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Body Surfing: A Novel by Anita Shreve
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Body Surfing: A Novel

by Anita Shreve

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773364,898 (3.36)18
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Showing 1-5 of 35 (next | show all)
Not my favorite of Shreve's novels. This book, about a woman's relationship with two brothers and their family, wasn't particularly memorable. I read it a couple of years ago, and don't remember many of the details. ( )
herebedragons | May 21, 2009 |  
This book is a little strange. The way it's written it seems as the narrator is away from everyone and everything, looking down at Sydney and the Edwards' family. Because of this, I found it difficult to sympathise with any of the events that happened. Sydney may have tragically bad luck, but for me, the house was more of a character than the people.

This is the first book of Anita Shreve's I've tried- not certain whether it's worth trying any more. This book is also very short at 264 pages- worth $16 at a discount store? Probably not. ( )
birdsam0307 | May 2, 2009 |  
For me Anita Shreve's books go from wonderful to just so-so. This book was at the low end, but did hold my interest throughout. There seemed to be a tone that went throughout the book that kept it in some middle-ground of emotion. Though the storyline had its ups and downs you felt the main character just had the same reaction throughout. I thought that the characters of the two brothers could have been fleshed out much more. You don't really understand the motivation of either. I'd also wished that the sister, Julie, who along with the father were the most interesting characters was also pursued to a deeper level. This okay book could have been so much more and I guess in the end that is the disappointment. ( )
Baetrice | Feb 18, 2009 |  
When Sydney Sklar agrees to tutor teenaged Julia Edwards at the Edwards' New Hampshire beach cottage she never expects to fall in love with one of the Edwards brothers. Nor does she expect to find that "slow" Julia has enormous talent but that her family can not truly support her - or Sydney's own relationship to them. A wonderful story with a conclusion that is by turns heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting. ( )
Elishibai | Jan 5, 2009 |  
Hated this book...choppy prose style was extremely distracting. Story was predictable...... ( )
KC9333 | Oct 12, 2008 |  
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Amazon.com (ISBN 0316059854, Hardcover)

The beach house in New Hampshire which figured in Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife, Fortune's Rocks, and Sea Glass is once again featured in Body Surfing. This time, it is the summer home of the Edwards family, Anna and Mark and daughter Julie. Mrs. Edwards has great hopes for Julie, who is "slow," so she hires Sydney to tutor her, in preparation for her senior year. There are two older brothers, Jeff and Ben, whose arrival changes the household dynamic considerably.

Once again, Shreve revisits the minefield of love and betrayal that she has explored so well in her best novels. Sydney is 29, twice married, once divorced, and once a widow. She is floundering, not sure she wants to go back to school, accepting whatever job comes along and then moving on. She answers the ad for a tutor and finds herself in the Edwards household, where she discovers that Julie has undiscovered artistic talent. Mrs. Edwards dislikes her instantly, is dismissive, and treats her like a servant. Mr. Edwards befriends her, shows her his roses and talks to her about the history of the house, giving the reader a rundown of the role the house has played in prior novels.

Sydney, Jeff, and Ben go body surfing late one night and Sydney is sure that Ben has tried to grope her underwater. She takes immediate umbrage at this and treats him coldly thereafter. Shreve's other work has a steady narrative flow, but this novel is episodic and disjointed. There is the the arrival of Jeff's girlfriend, her departure, an evening when Julie comes home drunk and won't talk about it, and a liaison between Sydney and Jeff which leads to the complications that eventually define the novel. There is a twist at the end, involving the brothers, that is divisive, destructive and rather hard to believe.

While this is not Shreve's best effort, because the characters are not well-defined, it is worth reading her take on what happens to people when they compete for love. --Valerie Ryan

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:08 -0400)

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