The Beach Club: A Novel
by Elin Hilderbrand

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Book Reviews of The Beach Club: A Novel

Book Review: Wonderful Sense of Place
Summary: 3 Stars

The novel opens as a summer season begins and the tale concludes as the season ends. The goings-on at a deluxe oceanfront resort form the spine of the plot.

With as many characters as a Dickens' classic, Hilderbrand explores the loves and travails of both the resort's long-suffering staff and of the transient guests. Indeed, one flaw is that the reader is teased with snippets of the problems some the paying guests. Yet, repeatedly, these fragments never are brought to a natural conclusion, since these characters' adventures at THE BEACH CLUB end when the characters depart the hotel...as resort guests inevitably do.

The core characters, alas, are not as fully developed as they could be, and neither do most of them prove particularly likable. Of course, this lack of likability makes the novel less enjoyable than it would have been with compelling characters. Still, Ms. Hilderbrand is to be complimented for taking a story with an ultimately predictable conclusion and making it into something unexpected.

Perhaps an author as skilled as this onewould have served her novel better with fewer primary characters, and better development of those who remained. There is no escaping that Hilderbrand is an excellent story-teller and a gifted writer, and that THE BEACH CLUB is an excellent read. Anyone with an appreciation of Nantucket or similar island resorts will find that THE BEACH CLUB resonates.

Summary of The Beach Club: A Novel

Women's Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction