Reviews for Body Surfing

The average rating for Body Surfing based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-14 00:00:00 Glen Sumailo Why do I keep reading Anita Shreve? I can't explain this strange relationship I have with her characters. They are my guilty pleasure. More than the love plots (which usually involve infidelity, hmmm) and more than the character development, or lack of....it's her writing style. I love her cadence, her rythmn, and her emotional connections. One of my favorites is Fortune's Rock, which is a twisted sort of love story. But I couldn't put it down. Maybe because the book was set on the water, which is an immediate draw for me. Anyway, I will happily keep reading my Shreve books, rating them just 3 stars, asking myself why?, and then rejoicing in the fact that I'm an adult now. I can read what I choose -- and enjoy it without having to analyze it on a term paper!

Review # 2 was written on 2008-02-26 00:00:00 Andrew Soller I wasn't expecting much from this book, and was pleasantly surprised during the first third. Anita Shreve writes with skill, although I could have done without quite as much description of what people are wearing - especially since they change their clothes at least twice a day. But she captures the scene of a WASPy New England family summering on the coast of New Hampshire perfectly.[return]But by the last third, I started wondering whether she knew quite where she was trying to go with the development of Sydney and the course of her life, and the end felt a bit loose.[return]I often find it difficult to enjoy books that are so focused on the emotions of their characters, because they seem somewhat false to me, but that is one problem I did not encounter here. Shreve nails the emotions in every situation, for every character, and it all feels just right. I didn't love the plot and felt the end was weak, but all the same this was an enjoyable read, and not as light as I had expected.