Stiltsville: A Novel (urspr publ 2010; utgåvan 2010)

I am having the BEST summer of reading. I keep saying, "This is the best book! No, wait, this is!" This was a great story of a woman who falls in love with Miami, and a young man who lives there--and whose family has an amazing house built on stilts in Biscayne Bay. And the book unfolds from there, as Frances and Dennis build their lives together. But oh, it is so much more. Their friends, family members, the decisions they make about work and life, and relationships. And it also becomes a story about love and family and catastrophic illness. Daniel ties it all together amazingly well in this readable, first novel. ( )

I'm a sucker for books set in Florida -- there is always the lure of "Florida weird" hanging about them. But Stiltsville is Florida-normal (if there is such a thing). Frances Ellerby, the narrator, tells the story of her romance with Dennis DuVal and their 25 years of marriage. They met at the Stiltsville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiltsville) house built by Dennis's grandfather and continued to spend getaway weekends there for the next 20-odd years. Daniel wonderfully evokes the scenery and nature of Biscayne Bay, but doesn't tell much of a story. Although the book takes place from 1970-95 when Miami was undergoing massive changes, those changes are merely background history -- they hardly touch the middle class life of the Duvals in Coral Gables. I got the feeling that Daniel was writing about what she knows in this, her first novel, but I'm not quite sure what the point of all of it was. It was a pleasant summer read, but not much else. ( )

Susanna Daniel takes a look at the everyday lives of everyday people. Spanning about 25 years, we get a detailed, snapshot look at specific happenings in their lives. We learn about the characters as they go about dealing with some of the same successes and problems that confront us. Set against the background of Miami, the family-owned stilt house figures periodically in the story. Ms. Daniel does a credible job of portraying the characters of the protagonist and her husband. While some may criticize that nothing much happens in the story that is “newsworthy,” isn’t that what life is really all about? We are just ordinary people coping with the stuff life throws our way, and while decisions about our children, our health, our jobs, and the people we with deal with on a daily basis may not seem important to others, these things are important to us. It is somehow fulfilling to read about others who are, in reality, no more outstanding or important that we are. ( )

Well-known librarian Nancy Pearl has suggested that readers are drawn into a story through four doorways: story, setting, language, and/or character. For setting and language lovers, Stiltsville may be a 5-star read. But those looking for appealing characters or a compelling plot will be disappointed. Daniel's main character, Frances, meanders through most of her life, experiencing the usual ups and downs of marriage and parenting. Even though Daniel conveys the emotions of a long marriage honestly, the character remains unsympathetic. Daniel captures the distinct feel of life in a house built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay (until they were swept away by Hurricane Andrew) but awkwardly inserts bits of Miami's history into Frances' fictional memoir. Some readers will be captivated; others will be merely bored. A turn of events late in the novel reveals the depth of Frances's love for her husband but it's too little, too late for a reader drawn into a novel through the character and/or story doorways. ( )

This was an okay read for me. The book begins in 1969 when Frances finds herself in Stiltsville, where she meets Dennis and falls in love with him. I was drawn to their love story immediately. The story of their lives together goes on to them marrying and having a child. They go through several ordeals as a couple and parents. The house in Stiltsville starts out almost being a character in itself. There were times I was more concerned about the house on stilts than I was about Frances and what she was going through. By the end of the book, Stiltsville no longer even plays a roll in the story. The end of the book picked up again for me and I was satisfied with the way it ended although it was an ending that required kleenex. I think I was supposed to come to the conclusion that marriage is like a house on stilts? I would give this book 3 stars. The beginning and the ending drew me in but the middle just lacked something for me. Maybe it just wasn't the book for me. Maybe it was because I didn't connect with Frances and at times I really didn't even care for her as a person. Others have given this book glowing reviews, so be sure to check them out before making your decision to read this book. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was a decent read but not an earth shattering read. ( )