Review: Body Surfing - Anita Shreve

Release Date: April 24, 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Contemporary Fiction 
Format: Hardcover
# of Pages: 291
Source: Purchased at Border's
Challenge: 2011 Reading From My Shelves Project &
100 Books in a Year
Purchase Book: Amazon

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed.  Trying to regain her footing once again, she has answered an ad 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 Edwards' two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, 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 for herself is threatened.  With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into the human heart that has led her to be call "an author at one with her metier" (Miami Herald), Shreve weaves a novel about marriage, family and the supreme courage that it takes to love.

First Sentence:

"Three o'clock, the dead hour."

My Thoughts:
I can't say that I was very happy with this book at all.  I don't recall ever reading any of the other books Shreve has written, but I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.  From the start the book was slow going, and the characters were not very developed.  As I look at my notes now I notice that all I kept writing was "on page 130, still bored..." "on page 190...not interesting..."

I couldn't find a character in the book that I truly liked.  Sydney annoyed me, Jeff was a huge jerk, Ben was pretty lame, Mrs. Edwards was a mean old lady, Mr. Edwards was a pushover....AHHHH.

I really thought there would be more to this book, but I was sadly disappointed.  I really wanted to like this book, as I've heard great things about Anita Shreve before -- maybe I just started on the wrong book?

My Ratings

Liked: The open ending

Disliked: ALL of the characters

Cover: 4/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Plot: 2/5

Ending: 3/5

Overall: 2.5/5

Happy Reading!