And then the young Gardner family moves in across the lake and Madeline finds herself welcomed into their home as a babysitter for their little boy, Paul. It seems that her life finally has purpose but with this new sense of belonging she is also drawn into secrets she doesn’t understand. Over the course of a few days, Madeline makes a set of choices that reverberate throughout her life. As she struggles to find a way out of the sequestered world into which she was born, Madeline confronts the life-and-death consequences of the things people do—and fail to do—for the people they love.
Comment: I bought this book by impulse at a book fair. In this day and age, with the help of the internet is can be pretty easy to think a book might be something we like or not but I'm still in that small percentage of the population in the western "civilization" that does not have internet on the phone so I stumbled on the cover, the blurb mentioned a teenager which put me off but since it was part of a award list nomination, it couldn't just be about a teenager's tantrums.
I have to say that, despite how difficult it can be sometimes, I really should avoid buying things without at least looking up at reviews...
In this story we follow the thoughts of Madeline, mostly known as Linda, and how she deals with the situations around her, especially after a new family comes to live near her house.
Linda and her family live in a sort of remote area far from the city and when the cabin near theirs becomes occupied, it's no wonder Linda is curious to know them. The husband seems to be away at work so Linda forms a friendship with the mother Patra and the 4 year old boy son, Paul.
Along with the challenges of living in such a spot, in an area where suspicion still drives some people's behavior and following the outcome of a scandal, the novel is centered on Linda and how she is caught in the middle of a situation she can't exactly understand...
The good thing of having impulse purchases is that there are no expectations about what's going to be read, so I've started this book not really worried if I'd like it. Still, it's always a given that we hope it will be a good read. I can say this was definitely interesting in the generic way anything unfamiliar could be but in the end it was just confusing.
One of the most recurrent positive opinion is that the writing is beautiful and I have to agree. The author has managed to convey anticipation and a little bit of suspense especially well. The descriptions are evocative and do help to create a good idea of what's around the characters. Some segments are very visual and I was able to imagine some details quite well.
There is also some characterization of Linda and those near her that I thought was very well done. One can simply understand a character by a description, a detail, an expression and this is good, of course.
The pace also offers that feeling that things are building up and most of the novel allows the creation of a certain atmosphere that the reader immediately imagines something will happen.
This book was in a list of nominations for literary awards and I can understand why. There's something very adult and polished and intentional in the writing and in the story.
However, this was not a story I enjoyed. I can accept the good parts and the positive aspects but all of them aren't much if the story itself isn't captivating or engaging.
I can accept the literary side of this novel, but the connection with the fictional lives of the characters was a miss for me. I didn't really connect with any character and the big mystery with all the suspense issues, the reason why Linda, as the character we follow the most, has to sometimes tell us things out of time, being it only a comment here and there (I mean, for instance, when she says how old she is now while doing whatever but she actually wants to mention what she remembers when she was 15...) makes everything confusing and unbalanced. There's this build up of anticipation and the notion something is going on we can't really grasp and when we do.... I mean, talk about an out of proportion tale!
The big reveal was not as exciting as I imagined. Even worse for me is the fact the story has a great potential, the big secret could have been exploited in a better way while maintaining the atmosphere of the story. I just think the reason why Linda and the family she made friends with could never work was not that clear and I can't tell if the author just assumed it was or if the meant it to be vague enough for the (usual?) literary demands of allow things to be read between the lines.
Another issue is the huge amount of needless details in the story. Sure, many things are evocative and give us a glimpse of emotions and states of mind but really, what do some things have to do with others? Mainly with the central plot? I think the need to insert as many special elements or wordy expressions, drama and character's musing or how they oddly thought about weird stuff was too obvious and ruined the more interesting things the story had to offer, such as what is right and wrong in how people think and behave and act on that and the result after.
All in all, this wasn't fun to read and I don't mean it had to be a comedy. But I didn't have a good time reading and wished it was over. I admit it wasn't difficult to turn the pages and the fact is small helped. But I wanted more of the main plot regarding the family or even more of Linda's own and her development. Too many things and too little action for a mostly disjointed book, I'd say.
Grade: 4/10
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