I am not sure why, but I am bothered by the writing of novels in the present tense. I guess that when someone is telling a story, by definition, it’s happened already, so why tell it as if it’s happening RIGHT NOW? I do usually get past it and just get into the story, but I think that it took me an inordinate amount of time to get past it in this particular book. It may be that it just took a bit of time to get into this story in the first place, but I’m not sure.
Anyway, this story is about a young woman, Sydney, who is living with a family at their beach house because she’s tutoring their 18 year old daughter, Julia, to prepare her for the SAT’s. During the course of the summer, Sydney is introduced to Julia’s two older brothers, one of whom she becomes romantically involved and the other becomes alienated from the family. There are interesting twists of events that bring the family closer and tear them apart and Sydney becomes very entwined in these events.
I think what finally drew me in is the relationships that develop among the different characters. Julia’s father and Sydney, for example, grow to have a very warm, mutually respectful relationship and there are a few very tender moments between the two of them.
Bottom line: in my opinion, it’s an interesting story but if you don’t have a lot of time to read, I wouldn’t put this as a priority.
kindread spirits 