I am a big fan of Rosamunde Pilcher, so when I saw this book by her son in the used book store, I bought it. He seems to be as talented an author as his mother, but has a more masculine and modern style. This book is as much about overcoming grief as anything else. Also, being a gardener in another country incognito is also an interesting slant. The interactions between the characters give the book depth. There is also another theme of an attempted takeover of a small community company by a larger corporation that wants to keep it only as long as it makes a profit. I only have two negatives to state. In the earlier parts of the book, I sometimes wondered if I could keep reading the 503 pages of the paperback. However, as it neared its end, I stayed up an hour late to finish the book. The other is the same with all British authors writing about Americans and Americans writing about British. Sometimes the Americans say something which would be more likely to be said by the British. The same is true when American authors have the British say something more likely to be said by Americans. One example is a British author having an American say,"I'll give it a go" rather than "I'll try it".
Lidiar con una pérdida de un ser amado siempre será una batalla dolora y sobre todo nos pondrá a prueba de que tan conectados con nosotros mismos estamos, que tanto conocemos nuestros límites y cuanto fue lo que dimos en la relación con esa persona.A pesar de ser el primer libro de Robin Pilcher y creo que como muchos, yo también opino que no tiene nada que ver su obra con la de su madre, pues el da un recorrido por la mente masculina además el tiene un estilo muy pausado. Tampoco podemos esperar que en su primera obra sea una gran genio, porque para todo hay que tener practica y experiencia y para ser su primera vez no estuvo mal.Personalmente me gusto la historia, un tanto sosa en algunos momentos pero supo subir de nuevo el nivel, y debo decir que siempre obtengo algo de nuevo de cada libro que he leído, y esta vez, tuve el agrado de conocer a Smokey Robinson & The Miracles y no he parado de cantar The Tracks of My Tears simplemente se me ha metido por la piel.
Do You like book An Ocean Apart (2000)?
This novel reminded me somewhat of an Archer epic saga. Now, I only say somewhat because it lacked a lot of the great things that Archer's novels have - one of which was length. Archer's novels can be heavy tomes and this one rang in at only 500 pages. It also lacked the love able characters and cliffhanging chapter endings. However, An Ocean Apart was an okay novel. It had conspiracy, love affairs and tragicness (yes, I just made up that word). I can't compare Robin Pilcher to his mother's novels because I've never read any of them. But I see other reviews do just that. If there is a direct comparison between them, then I'm not sure I want to read hers either. It's funny, because I can't quite put my finger on why I thought this was just ho-hum. Maybe it was the predictable ending. Maybe I found the whole novel fairly predictable. The element of surprise was definitely missing, which was a shame. And maybe I wanted a surprise ending. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a semi-sweet romantic type of novel. Either way, I might try one more of his novels if one ever lands in my lap.
—Jenn
A very difficult read. The first third was brutal, mostly because of the authors scottish grammar. I perservered because I wanted to see how a male author would handle sex scenes.... there were none. The high level plot was about a hostile corporate take over, which in the end was a non-existant threat. The other theme that ran through the book, was the emotional breakdown that the main character had after his wife died of cancer. While the last half of the book was easier reading, it was definitely not a read again. Not sure how it made it to the New York bestsellers list.
—Denise
I read this while traveling and found it to be well written and enjoyable. It is a good story and reminiscent of Rosamunde Pilcher's September. One thing that I really liked about this book was the relative timelessness. I kept wondering why they didn't just send an email or call on their mobile phones. When one of the characters pulled out a floppy disk, I had to look at the copyright date. I didn't realize it was written in 1999 until I actually looked at the copyright date.This is well written and good entertainment.
—JayeL
