Fault Lines

Rating:
Summary: Had me crying and wishing it wouldn't end
Review: I made the mistake of trying to read this as a "distraction" during finals week my sophmore year of college. In the end, my finals, my packing, and even sleeping became secondary to finishing "Fault Lines". Possibly, I was simply homesick for my own hills in Washington, but I fell in love with the forested California setting and the thought of running away from it all to hide in the forest. I cried at least three times, causing my roommate, who thought I was immune to emotion, to decide that I had finally gone off the deep end from stress. Later that summer, when I was coming to terms with breaking up with a boyfried who never quite was one, I was hearing, in the back of my head, "Be my same stars, Gavin," and it seemed that Merritt and TJ were splitting alongside Gavin and I.
I've been a fan of Anne Rivers Siddons ever since I stumbled across "Heartbreak Hotel" in the public library, but this has got to be the most engrossing book of hers that I've ever read. I read it again, when finals were over and I didn't have to deal with classes and my roommate, and I loved it just as much the second time. I don't often gush about books (or anything) but this definitely deserves it.

Rating:
Summary: Dumb ending, trashy love story
Review: I've enjoyed a number of other books by Siddons, but found myself very disappointed by Fault Lines. The book started out great but slowly moved downhill to a dismal ending. It read like Siddons was placed on a tight deadline to finish the book and was forced to whip out anything in order to meet the deadline. The ending was predictable and just plain dumb. The so-called "love story" was trashy and read like a cheap grocery store romance novel. Yuck. I haven't been able to pick up another one of her books since.

Rating:
Summary: A promising premise but doesn't really satisfy
Review: This book has a lot of promising character work in it, but is undone by its own lack of subtlety. I was drawn in to the characters' lives during the first half of the book, and found myself caring about what happened with the mother-sister-daughter trio. My involvement remained, even though I was put off by the author's tendency to beat the reader over the head with points she felt were important. I could have gleaned much about the main character through her actions; instead, I was told, over and over, what kind of person she was. I kept wanting to edit those passages down -- "I get it already!"

Still, I was happily reading along. Unfortunately, a little more than midway through the book, the story grew more and more melodramatic. A relationship was developed -- a pivotal point for the main character -- but it pulled her out of the family context and into an overblown, false-feeling love story. Again, it's the author beating the reader over the head with what could have had more power through subtlety.

The book kept me reading, but I couldn't help but wish that these interesting characters were given a more thoughtful and restrained treatment.