|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Green
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $14.96 (60%)
New (48) Used (34) Collectible (1) from $9.47
Rating:  150 reviews
Sales Rank: 852
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0670018856
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780670018857
ASIN: 0670018856
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Hardcover. Brand new
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Loved it! June 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was my first Jane Green book. Her writing style is perfection. She described her characters so wonderfully that I am sad the story is over. As sappy as it may sound, I felt like a part of that Nantucket home.
Prior to starting this book, I read a book where the writer over-analyzed, over-explained, and just plain over-did it. This book was a breath of fresh air... even with all it's drama.
I'm searching for another Jane Green book now. :)
Devoured The Beach House over a weekend and loved it! June 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Beach House is the perfect summer read. I instantly fell in love with the characters (Nan, Daff and Michael were my personal favorites) and the twists and turns had me on the edge of my chaise lounge! Kudos to Jane Green for penning another fabulous novel!
Another great read June 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this book. It brought me back to the Nantucket I knew as a kid and, the island as I know it today. The essence of the island is beautifully captured. I found it to be a hopeful and human story about a very believeable cast of characters who, all in life transitions, come together under one roof. Green is a master story-teller. Smart, witty and, to my happy surprise, a whole lot deeper and nuanced than would expect from the "genre". Highly recommended.
A charming and comforting beach read June 30, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Beloved author Jane Green, herself a recent transplant to the United States, sets her latest novel, THE BEACH HOUSE, in perhaps the quintessential American coastal environment: the island of Nantucket. Almost without realizing it, long-time widow Nan Powell has gained a bit of a reputation in her town. Living alone in a historic beachfront house, Windermere, freely bathing (nude) in her neighbors' pools and transplanting their hydrangeas, the old woman, cycling down island roads in all weather, has become an eccentric island fixture.
But Nan's free-spiritedness has been bound to catch up with her sooner or later. Windermere is getting old and run down, and Nan has also neglected her finances, remaining blissfully unaware of her dwindling assets until her financial adviser alerts her to the very real possibility that she'll lose her house. When Nan decides to bring in summer boarders to supplement her income and save her home from bloodthirsty developers, she also secretly hopes to bring Windermere back to the old days, when it was bursting with life, overflowing with laughter and love.
It doesn't take long for Windermere to work its magic, despite the troubled backgrounds of the boarders who make their way there. There's Daniel, who's hiding a life-changing secret from his separated wife, who can't understand why he's walking away from the perfect marriage. There's Daff, a divorced mother of an attention-seeking teenaged daughter caught between her hard-working, grieving mother, and her father, who has moved on with a new girlfriend. And there's Nan's own son, Michael, whose latest girlfriend in a string of failed relationships might have been the worst mistake of all.
Much like the Nantucket coast, Green's prose is characterized by breezy, effervescent storytelling. Rapid shifts from character to character help move the story along, and even the minor characters (like Michael's married girlfriend and Daff's ex-husband) have their (brief) moments in the sun. Green is most effective when setting up each character's unique background, situation and personal crisis. Once the players are gathered at Windermere, the novel --- just like a good weekend at the beach --- develops into a dreamy haze of sun-dappled good feelings, interrupted only occasionally by a few rocky patches.
Skeletons lurk in almost everyone's closets in this book, and they all get a good airing before each crisis's inevitable conclusion. Although THE BEACH HOUSE offers readers few surprises, comfort, not confrontation, is what most want out of their summer novels. And Green's latest offers comfort in abundance. Reassuring reunions, self-discovery, transformation --- not to mention secret inheritances and true love --- lie in store and result in a supremely satisfying happy ending. All these elements help ensure that the book will leave readers --- much like the inhabitants of Windermere --- swept away by the spell of Nantucket's charming past, before SUVs, celebrities and multi-million-dollar houses displaced old families, friendly gatherings and authentic homes.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Perfect Read July 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the perfect summer read, easy to get into and follow, with plenty of things that are perfect in their lives. The writing is detailed and you feel like you are there and reminds me of some places I have been to. It all comes together with characters working through various issues. Wonderful entertainemnt.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
