Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sorry :o(, 10 Jul 2008
First thing that needs to be said is this is better than Second Chance. It really is better. The only problem is this isn't very good, either. I really think Green has just run out of ideas, or inspiration, because one of the characters in this book is a 37-year old woman called Carrie... who happens to be a writer. Are we directly ripping characters off tv shows now? Another character is called Matt; a gay man who is every woeful stereotype you could possibly imagine. Amongst others, he calls people "honey", calls his gay friends "the girls" while discussing his numerous flings.
Also, it's not very well written. For example, there are a couple of phrases used again, and again, and again. The most annoying is how the characters "feel they've come home" when they kiss their new person; running a close second is how half of the characters at various points eventually feel "comfortable in their own skin". Both of these phrases are used at least 4 or 5 times throughout and by halfway through, I was rolling my eyes.
Am so worried that sounds mean, but this book is pretty much the final straw for me when it comes to reading any more Green. Parts of it did make me genuinely quite cross. In it, we're told that a particular character - "like all women" - is a chameleon when it comes to men; willing to change on a whim to please the new man. I think that's insulting, and a little arrogant. Are you so desperate for a man you're willing to compromise who you are? *Are* all women that way? I'm saying no.
Similarly, 9/11 is once again referred to. A character compares the events of 9/11 to their life being a little topsy turvy suddenly, and I actually had to put the book down for a day or so upon reading that. Citing terrorism - yet again - is just reprehensible.
Few of the characters are very kind. They all seem to cheat on people, or go after married people... what's more, the plot is really, truly predictable. You'll know what's coming within 10 pages. You'll know who ends up with who, and you'll know exactly who *is* who.
On the plus side, the descriptions of Nantucket are wonderful. They'll make you want to be there; to uproot and live there peacefully for the rest of your life... and I think that may be the problem in some ways. Green used to be a single gal around London. Her writing was real, and earthy and beautiful. Now, though, it's a little smug, and disassociated and, truthfully, it's mundane.
I wanted to love Beach House, because Straight Talking and Jemima J are remarkable, and Second Chance was such a let down, so a lot was riding on this one. I tried to love it, but everything I've mentioned combined just got too much and this is the last Green book I'll be reading.
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43 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Memorable Summer Story, 9 Jun 2008
This book opens with a scene female readers of a certain age will adore: Nan Powell, 65, stops for a skinny dip in her absent neighbor's pool, then cycles into a local village smoking all the way, scandalizing a family of tourists.
"What has happened to people?" Nan thinks, as she traverses the cobblestones. "When did we become so precious?" A family of six passes her, father, mother, then four little ones, like four little ducklings with sparkly aerodynamic helmets on. "When did our children have to wear helmets, When did we all become so scared?"
Nan Powell's great virtue is that she doesn't become scared easily, even after her financial adviser tells her she's in dire straits. After her husband committed suicide, drowning himself one morning, Nan grew tough, raising her son Michael on her own, living her life on her own terms. Now she's become the resident eccentric in a town of tourists, known for her beauty and her trademark red lipstick.
Facing the new challenge, Nan turns her home into a summer bed and breakfast, and draws a circle of new friends around her, all come to the beach to heal themselves -- a divorcee still recovering from her husband's infidelity, a young father of two girls struggling with his sexual orientation, and Nan's son Michael, on the rebound after a disastrous love affair of his own. Soon the rambling old house has come to life with the sound of children laughing, life streaming all around.
The plot takes some unexpected twists and turns -- there are some nasty developers on the scene, naturally -- but this is a sweetly memorable summer story, capturing the relaxing, renewing quality of life at the shore, when we find ourselves on the edge of something new.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Beach house foam, 17 Jul 2008
Jane Green tends to write write fluffy beach reads, the sort of books that get turned into equally fluffy TV movies.
And in "The Beach House," she links together a series of storylines that could have easily made up their own books, with a warm'n'fuzzy sentimental core in an ancient Nantucket house. Unfortunately it begins to come unravelled about halfway through, and some of those storylines simply rush to the finish line without bothering to spin up a satisfactory conclusion.
Eccentric widow Nan Powell is faced with selling her beloved old house Windermere, with its memories of her beloved albeit gambling-addicted hubby. The alternative: take in boarders for money, and fend off the developers who want to tear down Windermere for McMansions.
At about this time, her son Michael returns home after an ill-fated affair with his boss's clingy wife, who now wants a commitment from him. And among the boarders are Daff, a newly-divorced wife and mother who is seeking "herself," and Daniel, a nervy young man who has just realized that he is gay, and is struggling to deal with this. His young wife Bee, who is understandably upset by her husband's distance, is still ignorant of this.
As time winds on -- and the developers circle around Nan's run-down mansion -- the various people begin to relax and open up to each other, like members of a family. But then a series of crises hit -- Bee's father is badly injured, Daff's daughter is arrested, and Michael's desperate former lover shows up with some shocking news for him (yes, you can probably guess what). And even Nan is faced with an old face from her past, who she thought was gone forever....
"The Beach House" has more than enough plot -- any of its subplots would make a decent novel, and Green winds together a series of them with some tenuous links. Jewelry stores, yuppie marriage counseling, and an empty house post-divorce are all explored in detail, as the characters' lives start spinning out of control. And she tackles some of the nastier aspects of adultery and moving on, such as disaster dates and a tantrum-throwing teenager.
But when all the characters get to Nantucket, Green seems to lose some of her inspiration. She rushes through the last quarter of the book after a leisurely build-up. And she seems vaguely embarrassed by the prospect of a big emotional scene -- big shattering events are dealt with via a phone call, a horrifying betrayal is handled by a few sniping comments and general shunning. One character even conveniently expires to avoid dealing with the general baggage.
This is particularly troublesome in Daniel's story -- his coming-out and tentative explorations into the gay subculture is both wrenching and intriguing, as you wonder what this loving father will do to avoid hurting his wife and kids. But once he's out'n'proud, then Green shies away from actually dealing with it, or with his attraction to the conveniently hunky Matt. The drippy "let's not have sex because I want a commitment" scene is simply absurd.
As for the characters, they're a mixed bag. Nan is the biggest problem -- she's not really eccentric, and she's not really nurturing. Yet Green has her randomly flip-flop between being an eccentric old free spirit, and being an earth mother-type. Not that it's very plausible that her tomato garden could instantly turn a spoiled, shrieking, shoplifting regressed teenager into a little angel overnight.
On the other hand, Daniel and Bee are explored with painful, beautiful detail, as he struggles to deal with his homosexuality and she struggles with the revelations about what their marriage was, and where this leaves her as a desirable woman. Too bad Michael is an insensitive and self-absorbed jerk who strings along a married woman until she ditches her hubby, and Daff loses her tragic wronged-woman dimensions as soon as she shrugs off Michael's adulterous liaison. Who cares if that's the sort of thing that broke up her marriage? He's hot and has tight abs!
"The Beach House" has potential and plot to burn, but the rushed final lap and a couple puttered-out storylines leave you frustrated. Here's hoping the next try is longer and more passionate.
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