Ah, Thursday. The weekend is in sight. Plus this one is special, with that whole brand, shiny new weekend-ness.
And Thursday is extra special because it's book review day!
I recently read Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife. The story follows Kathryn Lyons, a pilot's wife. One night there's a knock on the door. Her husband's plane has gone down, exploded actually. She confronts life without her husband, survival with her grandmother and teenage daughter, and a media circus.
Publicity and rumours spur on Kathryn's actions as she deals with the immediate aftermath of her husband's death. As secrets surface, she begins to question how much she really knew the man with whom she shared her life.
Peppered throughout the novel are memories, small snippets telling of her history with her husband, Jack. I liked this format, this movement between present and past, this reminder of what she did know to be true about him and their relationship.
It's hard to critique this book without major spoilers, so I'm going to be rather vague.
Overall, this book was... okay.
I guess I was expecting more.
But the "huge twists" were blatantly obvious. The characters had potential. But I never really cared about Kathryn. I wanted there to be something, some stakes, some reason for me to sympathize with her. Honestly I think the reason I liked the flashback memories so much were it gave some depth to Kathryn and Jack's relationship, and thereby her grief.
I also like the premise, the question of how well anyone ever really knows anyone.
And the characters had potential. The bones were there! They just needed more.
I was waiting for something. And then, the end was just too... well, I don't want to give anything away, but it was a little too much. Trying too hard, perhaps.
The whole thing just really felt... flat. It was a solid shoulder shrug. Not awful. Totally fine. The writing was good, too. But a book about grief and secrets and love should have made me feel.... something. It really didn't, not much anyway.
Again, it was okay. Just okay.
This book was on Oprah's Book Club list; do you read books from her lists? How about this one?
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