly wishy washy and not at all satisfying.

Not a good read for me, sorry!

The cover of this book is simply stunning which directly led to my diving into this first experience with this author. The writing style really thrusts the reader right into this strained time with the narrator and her family, her marriage. It actually reminded me quite a bit of an old favorite novel of mine, A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray.

The narrator's voice is one that I think may immediately alienate some readers, while others may find that it strikes a chord with the darker parts of their souls. The narrator's darker impulses, histories and obsessions drew me right into the book. I can definitely see being frustrated by the ending, which makes this a good (and short) choice for book clubs and discussion groups - this is definitely one that I would love to discuss with other readers! And I imagine that mothers in particular would have quite a lot to say about this one. But, I was totally entranced with it from start to its all too fast finish!

The Harpy was a riveting tale of betrayal. It documents the devastating psychological effect of infidelity on a person. We observe how Lucy, a mother of two boys discovers her husband's love affair and is deeply hurt.
Her husband, Jake seems to be remorseful, to the point that he proposes his wife to hurt him (physically or emotionally), allowing her to vent her anger on him and feel some sense of satisfaction.
Lucy proceeds with the plan to take revenge on Jake three times they agreed, but every time she hurts him she loses some parts of herself, not being able to recognize who she is, allowing her violent side to come to the surface, losing herself in the memories of the violence in her childhood home, trying to recreate this feeling.

She tries to find a way to save her marriage but the plan of hurting Jake backfires, pushing her to become untethered. It seems that every step she took in her life lead her to this final step of metamorphosis, embracing her darkness, becoming the creature she always admired: a harpy.

💢TW: cheating, childhood trauma💢

"Originally, I read, the harpy was not a monster at all. She signified storms, thunder. Just bad weather, nothing more"

Have you ever read a book and came across a character you hate, and think to yourself: I'll never be like her/him? What if you actually do?

'The Harpy' is an intense story on infidelity and extramarital fornication, and its detrimental effects on family life. Written in a first person POV(from the wife who was cheated) with brief poetic interludes, the writing style was impeccable and too much to take in.

Initially I did not connect with the protagonist. Why does someone overthink as much as Lucy (the main character) did? But as it progressed, I realised that the breach of trust can destroy people. In short, the book changed my perception on trust and marriage.

As I said before, the book was a bit much to take in. A medley of childhood trauma and midlife crises, it can be described as a 'read once' book, not one more time. It has the capacity to destroy you, so proceed with caution and on a slow pace. Even if it's only <200 pages, be careful if you're picking it up.