Barefoot: A Novel
by Elin Hilderbrand
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Book Reviews of Barefoot: A Novel
Book Review: Barefoot ~ BANG!
Summary: 4 Stars
BAREFOOT ~ A beach house, two sisters, and a girlfriend...Sounds heavenly-relaxing, even with a couple kids in tow...
Now, I can handle a bit of vomit and lost luggage, but Hilderbrand mercilessly tugs at all of my feminine heartstrings; marriage, motherhood, sisterhood, and friendship...oh, and that pesky fear-of-death thing.
Meet the Girls:
Melanie deals with infertility overshadowed by infidelity, and then further complicated with pregnancy -- "POW!"
Brenda's promising academic career hangs in jeopardy due to an entirely separate affair--this one seemingly harmless, except for the minor detail that it was with one of her students -- "ZING!"
And then there's Vicki with two small children to raise and hit with a cancer diagnosis -- "BAM!"
Pan to the dark clouds parting, casting light down upon the crown of an attractive college student, Josh, who ends up being so much more to these conflicted women than a "Guy Friday" (Hence, Self magazine's "Beaches meets The Graduate" review).
And this is all just in the first chapter...
Phew! And here I thought I was in for a relaxing day on Nantucket's shores. I need a vacation, just trying to keep up with these gals.
All facetiousness aside...Barefoot was my first of Hilderbrand's books, but not my last. It's a quick read with a poignant underlying theme and resolution. Her descriptions made me anxious for that coveted time at my family's North Carolina beach house. Thank God, I don't have to deal with all the Barefoot turmoil.
I love what Hilderbrand shares in the "Conversation" at the end of the book. She says, "I had claimed that, after A Summer Affair (her next novel due out July 1st). was complete, I would take a `year off.' My `year off' lasted for about two weeks. Writing is like a genetic disease...and I can't seem to find a cure!"
Now, THAT's good news for us!!
[...]
Book Review: Good
Summary: 3 Stars
I love women's fiction and was looking forward to reading Barefoot by Elin Hidenbrand. I usually read the more 'chick lit' type books, but this book sounded great and I am happy to say it did not disappoint.
Vicki, Melanie and Brenda are all bright, intelligent women, but they are also each struggling with some personal demons and when they decide to spend the summer together at the beach in Nantucket, they will find that friendship and love can really help them get through their pain and confusion.
In this charming and heartwarming story, we find our three friends in the midst of cancer treatments, cheating husbands, unplanned pregnancies and illicit love affairs. Through beautiful prose, we experience each of their pain as if it were our own - I loved the emotional descriptions that Elin Hildenbrand brings to her storytelling and I often found myself with tears in my eyes.
Our unlikely hero and ultimate wild card, Josh is well written and although he is at times, a tad "male", he fits right in with these women and together they find the love and support they all so desperately need, although at first, I wondered why he had been introduced to us at all. It all becomes clear quite early on that Josh will become the center these women are looking for and although this could have been intrusive to the storyline, the author manages to introduce it in a perfectly logical and seemless way.
Yes, this book was a tad predictable, but it was also a great read - bring the tissues with you when you do settle in and enjoy this wonderful tale.
Book Review: Good storyline and characters, but riddled with mistakes and inconsistencies (she needs a new editor!)
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was a good story and Hilderbrand managed to connect you to each character pretty well. My biggest complaint was the mistakes and inconsistencies she made during her writing. They distracted me from the storyline. Here are some examples:
1. On page 6, one of the adult characters is riding in a cab with a 4 year old boy and a 9 month old boy sitting on her lap in the front seat, while 2 other adult characters are in the back seat. Since when is it okay for children to ride without car seats, and in the front seat?!?!?
2. On page 64 one character took a phone message for another character. The caller said "This is Walsh" yet the character taking the message wrote it down to "Call John Walsh." How did she know his name was John?
3. On page 203 one character was rolling down the window of his Jeep, while earlier in the book it talked about his Jeep windows being unzipped because it was a soft top Jeep. You can't roll down soft top windows!
4. Throughout the book, the 9 month old baby sleeps on an adult mattress on the floor. Why doesn't this baby have a crib or a pack-n-play?
Some of what Hildenbrand wrote made me worry for her children. She's a mom -- does she do these things with her own kids? And other things, mainly the inconsistencies, made me think she should get a new editor since the editor did not do a good job reviewing her book.
Book Review: My first exposure to this author
Summary: 4 Stars
A friend of mine loaned this book to me and when I picked it up I assumed it was going to be fluffy reading and a good selection for a warm summer's day. The beginning was slow-moving for me and after the first 50 or 60 pages I was really struggling with it. I was not particularly enjoying it but I trusted my friend (she rarely steers me wrong) so I kept going. Around page 80 or so, I found myself finally caught up in the story and read the rest of the book in one day.
The three women who are the focus of the story are fleshed out well and as the novel unfolds, the reader coms to appreicate how they have arrived in the situations in which they find themselves. At the beginning, I was irritated and impatient with two of them but as I learned more about their history and the events preceding the book's start, I could understand and appreciate their behaviors and it put everything in context. I actually came to care about all three of them by the conclusion of the book. The reader is able to see how each character views herself as well as the other women she is close to -- much more three-dimensional than many novels of this genre.
While this book is perfect for a warm day spent at the pool or on the porch, it rises above the typical beach book and is a worthwhile read. I would recommend this for readers who like Mary Alice Monroe, Anne Rivers Siddons and Dorothea Benton Frank.
Book Review: K. Bills Barefoot Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Three women go to Nantucket Island for the summer. Vicki, a mother of two small children, has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and spends the summer receiving chemo treatment. Her sister, Brenda, was recently fired from her job as a college professor for dating a 32-year old student. Vicki's friend Melanie recently found out that her husband has been having an affair, at the same time that she realizes she's pregnant after trying for seven years to conceive. Hilderbrand shows the distinct physical and emotional pain that cancer inflicts upon not only Vicki, but also her husband, friends, acquaintances, ect. in a largely unvisited and much deeper way. I found Brenda's character impossibly frustrating, but that was more my disdain of a woman in her late twenties rationalizing her selfishness. Melanie's storyline proved to be most enjoyable because, while she does not end up with the man I'm assuming most readers wished she would, her storyline is more realistic than romanticized, which is refreshing in a sense.
My only complaint with Hilderbrand's Barefoot is that at points the inner monologues of the characters is repetitive and drawn out. The end of the book is rushed and I would have liked to see a more finished ending. None-the-less, a great book I recommend reading.