Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Off Season
Book Review: I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read every book written by Anne Rivers Siddons. I did not think it was the best, it did remind me of her earlier work. Family, marriage, love, loss and secrets. Some reviewers thought it weird talking to her cat. Have you never been alone and had a conversation with your pet?
I became very absorbed in this book, loved the characters with all their flaws. I felt, saw and almost smelled Maine and Edgewater. If you are new to this author try Colony and Peachtree Road!
Book Review: I would have rated it a 3 until the last 5 pages - worst ending EVER!
Summary: 1 Stars
I enjoyed reading the book all the way up until the very end, but the ending was horrible. The entire book is built on the development of various relationships between the main character, Lilly, and other people in her life. Most of the relationships are clearly painted and the interactions between the characters helps the reader to bond. Despite the fact that Siddons sets up the relationship between Lilly and her husband as being one of the most critical to the book, she hardly deals with their adult relationship at all. Towards the end the reader just starts to get a glimpse of what their life together was like, but it is a foggy picture. Clues start dropping that there might have been trouble in paradise, but it was all very subtle. Then the book ends quite abruptly and mysteriously opening up new questions without answers and not answering the questions that were already developed. It was like the cliff hanger at the end of a soap opera instead of the satisfying end to a complete novel. Unless there is a sequel I don't know about, I don't recommend this book because of how frustrating it is to leave the reader in the dark after all the effort she spent to get to know these characters.Book Review: I'm so glad I loved this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been reading Ms. Siddons book since her first one came out, many, many years ago. I have loved some, and just liked others, but I think she is a wonderful writer. Her descriptions say so much, in few words, I can see and feel what she is writing about.
I loved these characters, flaws and all, and I enjoyed the little touch of mysticism she added through the book. I noticed in other reveiws, that this was not a favorite of some readers, but I felt like it added to the magic of the location that most of the story took place. And the magic of the strong relationships. I just thought this was a beautifully written book, and it is now up there with my favorites of her books.
Book Review: Jarring ending
Summary: 3 Stars
I pre-ordered this book months ago and was so looking forward to receiving it. In the back of my mind I remembered the author's previous novel Islands, and I hoped that she would not finish with a similar ending, which I found jarring and out of place. While I consider this book light reading, I enjoyed reading about Lilly's childhood, her parents, and her first love. Also, the descriptions of Maine, the ocean, and the local wildlife were interesting and often lush. I felt the spiritual/mystical dimension worked well, at least until the end of the book when it became predominant and overbearing. When in the book Lilly leaped from age 13 to 18 and subseqently met Cam, the storyline did not work as well for me. I felt that the instantaneous adoration between Lilly and Cam was strained and unbelievable, as was their courtship. Lilly's father's character at this stage also became unrealistic to me. He too easily changed his positions on what Lilly's future should hold. This is not to say that his first position was correct; but I find it hard to believe that for someone so adamant, he gave way so easily. Then we leap to 20 years later, and even 40 years later. While I searched for connections between Lilly the girl to Lilly the young woman, and then middle-aged wife at the end, I could not find a common thread, or at least until her and Cam's separate secrets were discovered. Especially with Cam, I felt blindsided. Not knowing the fundmamental basis of his childhood, how could I know him at all, or understand how he thought about and felt things? Even knowing his secret at the end didn't help me understand how it played out and the repercussions it caused. There are just too many loose ends to understand cause and effect. Yes, I can all too well understand Lilly's shock at the end of the book; but as a reader, it leaves me feeling uneasy and as if the story is unfinished. Anne Rivers Siddons is a good writer. I only wish she wrote the second half of the book as well as she did the first.Book Review: Lazy author, phoney local color...
Summary: 1 Stars
She didn't even bother to look up simple facts about nature, the wildlife and sailing she writes about in florid detail, getting them wrong, wrong, wrong. Makes me hate the rest of her supposedly so-evocative detail. I've never been to Maine, so I wanted to enjoy the location, but I do know a lot about ospreys, eagles, and sailboats, and she gets them all wrong, so I assume she was equally lazy about everything else she describes in such detail. She even has the summer solstice being the **longest NIGHT** of the year! And she puts sunset on that day at 7 pm in Maine!!! And the plot, as everybody has commented on, is just a trumped up soap opera. Why must chick lit be so stupid?