I was really looking forward to reading this book, as my first Diane Chamberlain, Breaking the Silence, lingered in my mind for days after reading it. I had Googled her after, just to see what kind of books she wrote, and found that they were on of my favourite genres. One I usually call, Jodi-Picoult-style. When my usual book seller put this book on her web, I quickly bought it in hopes of feeling the magic I had felt in the previous book but after a few chapters..
..I'm not quite sure if I like this book or not.
Don't get me wrong, there IS a story here. A good one too. But the pace was a bit too slow for me and in the end, I found that I disliked Claire. I felt like she was taking advantage of her paralyzed husband, Jon. Jon on the other hand, felt a bit spineless (no pun intended) as he didn't seem to want to fight for Claire as she 'tried to find herself'.. in another man's arms!!
Maybe its because of our Muslim upbringing, but I've read other books that are worse and they don't disturb me as much as this one did. I just don't understand how you can't talk to your husband (whom you had teamed up to build a successful business-cum-counselling-thingey) abou something that has defined your childhood, your past and even your ownself yet get so eager to talk about it to another man you have just known?! To the extent of sneaking around and using your bestfriend as an alibi, without even telling her you were doing so. That's sneaky, not I'm-trying-to-cope-with-my-problems as Claire seems to want people to believe.
Well, yeah! This genre is based on so-called real life experiences.. but not if there doesn't seem to be any guilt in Claire who seems so selfish about her own problems, she was willing to ignore her wheelchair-bound husband who, though independant, clearly loved her furiously.
Randy, the other man, at first didn't seem important in this story. Until he turned into, well, the other man. I thought we were going to have a peak into his childhood with Margot and her twin. They seemed to have a good childhood (except for when her twin, why can't I remember his name?, died on the bridge that night) I was looking forward to it but was disappointed when I was only given a teeny weeny glimpse of his past. Other than that, I only saw Randy as someone not man enough to respect a marriage. My first impression was correct, Randy was NOT important at all and wouldn't have changed much of the course of the story if he wasn't there.
The only 'light' I saw was when the book centered on Vanessa. I felt like 'she' was more of the story than Claire even if it was Claire who dominates the book. Her feelings of betrayal towards Claire and her whole view of the world after what happened to her felt real enough to make me feel this book could be saved (and it might be the reason I'm still giving Ms Chamberlain another chance)
I think, if you are just getting to know Dianne Chamberlain, DON'T start with this book. I loved her other book very much so I still think I could give another try on her books. And I'm glad I didn't start with this one
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