Nights of Rain and Stars

Nights of Rain and Stars
by Maeve Binchy

Nights of Rain and Stars
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Book Summary Information

Author: Maeve Binchy
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-29
ISBN: 0451224116
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: NAL Trade

Book Reviews of Nights of Rain and Stars

Book Review: How to make the Greek Islands seem boring and pedestrian ...
Summary: 2 Stars

I picked this one up while travelling, having read and enjoyed Ms Binchy's earlier novels, as it seemed the perfect holiday read: four people from disparate backgrounds and different countries, each seeking something that their ordinary lives hitherto hadn't given them, thrown together by chance after witnessing a horrific accident on a small Greek island. The four - Thomas, Elsa, David and Fiona - become actively involved in the close knit island community, and with the help of the Wise Irish Expat, find out what's really important.

What's really important, according to this novel, is love and family - and if you were in danger of forgetting that, you are virtually clubbed over the head with The Message in almost every chapter. Unfortunately, the writing is so focused on The Message at the expense of character development and realistic dialogue. Each of the characters appears to be a stereotype, rather than a three-dimensional person; for instance, while we are told frequently how sweet young Irish ingenue Fiona is besotted with her thuggish layabout of a boyfriend Shane, we're not shown why. Shane's characterisation is in fact the most striking example of the problems with character development - he is a one dimensional obnoxious boofhead, with no redeeming features whatsoever. Elsa's apparent reasons for wanting to escape her own persistent suitor don't make much sense. We're told, but not shown, each character's thoughts and emotions, often to an unnecessary and tedious degree, including those of peripheral characters - do we really need to know what the copper at the Athens lockup thinks of Shane and Fiona's relationship? As for Vonni, the Wise Expat - it seems we are supposed to care about her, but I simply found her irritating. The dialogue is stilted and wooden; none of the conversations seem realistic; and it's very difficult to care about or identify with any of the characters. As for the setting, I got no sense of the environment at all. Nor did it ring true that the four travellers would be so deeply affected by the accident, as other reviewers have pointed out - in real life, one would be initially shocked, very sorry for those affected, but would soon move on. The overall impression I received was that this novel was phoned in to meet a deadline.

It's such a shame - none of Binchy's talent at bringing ordinary people to life and creating believable situations is evident here. If you're new to her work, seek out her earlier novels, especially Echoes, Firefly Summer, Circle of Friends etc and skip this one.

Summary of Nights of Rain and Stars

In a tiny Greek village, tourists enter a hilltop tavern, alone and in pairs, for a casual lunch. But a sudden tragedy in the harbor below causes these perfect strangers to become unlikely friends as their lives begin to entwine.

Fiona left her nursing career in Ireland to be with the man everyone thinks is wrong for her. Elsa fled Germany and her high-powered television job once she learned what the man she loved was hiding from her. Thomas mourns his failed marriage and misses his young son in California, while David yearns to reconcile with his family in England without having to go into the family business. Chance has brought them together, and together they will find new ways of looking at the lives they left behind.

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