- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Back Bay Books (Aug 17 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316314927
- ISBN-13: 978-0316314923
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 1.9 x 21 cm
- Shipping Weight: 313 g
- Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
National Book Award winner Gilchrist (author, most recently, of Courts of Love, LJ 9/15/96) has blessed her followers with another entertaining work of fiction. It presents a complex cast?not the least of these being the central character for whom the novel is named. At fiftysomething, Sarah is a high-powered editor at Time magazine and a successful novelist. At the novel's beginning, a childhood friend has died, and an old love?the husband of that friend?has reentered her life. What seems like an easy opportunity to rekindle an old flame is more akin to mixing fire and gasoline. Gilchrist leads readers between past and present in Sarah's life and explores the marked differences between her dynamic, stressful, urban existence in both New York City and Paris and the possibility of a suburban albeit more emotionally complex life in Nashville. For general fiction collections.?Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Readers of good fiction love Gilchrist's books for their feisty heroines, complex emotional predicaments, supple humor, and suspense. Her newest novel seems to promise all of the above, but somehow, Sarah Conley, Gilchrist's latest strong-minded woman narrator, leaves us cold. It could be because she's so aloof, controlling, ambitious, and vain, but the real problem lies in Gilchrist's drift into the oversimplification of pop romance. Instead of psychology, social commentary, or reflections on the human spirit, we get a tallying of items such as designer clothes, luxury automobiles, expensive jewels, and extravagant homes. The plot, too, is hackneyed. Sarah and her best friend, Eugenie (both beautiful, blond, and brilliant), marry two handsome brothers, although both are in love with Jack. Eugenie saw him first, and they stay together after Sarah's marriage falls apart and she loses custody of her son. Sarah channels her anger into a couple of successful novels and a career in journalism. Long out of touch with Eugenie and Jack, she enters her fifth decade as an editor at Time and the sugar momma for a guy in his early thirties. Then Eugenie dies, Sarah and Jack immediately become lovers, and Jack buys an engagement ring, ready for wife number two. But Sarah has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime: several months in Paris to write a screenplay for a big-money Hollywood movie. Will she and Jack work it out? Do we care? Sarah insists that she isn't selling out. Maybe not, but it sure feels as though Gilchrist has. Donna Seaman
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
unlikable main character,
By "strawberryvenus" (Waterbury, CT) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sarah Conley (Paperback)
This book was awful. I could not find any redeeming or likable qualities in Sarah. Snobby, self-centered, and worst of all, boring. The plot could not possibly have been more blah. Not even good beach reading.
1.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining but basically ****,
By malfouka "malfouka" (SF East Bay, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sarah Conley (Paperback)
First of all, there are so many errors in this book, such as: Sarah takes 10mg of xanax when the usual dosage is between .5 and 2 mg.Secondly, the dialogue is pitiful. Just plain horrible. Thirdly, the characters are unreal. Sarah fails as a likeable protagonist--she is self-centered, cruel, and basically despicable. Her attitude towards Elise certaintly does not add to her charm--why does she repeatedly refer to Elise as "ugly" and blame Elise for the initial failed relationship with Jack? I cringed my way through this book wondering how it managed to get published in the first place.
2.0 out of 5 stars
promising story falters...,
By wanderlust (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sarah Conley (Paperback)
While Sarah was comtemplating her past and current life, she was called to visit her childhood and dying friend. Would there be explanation and redemption for both women's lives? Would there be growth for this woman, someone who the author repeatedly referred as a "survivor", finally acquire some understanding and acceptance for other people's weaknesses? At that point of the novel, it was full of mystery and wonderment as Sarah embarked on her journey to visit her friend. Unfortunately, her friend immediately died after a brief meeting; Sarah picked up her love affair with the friend's husband; the only thorn to their happiness was that she had to go to Paris to write a script for a large sum of money. All of sudden, we are reading a romance novel where the hero and heroine were enjoying the wonderful scenes in and outside of Paris. I couldn't help but feel the author wanted to enjoy a trip to Paris while she worked on the book; so she conveniently developed her story in that direction. Disappointing book. One the other hand, I picked up the book from the deep discount pile. So it's my own fault to waste money and time on this book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
