Off Season
by Anne Rivers Siddons
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Book Reviews of Off Season
Book Review: Altogether worth waiting for...
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read all of Siddon's novels, and this was one of the best. For anyone who spent summers in a special place, this story will cause all the best memories to come flooding back. If you cared about your summer place as much as I did, when Siddons writes "where we lived was just a place to wait for summer" or something to that effect, you'll get gooseebumps,too. The descriptions of that special place not only illicit visions, but aromas, and you'll find yourself straining to breathe the salt sea air - and yearn to rock on Lilly's porch, snuggled up with a cat that speaks a language only Lilly can hear. Lilly takes us through her growing up years - all the wonder of them and all the pain. In many ways, Lilly's innermost feelings and concerns are so like every woman's - although, thank goodness, we have not all experienced her painful times.
I was in tune with this story right up to several pages from the end, and there, I could not understand why it had to become "twisty". I, like another reviewer, found myself going back and re-reading the last third of the book to see if I had just missed the clues that would have made the ending more acceptable. As it was, I was mouthing, "Oh, no...." and wishing I could feel better about it all.
The ending is the reason to take off that fifth star, but should not deter you from taking the time to read this book. I guarantee total immersion in Lilly's world, which is so beautifully described that you can't help but feel you are standing beside her, gazing far out to sea, and breathing cool, salty air! For those of us who couldn't make it to the beach this year, this book offered a marvelous trip without tracking in any sand at all!
Book Review: A Beautiful Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read Anne Rivers Siddons' books before, but it's been a while. I know that I enjoyed them, and even sought out book after book after "discovering" her, but 6 or 8 years later, I don't remember any of those books.
I can't imagine not remembering Off-Season.
It is so beautifully written and captivating that I kept asking myself, "Why don't I read more novels?" A good novel such as this one weaves a story from which you can't escape. Truth (or relative subjective truth which appears in the memoirs that I'm gobbling up) is interesting. The stories compel me, but they lack, by definition of reality, the beauty and symbolism of well-written fiction.
This novel deals with the tragedies surrounding Lilly Constable's life -- jumping from her middle-aged years to her growing-up years and back again with a fluid motion. Because of the way the story is told, when I was halfway through I was already thinking that I should read it again to pick up on the nuance of the whole story as it's told in part. The story really is full of loss, but for some reason -- for me at least -- it was not at all sad. It was beautiful and true.
Off-Season does take a leap off the page of realism at the end, but by that point I was "in," so I bought it hook, line, and sinker. If you were able to enjoy the movie The Lake House (Widescreen Edition) with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, you'll be able to buy this. If not, listen to the few naysaying reviewers and avoid it.
Book Review: A Maine Background
Summary: 4 Stars
I have, over the years, read all of Mrs. Siddons books and generally liked them. I have a dear friend who has a home on Edisto, so am familiar with that section of SC where I have visited, and she describes that part of SC wonderfully in other books such as Stillwater Creek.
But in this book, because I live in Maine and spent all my childhood summers and 20 of my adult years on Mt. Desert Island, am more familiar with the region where she sets this book - actually I know every town/village/scene she describes so well (since she summers in Brooklin, not far away from the book's summe setting, she also is intimate with the area) and she is extremely accurate. And the view from Caterpiller Hill IS amazing!
And I was raised in D.C., so many of her descriptions of events and places in D.C. are familiar to me. I was tickled, for instance, to hear a long ago dancing class I attended as a pre-teen mentioned, Chevy Chase Club and so forth.
It's easy to get into her characters hearts and minds and I loved the book but will only give it 4 stars as was so disappointed at the ending. How could her classy husband have had a thing with Peaches, the biggest pain in the neck I've read about in a long time. I suppose it was a quick fling when he went to ME without Lilly when she had a commission to finish. Still and all, disappointing, and a bit silly to have a childhood love pop up into her thoughts after fifty plus years at the end.
I WOULD recommend the book though.
Book Review: The magic of first love
Summary: 4 Stars
Away from the familiar backdrop of the Low Country and the South, Anne Rivers Siddons' newest book Off Season moves to coastal Main. Lilly Constable McCall is returning home to Edgewater, the family summer home in main. Her beloved husband Cam is beside her in an urn and her only other companion is Cam's cat Silas. Lilly is returning to the place where summers were wondrous and magic happened when least expected. It was at Edgewater Lilly met her first love, Jon Lowell. That summer she was eleven and Jon was twelve. It was a heady time; the country was caught up in the Kennedy mystique. Lilly and Jon explored the island searching for new osprey and sailing the sound. A single event throws the entire summer into turmoil and Lilly retreats into a safe place of her own making.
Years later, it is Edgewater that beckons a heartbroken Lilly to return and she spends the remainder of her summer with the happy memories of family and her life with Cam. Something lurks under the surface, a hint that all was not as secure as it seemed. Hints of an unwelcome presence surface and Lilly faces with the reality that her life was not quite as it seemed.
Anne Rivers Siddons has crafted a wonderful blend of reality and magic. She creates characters that are complex and fallible and mostly likable. The joy of first and unselfconsciousness of first love captivate and the heartbreak of betrayal stings. . This is a captivating book that I wasn't able to put down.
Book Review: Not Her Best
Summary: 3 Stars
Like many reviewers, I have been a big fan of ARS. IMHO, her best stuff was her earlier work like Peachtree Road, King's Oak, Colony and Downtown. Her characters in most of those books were deeply complex and interesting and the plots covered controversial topics. That was what made her books so good. I just didn't get that feeling from this book. I felt the relationship between Lilly and Jon was a little unrealistic - given that they were 11 and 13 respectively. Actually, when their ages were finally revealed, I felt quite shocked, as Lilly's thoughts struck me as coming from a girl much older. Likewise, the conversations between her and Jon really sounded like they were taking place between much older teenagers.
Most of the book felt 'rushed' to me, with characters and story-lines not being well developed, especially Lilly's relationships with Jon and Cam.
While I will continue to read ARS's books I did feel disappointed by this book - the ending seemed very contrived and rather confusing. One of the things I noticed with authors who produce a large of body work like Ms. Siddons, is, after a while, there is a noticeable decrease in the quality of the work. It's as if they run out of steam or ideas or they are now allowing other people to write their books (a much more common practice than the average reader realizes.) Ms. Siddons is now 72 years old and, sadly, I have begun to think her peak writing days are over.