Death in Summer

Rating:
Summary: Interiors and Exteriors Make Interesting Story
Review: William Trevor has been highly recommended by people I respect, and I do plan on reading more of him. DEATH IN SUMMER is the first of his works I've encountered and while it did not quite live up to what I expected, that's not to say it isn't good. As I read it, I kept imagining it as a contemporary British television dramatization, a medium to which it would translate well, if not better than the page. The story is spare yet complicated: A new widower with an infant interviews and decides not to hire a nanny, instead accepting his mother-in-law's offer to come care for the child. Unknown to him, one of the girls interviewed and not hired as a nanny becomes obsessed with him, interjecting into his life unforeseen consequences, forcing him to confront the emotional isolation in which he had long taken refuge. The characters are fully drawn, as are the settings. The sentences are graceful. The movement of the action is a bit off, spending a little too much time away from the protagonist at times. It can be very quiet, too; doesn't eat its own scenery. In the end, though, it successfully conveys its themes, especially the observation of how so much of our knowledge about others' lives is gathered in eavesdropping or guessing, never with the complete information.

Rating:
Summary: Characters that will linger with you.
Review: William Trevor is my favorite writer. He conveys in simple, clean, but beautiful prose, the complexities of human existence. Having read all of Mr. Trevor's works, this novel is one of my favorites. It is the tragic story of loss and longing, filled with sympathetic characters -- victims and perpetrators. All of the characters are haunted by their particular past, and Mr. Trevor shows how that past impacts both the present and the future. A great novel, and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished the book. I strongly recommend this book (and Willliam Trevor) to anyone who enjoys writers such as Alice Munro or John Cheever.