Love in Idleness

Rating:
Summary: A perfect summer read
Review: This book will appeal to those saearching for a classy romantic comedy. But between the jokes and the lyrical descriptions of Italy, as in Craig's other books, there are deeper questions being raised. The children in this updating of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream take on the role of the fairies. Is this because we need the raw energy and passion of children to really see things as they are? Or are they just meddlesome trouble-makers playing with potions and cobwebs? The characters fall in and out love - and most importantly, as with Craig's other books, seek to learn how to be true to their own best natures.

Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare meets Oscar Wilde
Review: This is a delightful summer comedy that I thoroughly enjoyed -- a kind of "Shakespeare meets Oscar Wilde" in subject and wit. The plot is a contemporary version of Midsummers Night Dream, set in an idyllic Tuscan holiday home. It is the perfect book to take along on a vacation, full of fun and mischief and puns. Best of all, there is a horrible mother-in-law.

Rating:
Summary: perfect holiday reading with extra depth
Review: This novel reminded me a little of one of my favourite books, THE INN AT LAKE DIVINE. Not because it tackles anti-Semitism, but because it has one truly obnoxious mother-figure, plus a cast of engagingly innocent young adults. I was surprised to see one reader objected to the portrayal of the children, which struck me as completely spot-on - and I have to say that, as a veteran of sharing holiday homes, Polly could have been my own self-portrait. Maybe that makes me a door-mat too....Anyway, it's a really clever, charming romantic comedy that made me want to visit Tuscany even more than Frances Mayes book did. Furthermore, it had a lot of ideas simmering away about the nature of children's grasp of what is real and what is imaginary. Plus, the ending made me sigh with contentment.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: While I enjoyed the allusions to A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, I found this book far from satisfying. Craig evokes the Italian landscape beautifully, but I couldn't get past my disgust with some of the characters. Betty is horrid, but she's supposed to be; the problem is with characters we're meant to view sypathetically. Polly is a spritless doormat, only slightly evolved by the end of the book, and her two children are among the most hateful, odious brats I've ever seen in fiction. Craig apparently writes children's books as well as reviewing them; I hope she doesn't think all children are as rude and insensitive as those she portrays here. Quite polluted an otherwise pleasant read.