We Do What We Do in the Dark
'A haunting study of solitude and connection' Meg Wolitzer
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We Do What We Do in the Dark
Narrated by:
Barrie Kreinik
Buy Now for $19.99
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Narrated by:
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Barrie Kreinik
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By:
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Michelle Hart
About this listen
Mallory sees the woman for the first time at her college gym and is immediately transfixed. As a naturally reserved person who is now reeling from the loss of her mother, Mallory finds herself compelled by the woman's assurance, and longs to know her better. Despite the discovery that she is a professor at the college, Mallory finds herself falling into a complicated love affair with the woman, the stakes of which she never quite understands.
In the years that follow, Mallory must come to terms with how the relationship shaped her, for better or worse, and learn to become a part of the world that she sacrificed for the sake of a woman she never truly knew.
In this enthralling debut novel, the complexities of influence, obsession, and admiration reveal how desire and its consequences can alter the trajectory of a life.
(P) 2022 Penguin Audio©2022 Michelle Hart
Critic Reviews
Michelle Hart's first novel is a haunting study of solitude and connection, moving and memorable (Meg Wolitzer, author of THE FEMALE PERSUASION)
A gorgeous storyteller, Hart is gifted with a poet's precision, blending image and idea. Sensual and wise, this novel channels the melancholic exhilaration of dangerous love (Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE)
A beautiful book so filled with sharp longing and perfectly phrased vulnerability that I read it in a reverent hush (Torrey Peters, author of DETRANSITION, BABY)
In Michelle Hart's debut novel, she tackles vulnerability, attachment, and the purpose relationships serve in our increasingly isolated lives
Seductive and lyrical with poetic detail, this is an unforgettable account of a forbidden romance made extraordinary by Hart's precision and lyrical touch. A compulsive read that satisfies and haunts (Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of PATSY)
At the heart of this sensual debut novel is the story of yearning between young Mallory and a married college professor. Theirs is a transactional desire on the surface, but Hart delves into the motivations of both Mallory and the professor, referred to in the text only as The Woman, to reveal important truths about what our closest relationships say about us, and what they help us conceal
Transfixing . . . Mallory's intense interiority and self-consciousness will remind readers of Sally Rooney's work, and Hart's prose is delicate and piercing. This is auspicious and breathtaking
Does something exceptional . . . Has flashes of Sally Rooney's CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS, or Halle Butler's THE NEW ME. Sometimes it's erotic, sometimes it's devastating. . . But the writing always crackles, written by someone who clearly knows what it's like to desire another woman in ways you just barely understand
Michelle Hart's coming-of-age novel skillfully depicts forbidden romance and the shame it can foster
An electric debut
It’s the most bizarre feeling having my mental, emotional and social self as a younger person communicated in a book. It was like déjà vu but backwards. It was so very similar it felt eerie.
Michelle Hart presented the story in a way that reminded me of queer books from the early 90’s to late 2000’s where the story was said plainly, none of the frills and fluff common in modern queer stories, and I love it! I could describe the author’s talent with words as cunning. Her tools were ordinary words but surgical in its precision in conjuring melancholic feelings and ideas as if reading a soulful poem by Dickinson or Plath.
The Woman, whom the author didn’t bother to name, belied the permanence in Mallory’s life. However transient, it was a needed occurrence for Mallory to find her way through her own happiness and life.
Hmmm
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What kept grating me was the gay sexual identity stuff really did not gel with the time period. I mean it took place shortly after 2008 when I feel there was a certain level of awareness of queer politics especially in the ivory tower university space. This awkwardness is I think supposed to be a point a tension, but it is just damn clunky.
An erotic thriller set in academia!?!? I’m in! This is not ‘Vladimir’ by Julia May Jonas which was much more clever (though not without its flaws) and really got into the grit of the characters. This narrative gets bogged down in two emotionally retarded people spending a lot of time fumbling around and disconnecting. The author *thinks* they write flinty well but it’s no Sally Rooney.
Sadly no deep interesting connections to class, gender or sexuality… I don’t think class is even mentioned.
It does miss a few tricks and there are some illogical moments. “The woman” is a clean freak who uses public showers at gym? Wait for it - the main character is university educated but didn’t realise that Obama being elected was a significant social change? Like for real?
But I did like the end and the wandering made a bit more sense in the last lap, I guess.
Some good, some cheesy
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