Tangerine
A Novel
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3.6 • 285 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“A juicy melodrama cast against the sultry, stylish imagery of North Africa in the fifties.” —The New Yorker
The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the accident at Bennington, the two friends—once inseparable roommates—haven’t spoken in over a year. But there Lucy was, trying to make things right and return to their old rhythms. Perhaps Alice should be happy. She has not adjusted to life in Morocco, too afraid to venture out into the bustling medinas and oppressive heat. Lucy—always fearless and independent—helps Alice emerge from her flat and explore the country.
But soon a familiar feeling starts to overtake Alice—she feels controlled and stifled by Lucy at every turn. Then Alice’s husband, John, goes missing, and Alice starts to question everything around her: her relationship with her enigmatic friend, her decision to ever come to Tangier, and her very own state of mind.
Tangerine is a sharp dagger of a book—a debut so tightly wound, so replete with exotic imagery and charm, so full of precise details and extraordinary craftsmanship, it will leave you absolutely breathless.
Optioned for film by George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures, with Scarlett Johansson to star
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
If you have a vacation coming up, be sure to pack Tangerine—one of the most chilling psychological thrillers we’ve ever read. It’s the story of Lucy and Alice, college roommates whose friendship goes terribly wrong. After graduation, Alice moves to Morocco for a fresh start; a year later, Lucy shows up at her doorstep. What unfolds next in the sunbaked souks and dark alleyways of 1950s Tangier is revealed through chapters that alternate between the two women's points of view. Oozing with foreboding and packed with heart-pounding entertainment, Tangerine is impossible to put down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The spirit of Patricia Highsmith's sociopathic social climber Tom Ripley is alive in Mangan's transportive debut. Alice Shipley and Lucy Mason met as freshman at Bennington in the early 1950s and became the best of friends. Now, after a year apart, they meet again in 1956 in Tangier, where Alice and her new husband, John McAllister, have moved for his job. Alice doesn't especially enjoy living in Tangier, which is too foreign for her liking. Lucy, meanwhile, revels in the raffish individuals found in the souk. A suspected dalliance by John paves the way for Lucy to reassert her position with the emotionally fragile and easy-to-manipulate Alice. At the same time, the story flashes back to the girls' passionate friendship at Bennington, where they were inseparable until Tom, a drama student from Williams, came between them. A tragedy ultimately broke their friendship, and there is every indication that another accident of some kind will occur in Tangier; the twisted history of this relationship seems fated to repeat itself. Although some of the plot developments are easy to predict, the novel is narrated persuasively in alternating chapters by Alice and Lucy, and Mangan's portrayal of Tangier is electric. This sharp novel reads like Single White Female rewritten as a collaboration between Paul Bowles and Mary McCarthy.
Customer Reviews
See AllReally Enjoyed This!
The hot sun of Tangiers sets the mood for this highly atmospheric, dark story about a psychologically fragile, weak minded woman who gets hopelessly entangled in the snare of another deeply disturbed woman. Good book, well written.
Interesting novel
Not really sure about this book. It was haunting for sure. I thought that two of the main characters were one and the same but perhaps not. All of my predictions did not pan out. I’m not sure if I am happy or sad about that.
Escapist remix
*Spoilers ahead* A quick read to have a moment of fun escapism, but I never escaped anywhere real or haven’t been already. A rehash is harsh, but a remix is generous. It has all the potential ingredients but bland. We never feel Tangier sensorily materialize on skin or in bones, nor do any of the characters past surface gender re-renderings of a Tom Ripley cut and paste. Felt like a draft of all things already done. Car accidents, sad fragile orphans, gaslighting, cut brakes, bodies thrown from cliffs, murderous rocks held overhead poised in unreliable narration of fates colliding, passport cons and horizonless epilogues. Everyone sweating and flushing and blushing in clinging blouses and cocktails is not place. I did enjoy the two narrator style but didn’t feel connected to either. I still would recommend for a read and still am pining to see Morocco IRL.