I'd Know You Anywhere in Bound Together

Dec 09, 2010 S rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction

This book wasn't what I thought it would be, but it was still a fairly interesting read. I just felt like it was missing something. The main character, Eliza Benedict (a.k.a. Elizabeth Lerner), seemed a bit too robotic with her feelings. I expected more of a reaction from her when her rapist, Walter Bowman, contacted her from death row after all of those years. But it seemed as if it didn't phase her THAT much in terms of being fearful. Additionally, I feel that the author went off on way too ma ...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Martha☀ rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, library

Eliza is content with her comfortable, upper-class life as a full-time mother. She lets life roll her along and enjoys the banality of searching for lost socks and watching soccer practice (gag-reflex from me).
One day, she receives a letter from a death row inmate - the man who kidnapped her, kept her hostage and raped her 30 years earlier - and he has finally found her. He pleads with her to reply to the letter, then to take his phone calls and then to visit him in prison as his execution date Eliza is content with her comfortable, upper-class life as a full-time mother. She lets life roll her along and enjoys the banality of searching for lost socks and watching soccer practice (gag-reflex from me).
One day, she receives a letter from a death row inmate - the man who kidnapped her, kept her hostage and raped her 30 years earlier - and he has finally found her. He pleads with her to reply to the letter, then to take his phone calls and then to visit him in prison as his execution date approaches.

Every step of the way, I found myself pleading with Eliza to simply walk away. Give him a piece of your mind and walk away. Do not let him into your life! But no - Eliza keeps allowing him to get closer which makes you wonder if she is a little off-balance. But, it turns out that she is playing a long game and is determined to make him pay for this unwanted trip down memory lane.

I really like Lippman's style. There is something fantastic about the way her characters keep their secrets and thoughts hidden from the reader and they don't react the way you expect them to in tense situations. Once again, the heroine seems to play along with the events around her while, in actuality, she waits out all others in order to get an outcome that benefits her.

I have read a few reviews which pan Lippman for Eliza's weak character who, like a feather in the wind, appears to have no goals or personal drive and simply takes whatever life offers her. But I strongly disagree with this idea. Eliza is alive simply because (view spoiler) Just because life doled out the kind of trauma that Eliza endured doesn't mean that she must find a soap-box or a Jerry Springer show to call foul. Most trauma and rape victims go on to have very quiet lives, intent on not drawing attention to themselves at all. I think Lippman's characterisation is absolutely spot-on. ...more

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