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Sara Gruen is like Sarah Waters Lite. Or Sarah Waters washed out, perhaps. The history in Gruen's historical fiction felt incidental. WWII just happened to be raging in the background while her characters raged at each other in the foreground. I didn't mind the "lite" history, but it was jarring when she'd suddenly insert a 2 paragraph update on the war. And that's what it felt like- a calculated insert. "Oops, haven't reset the scene in a while, let's make mention of those Allied troops one mor...
First of all, I understand all the less than stellar reviews as the plot really is ridiculous......taking a trip across the Atlantic to Scotland in search of the Loch Ness monster, during wartime no less, just so a young spoiled son of a rich man can get back into his father's good graces, salvage his "full" allowance and move back into the family mansion? Really.......But then I read the prologue and the gravestone and the story about Mairi, the loss of her infant daughter, the telegram of her
Water for Elephants, set in Scotland, with the Loch Ness Monster instead of Rosie the Elephant. WARNING: - THERE BE SPOILERS AHEADI will just go ahead and tell you right now, that this book opens with three of the most unlikeable characters you can possibly imagine. You might even ask yourself why you would want to continue reading several hundred pages about the vapid lives of a bunch of over privileged American brats. In response I say, yeah, I thought the same thing. Maddie, her husband El
I didn't like Water for Elephants. In fact, I hated it. I stopped reading it with 50 pages left, tossed it in the library donation bin and have refused to pick up anything by the author since. Until now. The combination of a historical set in Scotland during WW2 with 'Nessie' thrown in for good measure, was just too enticing not to try; even for me. I kind of envisaged something a bit like the film 'The Water Horse'.For the first hundred pages or so I cursed my curiosity for getting the better o...
It's been so long since I read Water for Elephants that I only really remember the feeling I got when I read it, and not necessarily any of the finer plot points or the writing style. And At the Water's Edge is not quite that - it didn't excite me or lift my heart the way Water did, but I still liked it in its own right.First of all, I loved the whole idea of the book - Maddie, her husband Ellis, and their very close friend Hank (a very cozy threesome) live a luxurious, lazy party life - World W...
Pitch perfect atmosphere, characters who grow and develop, who anger and impress and please, a story line that ebbs and flows and builds in intensity until you are utterly submerged in the story - turning pages faster than you want to because you want to do the writing justice but you also have to find out what happened. At the Water's Edge is the the kind of novel that restores one's faith in humanity -- and in great writing. It was an honor to read it.
The author Sara Gruen has indicated in several online interviews that she has held a long-standing fascination with the Loch Ness monster starting at the age of twelve when she first visited Urquhart Castle. As such, a monster-related plot creates a backdrop for Ms. Gruen's historical fiction novel At the Water's Edge. Although unique, it's just there in the background allowing more impressive themes to shine, such as war, culture, gender roles in history, friendship, marriage, love, mental heal...
(Nearly 3.5) Gruen does a great job of bringing her settings and time periods to life. The first third or so of the novel was particularly promising, as she introduces her characters in upper-crust wartime Philadelphia and then sends them to rural Scotland on a hunt for the Loch Ness monster. I especially enjoyed the Hollywood-esque love triangle of the early sections – Hank and Ellis buzzing around Maddie made me think of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire fighting over the female lead in Holiday Inn...
I thoroughly enjoyed Like Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen, and was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read this authors latest novel, At The Water's Edge.Set during WWII, Maddie, her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank leave their pampered high society lives in Philadelphia after falling out of grace with family. To prove themselves they cross the ocean, during this tumultuous time, in search of the Loch Ness Monster. They quickly discover a whole new world they are not accustomed to
The idea of three wealthy young Americans sailing off to Scotland in the middle of WWII just to try to prove that the Loch Ness monster was real and to salvage the reputation of one of their fathers seemed rather silly and far-fetched to me. But I was engaged by the dangerous adventure itself and their aim to prove some things to the world, and not just that the monster existed. The men, Ellis and Hank, have been outcast from society and from their own families because, due to color blindness an...
