Maggie Gee

I really enjoyed this novel. Having a good knowledge of the town in which the story was set made it interesting. M. G. has a way of writing that makes landmarks seem bigger than they actually are, and the many characters each seemed real, even the bit-part background characters, and it was good to see the return of Monica, from the previous novel, "Blood". I loved the talking ravens, the tunnel connecting the town to overseas, the theft of the display ship, and the cliff collapse. The plot was a simple one: strangers arrived, strangers left. Yet M.G. managed to keep my attention and adapt this plot into an adventure full of mystery and development. Various subjects too were explored; pandemics, reliance on technology, racism, evolution, climate change, all of which added to the appeal of the story. The magic/fairy tale aspects of talking animals, super-humans, genetic immunity to viruses, and mass impregnation made use of the one thing a great story should be - fictitious. I learned the names of plants and some history of Gibraltar. The running of the local grammar school, the influence of the Wetherspoon pub, the lifeboat volunteers, the local craftspeople helped create an overall enjoyable, optimistic story, and an accurate analysis of how outsiders are absorbed into a local community.… (mer)

"Where are the Snows" features two very rich, self-obsessed lovers. The book begins with the two of them deciding to just "permanently leave" the two college-age kids behind and go do want they want (travel, live in hotels & f*ck mostly). The story is told in 1st person vignettes, dated between the late 80s and 2007, by each of the characters involved, but mostly our two lovers (did I say she is the stepmother?). That’s as much as I’m going to say about the plot.

My first response to this story was an immediate reaction to what the two were doing and how they talked about it. I couldn’t think of a more self-obsessed twosome. Do they deserve my sympathy? I spent the first chapter pissed-off and disgusted...but...I kept reading…. Even at the end of the story I couldn't say that I had any sympathy for the twosome at all (which shocks me a bit as I'm a very empathetic person, but I guess I have limits…) However, the book itself, does make one think… What do their actions do to the idea of family? Can teens be damaged by this kind of behavior? (or does one think them 'fully formed' at this point?) What is love and what is obsession, can they be the same thing? Do we blame the man or the woman more? Would a reader who was not a parent have the same reaction I did? Would a male reader have a different reaction to the story? Or should the gender of the reader make no difference?

I'd love to hear a book club discuss this book… (there’s fair bit of sexual content in it, so perhaps not good for every book group;-) The book also reminds me a bit of reading [We Need to Talk about Kevin]. So, this is a “reaction as a review….” I’ll give it 4.5 stars for blowing my mind.… (mer)