Monday, September 2, 2013

Late Summer Mega Read




It seemed like I waited "a hundred summers" for this book when it finally came in at the library last week.  It is another mega summer read with a long wait list - which means definitely not renewable. 

No worries here.  I finished it last night. 

As I have mentioned, I don't normally read a lot of new fiction so my question is:  What is up with the trend of back and forth chapters?

This book, like the other work that I just read, goes back and forth from past to present by alternating chapters.  In this case:

Chapter 1:  1931
Chapter 2:  1938
Chapter 3:  1931
Chapter 4:  1938

I find this annoying.  By the end of Chapter 4, I went forward by only reading every other chapter then reading the chapters that I skipped.  This gave some order to the story. 

Then there was a boo boo.  Part of the story takes place at Smith College.  The characters go to a local breakfast place in Northampton.  The proprietress says,

           " Best pancakes in the Berkshires.  Ask anyone." 

Anyone here will tell you that Northampton is not in the Berkshires but in the Pioneer Valley.  Oopsie.

Then there are hysterical lines like: 

            "The waitress came in, a slaughtered lamb of a twenty-year old girl."

I pointed this bit of conversation out to Mr. Weston.  It was uttered by the male love interest: 

            "Where did you come from Lily?  You're a miracle."
            "Your miracle," Lily responds.

We have similar conversations daily.

Overall the book was entertaining enough and drama filled.  I did like the how the author's bio adroitly ended:

           "She lives with her husband and four young children in southwestern Connecticut,
            where she divides her time between writing and laundry."

The book concludes with the dreadful hurricane of 1938 where most of the characters we have come to dislike are conveniently swept off to sea.

At this point, I am heading back to the world of nonfiction. The author recommended "Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938" which I have already ordered up.

 

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