Where or When
by Anita Shreve, Virginia Barber
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anita Shreve, Virginia BarberEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-04
ISBN: 0156031272
Number of pages: 252
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of Where or When
Book Review: 3.5 stars - not my favorite Shreve book but still worth the read
Summary: 3 Stars
WHERE OR WHEN by Anita Shreve
August 23, 2007
Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Here's another Anita Shreve book, an earlier one that was published back in the 1990's. WHERE OR WHEN is the story of an affair between two former childhood sweethearts who never were given the chance to find out whether they belonged together or not. Charles Callahan is currently married with two children. He is in sales. He lives a mundane yet successful life, or at least he had been able to say he was a success at one point in his life. However, he's kept from his wife the fact that he has not been able to pay the mortgage so they are about to lose their house. She has no idea how percarious theier finances are. While they've been together for a long time, he has never really been in love with his wife, but has grown to love her over the years.
One day he accidentally comes upon a newspaper article of a woman with her photograph next to it, announcing her latest collection of poetry. That woman was Sian Richards, and he recognizes that this woman is the young teenage girl he had fallen in love with at summer camp so many years ago. He doesn't let his wife know he's reading the article, and in fact he hides the page when she comes upon him while he's reading it. At the time he doesn't know it yet, but he is about to embark on a journey back to his teenage years, and to a love that almost consumed him but never had a chance to grow.
Charles is now wondering what ever happened to Sian all these years. He is curious and he makes contact with her. It's on a whim, but she answers him, and soon they are pen pals, not letting their spouses know, as they catch up on each other's lives. An affair ensues as is inevitable. But what makes this book worth the read, is Anita Shreve's writing technique. She intersperses the story with the letters they write to each other, and keeps the reader in suspense with each new letter that is sent. It's a basically simple story, about two secret lovers who want their story to be happily ever after, but there is of course that hitch - they already have their own families, with spouses that really never gave them reason to cheat. Do they want to risk their marriages and hurt the ones they have lived with and loved, just for the sake of their own happiness?
I won't reveal the ending, as it really is the climactic highlight of the book and makes the story what it is - a tragic love story about two people who tried their hand at love. (The reason for the 3.5/5 stars is because I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for Charles. There was something about him that I did not care for. )
Summary of Where or When
What would you do if out of the blue, you received a letter from your first love? Siān Richards sees no reason why she can't write back to Charles Callahan. After all, it's been thirty years and they are both married with families. But when they decide to meet again, an innocent correspondence becomes a dangerous intimacy. Swept up in the past and consumed by an obsessive love, Charles and Siān risk everything to be together. A heart-wrenching, suspenseful story with an unforgettable conclusion, Where or When is also a 'thoughtful, beautifully written contemporary romance' (The Washington Post).
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