A review by bunnieslikediamonds
Marnie by Winston Graham

3.0

Marnie the book is darker and more complex than Marnie the movie, and so is Marnie the character. Hitchcock's depiction of the traumatized Marnie always seemed icky to me, and Sean Connery as her husband is the most loathsome Hitchcock character ever. Really, I'd rather date Norman Bates. The basic premise is the same in the book as in movie: pretty con artist Marnie is caught stealing from her employer by a widower who has fallen in love with her. He blackmails her into marrying him, but alas, to his horror she turns out to be frigid. Surprisingly, raping her doesn't help, so he starts investigating her past. Winston Graham's book, while dated, tells the story from Marnie's point of view, creating a more sympathetic character. She may be a liar and a thief, but somehow that doesn't seem so bad compared to her blackmailing rapist husband. The ending is much better than in the movie.