Off Season
by Anne Rivers Siddons
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Book Reviews of Off Season
Book Review: A tale of many loves...
Summary: 4 Stars
Ms. River Siddons's new tale is an extraordinary song of love and loss, reinvention and perseveance with a dash or two of well, magic. Set initially on one of Maine's less wellknown sections of coast in the early 60's, you are introduced to a shabby genteel family with academic father, painter mother, introverted son and gang leader daughter who "summer" in their slightly down-at-the-heels wooden house. That fateful summer of 1962 leads to many changes in the protangist daughter's life which echo through her life and the novel. Lilly retraces those early years at Edgewater, the Maine cottage, when she unexpectantly loses her beloved huband Cam and goes to scatter his ashes in the place he felt most at home. Loss of parents, a first love and the changes one makes to keep going on are revealed in flashbacks. Coastal Maine is as much a character in this book as any of the humans named and it's evident that the author holds the magic of the place as precious as any gem. An engaging read to share with friends...Book Review: Disappointing, to say the least!
Summary: 2 Stars
This was the first of Siddons' books that I read, and I am unlikely to pick up another.Characters are unbelievable or completely undeveloped--are we to accept Lilly's mother's explanation that allowing the old man to fondle her was an act of "kindness"? Jeebs' absences are explained,almost as an afterthought, long after the reader wonders where he is. Brief comments are made about Tatty, but she isn't really seen until she appears to influence and then move in with (?????) Lilly's father. What happened to Lilly's childhood friends? Where is Cam's family when he dies? The ending is unbelievable, and weak. Siddon has Lilly die, rather than show her return to a "real" world (The cat conversations are ridiculous.) after seeing proof(?), following MANY juvenile hints by other characters, that devoted, loving Cam had had an affair, with, of all people, the hated Peaches. This would be a perfect story line for network soap opera writers,who typically love the silly, unlikely, and intelligence-insulting...Book Review: Dialogue with a cat?
Summary: 1 Stars
I struggled with this book trying to understand the plots and warm up to the characters. I didn't really get how everybody lost a friend or relative through accidental death - that seemed a little too pervasive.
The main man in the story, Cam, feels like such a loser because his little sister died when they were both little kids. But we are also told that he is a great success as an architect and as a ladies man. I couldn't get a handle on whether he was supposed to be a happily successful or deeply troubled character.
I guess the talking cat was supposed to be a little comic relief but I found his comments jarring in the context of such deeply emotional scenes. Myself, I avoid talking to pets as a general policy. But every time Silvanus, or whatever his name was, interjected a comment, I wanted to say, "Look, if you can talk, you can get your fat little rump off the couch and get yourself a job."
Book Review: One of ARS best
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read all of ARS books, starting with Downtown about 15 years ago. What I want to know is who the writers of the other reviews have been reading? Off Season was a trip back to Mrs. Siddons original style of writing. All of her books have an ending that leave you wondering and using your imagination to fill in the blanks (Peachtree Road, Colony, & The House Next Door to name a few). As to what some reviewers have called the unbelievable plot of Lilly talking with/seeing the dead, that has also been used in several other books (Fox's Earth & Colony).
Off Season is great tale of loss and love. It makes you laugh and cry, often at the same time. I gave this book 5 stars because I absolutly loved it. I read it in about 3 hours and will probably read it again tomorrow. Off Season is the best that ARS has written in a while. Yes, some elements stretch the mind but that's what makes her books so enjoyable.
Book Review: Oh, please!
Summary: 3 Stars
While I have been a great fan of Anne Rivers Siddons since her first novel and have read everything, I found "Off Season" very disappointing. Her dialogue of children is so adultlike that I can't imagine any child under the age of 25 speaking those lines...or articulating the emotions. They were like miniature adults, not children, and therefore seemed ludicrous to me. There were story arcs I wanted finished that didn't get done and explanations for those innuendoes that blanketed the latter one quarter of the book. What exactly was the relationship with Peaches Davenport and Cam? And why in the world would Cam -- whom we are led to believe had impeccable taste, be drawn to the nasty, shrieking Peaches?
On the other hand, I read the book on my Kindle in two days, not able to put it down, which says something for Siddons and her compelling writing.
But this is no "Peachtree Road," which to me is by far her best work.