I won a copy of Anne Rivers Siddons' novel, Off Season, a while back in a huge giveaway from Hachette. This is a book I would have never normally pick up and read but I thought, what the hey...it's summer, it's a summer book...why not.Yeah. It's not really my cup of tea. But it wasn't horrible. I did finish it. So...
Briefly:
Recently widowed, Lilly is going back (with her husband Cam's ashes) to their summer house on the coast of Maine. She needs some time alone, away from her daughters and grandchildren, to reminisce and remember.
Flashback to Lilly as an eleven year-old and all the events that happened in that summer of 1962, including a first love with a boy named John. What proceeds is young Lilly going through loves and losses and how that defines who she is. Then it flashes forward a bit to when she met Cam.
Honestly, the book was a bit rambling and I wasn't sure of the point of the whole thing. I did like the story of eleven-year old Lilly. But then everything after that, including the ending (which was the worst ending I've ever read) just put me off of the whole thing. I wish she had stuck to the young Lilly part and then stopped. On a side note: she is a good writer. I really loved her description of the ocean and how connected young Lilly was to the whole summer place.
So all in all, not my type of book. Have you read this? Did you like it? And what did you think of the ending?? Email me if you don't want to post spoilers.
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Most of Anne Rivers Siddons books are like that. I read two of her books in my early 20's (ack, I'm almost 40 now) and they were pretty dull and rambling.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be my cup of tea either. Don't you feel obliged sometimes to read books you would not normally choose yourself.
ReplyDeleteI think this one is on my shelf from a giveaway a while back. I haven't read it yet, and I haven't read any of her other books. Thanks for the honest review.
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric