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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
Anita Shreve is the author of A Wedding in December, Light on Snow, All He Ever Wanted, Sea Glass, The Last Time They Met, The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club, The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange prize, Strange Fits of Passion, Resistance, and Eden Close. She lives in Massachusetts.
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Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001833490
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: Versandantiquariat Felix Mücke, Grasellenbach - Hammelbach, Germany
Taschenbuch. Condition: Gut. 272 Seiten; schief gelesen, Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! K8336 Altersfreigabe FSK ab 0 Jahre Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 2. Seller Inventory # 717851
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Seller: Schürmann und Kiewning GbR, Naumburg, Germany
176x108x22 Kl.-8°, Taschenbuch. Condition: Gut. 264 Seiten 264 S. Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 148. Seller Inventory # 11918
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Seller: Joie de Livre, Varennes sur Amance, France
Couverture souple. Condition: Bon. English, paperback, good condition, 264 pages. Seller Inventory # WK417
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Seller: Libreria IV Fontane S.a.S, Rome, Italy
Brossura. Condition: nuovo. senza sovraccoperta. prima edizione. Seller Inventory # NA156
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Seller: Antiquariat Buchhandel Daniel Viertel, Diez, Germany
Condition: Gut. Auflage: Digital original. 272 Seiten in gutem Zustand 19892 ISBN 9780349120478 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 140 10,9 x 1,8 x 17,7 cm, Taschenbuch. Seller Inventory # 2255220
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Seller: Collectors Bookstore, Antwerpen, Belgium
Paperback. Condition: Fine. Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. Published by Independently Published in 2007. Paperback ISBN:9780349120478. Collectible item in very fine condition. Seller Inventory # 0349120478
Quantity: 1 available