The idea behind the novel had lots of potential. It could easily have become a great thriller with a feminist touch, but unfortunately, the novel did not live to expectations.
The biggest problem is the lack of a plot. Yes, Celeste is abandoned in an airport with her children by her husband and she must decide what to do with the rest of her life, that is a great beginning, but the novel seems to stop there. Everything goes smoothly for Celeste from then on, from finding the perfect job to being able to afford her first house without incident. She just goes in and buys a house with cash. She develops a relationship with the perfect guy who has absolutely no flaws and who loves her children without effort, and her life proceeds to be a heaven that no reader out there could ever identify. We all have daily problems and struggles, there is no way to feel close to a character who doesn’t have a single problem in her life. Even the big confrontation between her old husband and her new husband is resolved too quickly.
The writing style is not bad, but the novel becomes dull as the pages turn and nothing happens. There is no tension and no fear that Celeste will get anything less than a happy-ever-after. If you like stories that are so feel good they make your teeth ache, then this one is for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it.
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2 comments:
I take issue with your review of Snow's novel, Landing Place. Instead of commenting, I would like to post a review of my own:
Haight-Ashbury Revisited!
If you're old enough to remember the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, and such musical headliners as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin; or if you just know these names and their psychedelic rock music, Read. This. Book.
Powerful writing and evocative dialogue will take you back - or introduce you to - this defining moment in the 1960s when the hippie countercultural movement first came into public awareness. Major media interest in the hippie subculture popularized the movement both across our country and around the world, its cultural and political rebellion reverberating with us still. Disgraced by the denial of tenure, Celeste Castle's husband, Cal, a physics professor has grudgingly accepted a position at a community college in New Mexico. En route to his new job, Cal has disappeared in the Las Vegas airport. "Where's Daddy?" their children ask fearfully. After searching the terminal and all Vegas casinos to no avail, the police have issued a missing persons all-points bulletin. In hopes that he will show up, Celeste, with her children, travels on to their destination. She finds the desert town so appealing, she decides to stay. In her husband's continued absence, she draws on all her strength and determination to create a life for herself. She meets a kindred spirit who shares her feelings about New Mexico, "The Land of Enchantment," and finds herself having to reevaluate her marriage while struggling to understand how the countercultural rebellion has affected her family.
This novel may very well join the author's previous award-winning titles - The Walking Wounded (2001), Look No Further (2004) and, more recently, Ailanthus Park 2008).
You may take issue with my review all you like, but it doesn't change my thoughts on the book.
It does seem a bit on the rude side, though, to post your own review instead of commenting, especially since said review addresses very little of the faults I perceived in the novel. Actually, you've just outlined the plot instead of giving your detalied thoughts about it. I would have had no problem to have your thoughts on it stated in the comments, but a meaningless review, eh, not so effective.
I won't delete it because I hate doing that, but please next time, post your reviews on your own site.
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