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Title: Sea Glass: A Novel by Anita Shreve ISBN: 0-316-08969-9 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.63 (95 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: It Didn't Shine for Me
Comment: I've read all of Anita Shreve's books. This one wasn't as good as A Pilot's Wife or The Weight of Water.
Her latest book tells the story of the stock market crash in 1929. We see the struggle of the mill workers and the impact of such a horrendous economic blow to all of the various social classes. Honora Beecher is at the centre of the story though the novel is told from 5 different perspectives.
Shreve is an outstanding writer in that she uses wonderful, descriptive language and she can explore the human condition and the range of emotions like few other authors. I enjoyed this part of the book, but the story was a little too slow. I felt that some of the characters just didn't come to life like they could have...Vivian, the jaded socialite especially.
Overall, this was a good book, just not her best.
Rating: 4
Summary: Very Good
Comment: Anita Shreve's latest book, "Sea Glass," is a quiet novel that deals with the universal themes of life, love, loss, hope, beauty, tragedy and death.
"Sea Glass" begins in 1929, when Sexton Beecher, a typewriter salesman, marries bank clerk, Honora. They decide to make their home in a rather dalipidated, but still romantic, New England beach house. Honora is a fulltime wife and homemaker and besides the usual things all wives and homemakers do, Honora loves to take long walks on the beach and collect bits of colored glass worn smooth as silk by the waves of the sea. Eventually, Honora meets and becomes friends with Vivian, a wealthy woman who happens to live nearby. The world seems, at least to Honora, to be an almost perfect place.
When things are too good, they usually don't last and Honora learns this lesson the hard way. The Great Depression causes problems for Sexton and Honora, but it brings Honora unexpected pleasures as well, in the form of handsome Quillen McDermott and his twelve year old friend, Francis.
This is a book that is told from the point of view of many of the characters involved. In almost every case this works, and it works well. The exceptions are Vivian and Francis. In the early sections of the book, Vivian plays such a prominent part that we come to believe she will be an integral part of the coming storyline as well. Instead, she seems to fade a little more with each passing scene.
Francis is also problematic. His chapters are written in long sentences that let us know he is smart, but lacks the education he should have at his age. This wouldn't be bad in and of itself. The problem arises because the rest of the novel is so quiet and so poetic; Francis' chapters seem a little abrupt, as if they're jarring us out of a lovely reverie that we just don't want to leave.
Shreve is good, at least in this book, at creating convincing, believable characters and then making them come to life. The tension and excitement that exists between Honora and McDermott is especially memorable.
Although the description is good, the symbolism of the sea glass, however, is a bit heavy-handed, especially near the end.
This is a quiet book, with no great surprises and no great suspense. It doesn't delve too deeply into the minds and hearts of the characters involved, but then, we don't always want something that's earthshaking. I think most women will find more than enough to relate to in this book and Anita Shreve fans will probably love it.
Rating: 5
Summary: If You Liked Fortune's Rocks You'll Like Sea Glass
Comment: If you read and liked Fortune's Rocks, also by Anita Shreve, Sea Glass is a must read. It was hard to put down.
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Title: The Last Time They Met : A Novel by Anita Shreve ISBN: 0316781266 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 22 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Fortune's Rocks : A Novel by Anita Shreve ISBN: 0316678104 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Eden Close by Anita Shreve ISBN: 0156005891 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Strange Fits of Passion: A Novel by Anita Shreve ISBN: 015600710X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 11 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Resistance : A Novel by Anita Shreve ISBN: 0316789844 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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