Arcadia Falls
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Product Description
Review
A wonderfully atmospheric literary mystery (BOOKLIST )
[A] moving story of mothers and daughters and the hard choices women must make . . . Goodman combines gripping suspense with strong characters and artistic themes. Those who read Antia Shreve or Jodi Picoult are likely to become fans (LIBRARY JOURNAL )
Goodman delivers the goods her fans expect in this atmospheric and fast moving gothic story (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY )
[A] moving story of mothers and daughters and the hard choices women must make . . . Goodman combines gripping suspense with strong characters and artistic themes. Those who read Antia Shreve or Jodi Picoult are likely to become fans (LIBRARY JOURNAL )
Goodman delivers the goods her fans expect in this atmospheric and fast moving gothic story (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY )
Book Description
A stirring mystery set in an idyllic mountain village, shrouded by the most haunting of secrets
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Arcadia Falls starts with a recently widowed mother, Meg Rosenthal, and her teenage daughter, Sally, travelling to an elite private college in the North East of the United States, where the mother has been appointed as a teacher. The daughter is a stereotypical teenager and is far from happy about this move. The author seems very comfortable with this sort of setting. The Lake Of Dead Languages and Carol Goodman's latest offering, Incubus (Fairwick Chronicles 1) both also involve single woman who have moved to similar colleges to teach. There are gothic overtones, pagan rites, witchcraft and folklore with strong hints of the supernatural which are all recurrent themes in Goodman's work.
The author has two parallel stories unfolding, one in the present day and one set about 80 years ago. These are linked by a journal written by one of the founders of the school, Lily Eberhardt, which Meg reads. Lily died tragically, and this is paralleled by a present day death at the school. The underlying theme of the book is the mystery as to the real circumstances of these deaths as there is a hint in both cases that there is more to these than straight forward accidents. Meg tells the story in the first person in the present tense - this can be an awkward way to write, but it generally works very well here.
For most of the book the author tells the story at a very gentle pace but writes beautifully. The descriptive passages are well worth lingering over, as her scenes, which are often very atmospheric, are set very skilfully and it is very easy to see them in your mind's eye. However, towards the end the action speeds up significantly. The conclusion is quite complex and ties up the loose ends with plenty of twists and turns, but for me the last revelation was one too many and stretched credibility a bit too far.
I find it very surprising that Carol Goodman has not acquired more of a following in the UK. Arcadia Falls is typical of her style and apart from a few reservations about the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If action packed page turners are your favoured genre, this may not be for you, but this is writing of high quality and many will be captivated with this story as I was.
The author has two parallel stories unfolding, one in the present day and one set about 80 years ago. These are linked by a journal written by one of the founders of the school, Lily Eberhardt, which Meg reads. Lily died tragically, and this is paralleled by a present day death at the school. The underlying theme of the book is the mystery as to the real circumstances of these deaths as there is a hint in both cases that there is more to these than straight forward accidents. Meg tells the story in the first person in the present tense - this can be an awkward way to write, but it generally works very well here.
For most of the book the author tells the story at a very gentle pace but writes beautifully. The descriptive passages are well worth lingering over, as her scenes, which are often very atmospheric, are set very skilfully and it is very easy to see them in your mind's eye. However, towards the end the action speeds up significantly. The conclusion is quite complex and ties up the loose ends with plenty of twists and turns, but for me the last revelation was one too many and stretched credibility a bit too far.
I find it very surprising that Carol Goodman has not acquired more of a following in the UK. Arcadia Falls is typical of her style and apart from a few reservations about the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If action packed page turners are your favoured genre, this may not be for you, but this is writing of high quality and many will be captivated with this story as I was.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Boarding school in the wooded Catskill Mountains, secret compartments, weird "pagan rites," unconventional relationships, untoward deaths--if these ingredients are your cup of tea, then "Arcadia Falls" is for you. And the mood-driven Gothic revival novel will keep you reading to the end, even though the author perhaps leads the reader down one too many twisting paths in her story line.
The main character is likable, but the novel is structured in such a way that any reader familiar with the genre will be way ahead of Meg in jumping to the expected conclusions as well as in recognizing when she is being manipulated, not only by the other characters but also by the author. And while improbabilities and coincidences are par for the course in such novels, the ending is so pat as to be beyond belief.
Curiously, the most effective part of the novel is the changeling fairy tale, which is so beautifully written that one can picture it mentally, complete with 1920s wood-block illustrations. And although it later became apparent to me that the main character narrates the story in the present tense in order to distinguish her story from the fairy tale and from Lily's journal--written in past tense, use of the present tense in the central narrative bothered me (I also found that while Lily's 'journal entries' were necessary to organising the plot, they interrupted the flow of the narrative). Mention of several actual brand names during the course of the story also gave me the feeling that I had become the victim of commercial product placement.
Bottom Line: "Arcadia Falls" is an entertaining book to take with you to while away your tedious hours of waiting at the airport in the unlikely event that your flight is delayed.
Reviewed for Vine; Amazon.com
The main character is likable, but the novel is structured in such a way that any reader familiar with the genre will be way ahead of Meg in jumping to the expected conclusions as well as in recognizing when she is being manipulated, not only by the other characters but also by the author. And while improbabilities and coincidences are par for the course in such novels, the ending is so pat as to be beyond belief.
Curiously, the most effective part of the novel is the changeling fairy tale, which is so beautifully written that one can picture it mentally, complete with 1920s wood-block illustrations. And although it later became apparent to me that the main character narrates the story in the present tense in order to distinguish her story from the fairy tale and from Lily's journal--written in past tense, use of the present tense in the central narrative bothered me (I also found that while Lily's 'journal entries' were necessary to organising the plot, they interrupted the flow of the narrative). Mention of several actual brand names during the course of the story also gave me the feeling that I had become the victim of commercial product placement.
Bottom Line: "Arcadia Falls" is an entertaining book to take with you to while away your tedious hours of waiting at the airport in the unlikely event that your flight is delayed.
Reviewed for Vine; Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have read al the books by this author and despite her repeats (main character being usually a single mother, teacher at university or in the boarding school) she still makes the plot entertaining enough to keep going. It is yet again a very engaging read with twists and turns on Italian soil. Great evening or beach read!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Carol Goodman at her best
LOVE IT, this book is fantastic ,it has a lot of the atmosphere of the "lake of dead languages" and the "seduction of water" i really think it is one of her best, i love her books... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mrs. T. SALMON
Slightly confusing story...
but well-written. "Arcadia Falls" is the first Carol Goodman novel I've read. The story she tells, about an arts colony turned boarding school, is complicated, but at the same... Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Jill Meyer
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