Surfing Into Conflict | Body Surfing: A Novel

Surfing between 3 and 4 stars | Body Surfing: A Novel | Anita Shreve

books:


	• Body Surfing: A Novel Anita Shreve Back Bay Books, 2008 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 88 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

Shreve Does It Again

Her insight into affairs of the heart shines again in this crisply written story that returns us to her favorite sea shore.

I enjoyed the journey!

Surfing Into Conflict

This was a good book but not as good as other novels by Shreve that I have enjoyed. It is still a fairly quick read and good for passing some time.

The basic plot is straightforward - a family hires a tutor (Sydney) for their daughter, and there are two older brothers which sets up the some of the main portions of the book. Then there are are other issues such as the conflict between Sydney and the mother of the family.

Eventually the book does wind up being satisfying reading even if it is not the best work by the author.

for more information click here

Surfing between 3 and 4 stars

Anita Shreve comes through once again with an emotional and involving look at interpersonal relationships. Body Surfing tells the story of Sydney, a young woman who takes a summer tutoring job to get off the emotional roller coaster of her life for a bit. At the tender age of 29 she's been divorced from her first husband and widowed by her second. Tutoring sweet but slow Julie at her parents sea side vacation home seems like just the calming ticket to Sydney, and it is, until Julie's two brother's show up. Ben, Jeff and Sydney become entangled in ways that change everyone's lives as old scores are settled with fresh attacks in a family where appearances mean more than realities. I just wished for a bit more development of the characters, hence the somewhat low rating.

for more information click here

A Sequel of Sorts

Can a house be a main character? It is in this book, which features the same New Hampshire beach house that appeared in The Pilot's Wife, Fortune's Rock and Sea Glass. The house remains steadfast, but the lives of the people who occupy it are as stormy and unpredictable as the Atlantic Ocean it faces.

This time we meet the Edwards family, consisting of genial Mark, impossibly snobbish and nasty Anna, and their "slow" daughter Julia, who, nevertheless, is expected by Anna to pass her SATs and go to college like her two older brothers, now successful adults. To that end, the family hires Sydney, a young widow, as a live-in tutor for the summer.

The personalities in the house mesh in strange and unpredictable ways, and when the two brothers come to stay, a love triangle begins that predictably ends in disaster. Along the way, Julie breaks out of her family-imposed torpor in surprising ways, and to continue the ocean analogy, everything is as predictable as the tides, and as unpredictable as a sudden squall.

I loved this book. I loved the spare use of language, the careful unfolding of the personalities, the strange twists and turns of each life, and the predictable--yet not--ending.

If you like Anita Shreve, you will ike this book, one of her best. But for those who do not like her, it is quintessential Shreve, and judging by the wide range of reviews, not to everyone's taste.

for more information click here

"Always readable-sometimes compulsively so-Shreve's novels are typically emotionally resonant, nicely paced, and populated by memorable characters." -People

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to regain her footing, she has signed on to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage.

But when the Edwardses' two grown sons arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.

With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into the human heart that has led her to be called "an author at one with her métier" (Miami Herald), Shreve weaves a novel about marriage, family, and the supreme courage it takes to love.

"Shreve excels at nuance and detail. She skillfully illuminates the tiniest of moments, offering readers a peek at the complex undertones coursing through the characters throughout the story." -Rocky Mountain News

"There is something satisfyingly clean, well functioning, pale, and delicious about an Anita Shreve novel. . . . Shreve's characters, grappling with desire, juggling their shame against their regret, are entirely welcome." -Boston Globe

"Shreve's writing is textured, reflective, and generally flows with ease, to the point where the reader may be surprised at how quickly the pages turn."-Newsday

for more information click here