Reviews for A primera vista (At First Sight)

The average rating for A primera vista (At First Sight) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-12-14 00:00:00 Oliver Merrick This started out well; a somewhat familiar scene, older husband plus younger wife - by 30 years. The husband, aged 80 wants to retire, or at least give an appearance of retirement - moves with his wife Pippa to the Marigold Village, a retirement community, Connecticut. Once settled, however, Pippa's other self raises a long-lost identity and starts sleepwalking, cooking crazy messes in the night, smoking in her car etc. The novel flicks back to Pippa's upbringing, and a mother who uses her daughter as an emotional surrogate for the estranged husband. Pippa gradually understands her mother's odd behaviour is connected to her Dexedrine habit, and leaves home before finishing high-school. She's involved with an older, married teacher, at the local boys school. Then my interest wandered - brought back briefly with interesting character in Aunt Trish who provides sanctuary for Pippa in her apartment in Brooklyn. Aunt T has a lesbian lover Kat, who turns out to be a user. Even more difficulty in focussing as Pippa learns about the rough side of New York habitants - hookers, alcoholics, drug users etc. Struggled on through the next tedious section. Finally given up where she meets future hubby, rich, older, successful Herb Lee. They fall madly in love. Herb divorces dolly wife Gigi of the fabulous bod, and becomes Pippa's perfect sugar-daddy - the sex was like "two waves crashing together and becoming the same water." God - was I BORED!! Can only describe the last half, possibly last third as Trash, and have given up.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-01-10 00:00:00 Barry Foster What molding and stretching is required of a woman who chooses to better the quality of life of others over her own? Perhaps this type of self-sacrifice cannot be fathomed from the outside in. To be the devoted wife, the doting mother, the gracious hostess, the caring friend'where and when does she find the time to find herself? Within in her sharply defined world, Pippa Lee is everything to everyone who matters to her'to Herb, her husband thirty years her senior and a prominent publisher; to her grown children, twins; and to a small circle of friends, New York writers and artists. She has no visible past or plans for the future. Ever adaptable, Pippa sees only placid days spent catering to Herb as they live out the golden years of their marriage in the Marigold Village retirement community. When Pippa wakes up to find that she has been tearing through the kitchen, smearing food around the dining room, picking up smoking again, and even driving to the convenience store all while fast sleep, her sure footing in life begins to falter. The destabilization of her environment and her youthful isolation in a sea of retirees lead her to revisit defining moments from her previous life, before Herb and their seemingly perfect marriage. What begins as a one-dimensional character study of the archetypal Mother/Wife figure transforms into a richly drawn portrait of a complex, often complicated life. When the unexpected throws Pippa off her increasingly shaky track, she is set loose from the existence she had trained herself to relish; in that moment, her character vibrates with newfound vitality and possibility, and the story itself is elevated to a new level of being. Through intimately detailed and poignant vignettes from Pippa's past and surprising twists from her present, Rebecca Miller constructs a deftly layered and moving novel of a woman's journey to herself. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a subtly and emotionally crafted read for anyone who has ever wondered, "How did I get here? And where do I go now?" Review by Kelly Moritz