I've heard from a few of the book club people that you found Seduction entertaining, but that the strings of coincidences seemed a bit too implausible.
I agree that there are quite a few of these strings. Maybe it's because I have watched too many episodes of Doctor Who but I'm all right with suspending a little disbelief now and again. More likely, I think that I'm not bothered because I have experienced just enough random moments in life that I find such moments plausible. For example, running into my seventh grade English teacher a thousand miles from home and fifteen years later sounds completely impossible, but it happened. My honorary aunt running into my father at Westminster Abbey sounds beyond impossible, but it happened. Maybe it's the whole "believe three impossible things before breakfast" aspect of Alice in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass at work in my life...
Speaking of Doctor Who, the former writer for the show, Russell T. Davies, has remarked that he thinks that the relationship between mothers and daughters can be very complex and fascinating to explore. I am very grateful that my mother is still alive, and that I've had a chance to know her as adult to adult. Iris' struggle to know a mother she lost while still a child really intrigued me somehow...
Plus, I'm a history teacher, so I love reading about research and the headaches one gets from microfilm!
6 comments:
Those are the bits I enjoyed - microfilm, etc. And I'm always intrigued by the "missing mother" syndrome in so many novels. Since becoming a mother, I worry I'll die too early - not for myself but because my daughters would be half-orphans and my writer brain wonders how they'd handle this "tragedy". Sometimes I like to wallow in melodrama.
As I think you know, I have a very high level of suspension of disbelief. My parents raised me that way; it served their purpose.
I found it very entertaining, but all of the fabulous dresses that fit 30 years later and all of the romance with Aidan was a bit much for me. I subsequently read another of her books and had similar problems with it.
I also thought the book had a weird tone. Until the end, the tone seemed less...maybe Gothic(?)...than the events it described. Did anyone else feel that way?
@cranky - here's what was eerie for me about the dresses. I grant you that it all sounded a bit odd... except that I had the same experience with random dresses of my mother's fitting me. It was really weird...
I'm with you on Aiden being odd. I like your choice of the word "gothic" - anyone else?
I did find the book entertaining, though it certainly does take some willingness to suspend disbelief to enjoy. I did find the switching between the Selkie story and the "real-life" plot line a bit jarring at times, though.
Suspending disbelief wasn't a big deal for me. I just got frustrated with Iris' inability to live her life in ways that meant something to her. Jack bugged the snot out of me, what a loser/taker/jerk and his about face toward the end of the book made me hope Iris did something impulsively mean to him. Of course she didn't *sigh*
I liked Aiden, I liked the selkie story, I liked the necklace, the upstate NY location and even the mystery around Iris' mother. But I didn't end up liking Iris all that much.
Post a Comment