Unbecoming

A Novel

By: Rebecca Scherm

Narrated by: Catherine Taber

EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL

“Startlingly inventive.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A sheer delight to read . . . I had no idea what was going to happen from one page to the next.”—Kate Atkinson

On the grubby outskirts of Paris, Grace restores bric-a-brac, mends teapots, re-sets gems. She calls herself Julie, says she’s from California, and slips back to a rented room at night. Regularly, furtively, she checks the hometown paper on the Internet. Home is Garland, Tennessee, and there, two young men have just been paroled. One, she married; the other, she’s in love with. Both were jailed for a crime that Grace herself planned in exacting detail. The heist went bad—but not before she was on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag. And so, in Paris, begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels—and she becomes another young woman entirely.

Unbecoming is an intricately plotted and psychologically nuanced heist novel that turns on suspense and slippery identity. With echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca Scherm’s mesmerizing debut is sure to entrance fans of Gillian Flynn, Marisha Pessl, and Donna Tartt.

Enticing

Easy read, intriguing story. Twists that were surprising yet not surprising. Thoughtful insights into the mind of a dishonest person.

Unbecoming

I like this author. The first 2/3 of the book chased some ideas that never got fleshed out but were interesting.
A more experienced editor might have steered the direction of the story more concisely. Despite this the book was an interesting read.

Not a fast story, but a good one

There was a lot of depth to the characters of the story. The actual events could have been told in about 4 hours. I enjoyed 'getting inside' the mind and heart of this main character though, and I like long books.

Unstoppable read

Found myself rooting for Grâce and her loves both, whether they be childhood sweethearts or talents to survive in a perilous world.

Wonderful Narration and story

Loved the storyline. What is the story of a clever theft? The tale between Paris and a small town in TN and NY. The connection to appraising and working in antiques and art work is fabulous knowledge. Narrator does a great job.

Hated the ending (no spoilers)

Slow-moving, and as an audiobook I would sometimes rewind,thinking I must have missed something, but I hadn't. Just fluffy dialogue or never-ending inner dialogues from an unreliable narrator. The suspense was good at points, but then we don't ever see the other side of the coin, or see her fully unravel the way the plot seems to lead us. I have an art history degree and work in the arts, and that sensibility was enjoyable, especially the main character's wanting her boyfriend's realist paintings to be more conceptual. It felt that the plot missed something. The second romance wasn't convincing.

Staying a step ahead of her lies

This story begins in Paris with her first lie... "Bonjour, je m'appelle Julie." She is really Grace from Tennessee, hiding out in France. Tomorrow her secret husband, and former lover will be released after 8 yrs. in prison for a crime she masterminded. Casually she tells the reader, "the best lies were the simplest...and made the most sense...these lies are the easiest to swallow." With the ease of a chameleon switching colors Grace tells the reader how she came to be Julie in Paris. The story is told in flashbacks for the first portion, then switches to real-time. Until that switch, the story is jittery and suffused with tension; Julie expecting any minute to be found.

From a dysfunctional wrong-side-of-the-tracks family, Grace has always felt insignificant and ashamed. Growing into a pretty young girl, she catches the affections of local golden boy Riley Graham. From an esteemed and wealthy family Riley has everything Grace has ever dreamed of, a wealthy aristocratic family, respectable parents and a doting mother that has always wanted a daughter. Grace twists and turns herself to meet their expectation, molding herself into that longed-for daughter, and Riley's perfect girlfriend. Always on her mind is caution to keep up the pretense...to become the person she is pretending to be, staying one step ahead of the lies. As we hear her tell it, it all seems a harmless act of survival by a desperate little girl longing for love. Grace's longings go much further than just love though, and as she moves through the years her personality becomes defined, Scherm deftly creating a little sociopath before the reader's eyes, that dismisses the trail of destruction she leaves behind.

The back and forth narrative style keeps the plot going at a steady, but sometimes bumpy pace. The flashbacks didn't always transition smoothly into a segment, but it wasn't distracting either. While not nearly Highsmith or Hitchcock, Scherm gave me the sense and promise of her own definite style. Her development of Grace/Julie was most nuanced while she is away from Riley, but it was also interesting to see how she manipulated around the Grahams. Most enjoyable to me was while Julie worked for the disreputable Jacqueline restoring antique jewels, and then finally, where we see what the author can really do when she releases Julie from her years of self-doubt -- when she finally *becomes.*

New author Rebecca Sherm is one of the new crop of debut novelists that have found themselves one of the *critic's darlings* having their debut novel released with an attached pedigreed before it even hit the shelves. It's commonplace lately to see every psychological thriller with a psycho femme fatale branded the next Gone Girl, every art heist story inspired by Tartt's The Goldfinch, and any suspenseful crime novel the offspring of Hitchcock or Highsmith. With these astral claims, marketers are lining these fledgling writers at the gate with the seasoned thoroughbreds --not always a favor. My opinion is that Unbecoming was a very good debut novel, and I hope that Scherm will feel encouraged to continue writing. She definitely has both creative and writing talent and a distinctive style that I'll be looking forward to reading in the future.
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Contradicts the myth of wholesome small-town childhood.

Well-written: the author unspooled the story at just the right pace. The protagonist is complex and unlikable-yet I couldn't wait to see what came next.

Good not Great

I was a disappointed when some characters and story lines weren't given enough chance to mature and grow into the story. (Greg, Alls, Grace's parents, her going to NYU, where her love and knowledge of art come from, Prague, further investigation of her role in the break in at the mansion, their marriage, Riley doing a complete change of character when she came back from NY, his irrational behavior with spending the money earned at the art exhibit, etc. it didn't fit in with the picture the author painted of Riley as a boy and his upbringing........

The foundation/plot of the story was thrilling and clever. I would recommend this book. I enjoy books that start at the end and works its way back to the beginning.

The descriptive writing of the lust Grace felt was palpable. I also enjoyed role antique/art reproduction played into the story.

The narrator was a perfect Grace. I find her voice to be very soothing.

Narrator with a lisp

The female narrator for this story did voices and accents quite well, but the sound of her lisp detracts from the experience. I'd recommend you buy the book, as opposed to listen to it.