An engrossing read
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After having been disappointed with A Wedding in December I approached this with a little caution. However I was delighted to find that with this novel Anita Shreve has returned to the kind of writing which had made me such a fan in the past. This is a novel about a young woman who is hired to tutor the teenage daughter of a wealthy couple at their summer home. Their two sons - much older than their "slow" sister are in their thirties, arrive and suddenly the dynamics of the house change, as they each vie for her attention.
I was delighted to find that much of this novel is set in the beach house which appears in Fortune's Rocks, The Pilot's wife, and Sea Glass, it's a setting I feel I know so well that it's like revisiting a place you've spent some special times in.
There are some great twists and turns as the novel progresses, which makes it a pretty hard to put down book.
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Idea Summer Read
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I find with Anita Shreve books that I have to persist through the first couple of chapter and get to know the characters but then I am hooked and that was certainly the case with Body Surfing which was a page turner. You can imagine the house on the beach, feel the heat...and the tension (sexual and otherwise!). This book is very sad in parts and anyone who has had a broken heart will relate to the main character. But it also shows how people change and with time things move on and a new chapter unfolds. Take this on holiday with you and enjoy.
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New discovery...
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Having just 'discovered' Anita Shreve I was pleasantly surprised by this story. It was very easy to read and the characters were realistic enough to get to 'know' as the tale unfolded (you can't help but have a soft spot for Mr Edwards).
Sydney lives in with the Edwards family to tutor their youngest daughter. She is comfortable with her existance there and finds peace living by the sea after first, a divorce, and then after becomming a widow at a young age. Enter the Edwards sons who, unbeknown to Sydney, have an undercurrent of unresolved issues, and Sydney finds herself caught up in a whirlwind romance.
This is an easy read and the story flows well. I will certainly look out for other stories from her.
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Perfectly crafted...
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The thing I like most about AS's novels is her style of prose; her sentence construction and the vivid imagery this entails is as near to perfect as you can get.
The tale of two brothers and the feelings thay they appear to share for Sydney, a twice married home tutor for their sister, is not quite what it originally seems.
The story winds it's way around the central characters beautifully and eventually becomes a sad tale of love lost.
Huge comfy chair, glass of wine and 'Body Surfing' - the perfect way to spend an evening...
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Another Shreve Classic
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I love Anita Shreve's work and I was really looking forward to picking up this book. Sidney is only 29 once divorced and recently widowed. She is drifting not knowing to do now the future that she had in mind has been taken away from her.
She has taken a job tutoring to give her time to get her bearings. Much of the book is set in the beach house that is the setting for the Pilots Wife and other Shreve novels.
Shreve shows her relationship with the family she is working for, sometimes difficult but often very warm and their relationships with each other. The book tackles sibling rivalry, and also looks at how as someone who lives with a family you get to see a lot of the internal tensions that an average visitor would never see. Sidney is a likeable character who has real warmth.
I did really enjoy this book and thought all the characters were very well observed. Mr and Mrs Edwards are both excellently written. The style of the book was a little jarring in places with pages of very short jumpy paragraphs.
I would highly recommend the book especially if you are a Shreve devotee.
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