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The Other (Tryon novel)

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The Other
First edition cover
AuthorThomas Tryon
LanguageEnglish
GenrePsychological horror
PublishedMay 1971
PublisherKnopf
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages272
ISBN978-0394467443
Followed byHarvest Home (1973) 

The Other is a psychological horror novel by American writer Thomas Tryon, published in 1971. It was his debut novel.

Tryon, who had been a working actor, retired from his Hollywood career to become a novelist. Upon its release, the novel received wide critical acclaim and became a surprise bestseller.[1][2] The Other was adapted into a 1972 film of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Uta Hagen. The novel was reprinted in a commemorative edition in 2012 by New York Review Books with an afterword by Dan Chaon.[3]

Plot

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Set in 1935, the novel focuses on the sadistic relationship between two 13-year-old, identical twin boys: one of whom is well behaved while the other is a sociopath[citation needed] who wreaks havoc on his family's rural New England farm property.

Reception

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The Los Angeles Times described the book as "beautifully, even poetically, wrought.".[4] The book spent more than six months on the New York Times best-seller list and sold more than 3.5 million copies.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "The Other by Thomas Tryon". NY Books. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  2. ^ "Thomas Tryon's bestselling novel The Other (1971), which also received a cinematic tribute in 1972". Renner, Karen J., Evil Children in the Popular Imagination. London, Palgrave Macmillian. ISBN 9781137599636 (p.4)
  3. ^ Tryon, Thomas (2012). The Other (New York Review Books Classics). New York Review of Books. ISBN 978-1590175835.
  4. ^ Hughes, Dorothy. "Murder through a glass darkly." Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1971
  5. ^ Cohen, Noam S. "Thomas Tryon, Who Quit Acting For a Writing Career, Dies at 65." New York Times, 5 Sep 1991