Mid 50s suburban angst tale. WWII vet marries Brit gal, gets tired of her and she conveniently goes off to England for a vacay. He drinks up with friends and meets the sure to be trouble Clemmie. Kinda fun, but full of lecture-y stuff. But - hey, that's ok - I like a MacDonald lecture about authenticity once in a while. It does read a little forced at times. Ultimately dramatic downward slide... way down and finally trying to right the ship but we don't know if that will succeed- which is great (realistic). Read - from library- on Kindle, no hard copy- alas. ( )

I found myself annoyed and angered by the protagonist on many occasions. Initially introduced as someone likeable and respectable he evolves into a self indulgent drink. Is almost like watching a horror movie where you want to yell to the hero'don't go into that scary from our dark and Dusty house. In the horror movie the hell gets in trouble and you enjoy seeing how he escapes.
In Clemmie I couldn't enjoy the alcoholic scenes or self indulgent sensuous behavior. Clemmie wasnt appealing enough to make the affair appealing or exciting, just dreary.

I also found the constant smoking unpleasant. It reminds me that MacDonald eventually died of heart disease probably brought on by his own smoking.
Without question the characters come to life and a good picture of the U.S. of the fifties is drawn. ( )

This was a very painful read. As usual, MacDonald sucks you into a world of people you normally wouldn’t choose to be around and exposes you to their most basic human desires, attitudes, and prejudices. In this case, we get to watch the disintegration of a 39-year old man, a manager at a factory, when he gets involved with a shameless, unstable, highly manipulative 23-year old rich girl with a string of failed relationships and an institutionalization in her past. The man has been left alone for the summer as his British-born wife and two young daughters are spending the summer in England with the wife’s relatives. By chance, the husband meets and then can’t resist having a series of dalliances with the irresistible Clemmie. About page 150 or so, it becomes almost too much to bear as the protagonist makes one terrible decision after another, compounding his problems at home and at work. Though absent, the wife’s presence is always felt. MacDonald tells the story of how the couple met during the war and came to marry. Because he describes their relationship so well, the husband’s continued stupidity is hard to understand and even harder to read about. But, as always with MacDonald, there are some great passages, such as a very effective scene in an attic where the husband becomes engrossed in the various family scraps and memories packed and stored in boxes there.

In parallel with his descent into adultery (an old-fashioned word perhaps, but this is a pretty old-fashioned book), the husband also neglects his duties at work. After all, it is kind of hard to work when you’re drunk most all the time. In fact, this guy makes the characters in most noir novels look like teetotalers. His boss has brought in a couple of McKinsey-style management consultants, so he can tell the writing is on the wall. Along the way, MacDonald does get to make some pretty shrewd observations about business. Throughout his writing career, his Wharton School and Harvard MBA side is never too far below the surface.

To sum the book up, it would have been far more successful had MacDonald managed to cut out about 50 pages. While John MacD is fun to go slumming with, I would have liked to have gotten home before daylight! ( )

this is one of macdonald's worst performances. there is ample reason for women to point at this and say it is blatent sexism; a man's hatred of women. but that is not the problem. the problem is no one in clemmie is likable. surely not the "heroine." ( )