The set-up is interesting enough: a young woman falls in love with her imaginary friend Michael, a man who served as the only constant in her sad, lonely childhood. On her ninth birthday, Michael is forced to part with her . . . only to find her again two decades later in New York City, looking beautiful but just as lost as she was as a kid.
Jane is now a writer/movie producer thing (I couldn’t honestly tell you, I didn’t care) still under the thumb of her domineering, whimsical mother Vivienne — a character who is more of a caricature than an actual person. After a brutal break-up with actor Hugh, Jane goes out to treat herself to a diamond ring at Tiffany’s — and then finds herself gravitating to a restaurant she frequented as a kid. It’s there that she sees a man who looks remarkably like Michael, her childhood companion . . . only other people can see this guy, too. It takes a half-second of deliberation for her to march right up to him, and then this “whirlwind” romance begins.
Oh, this one crashed and burned for me. The complete lack of nuance immediately had me rolling my eyes — there was absolutely nothing to grasp between the lines. I felt like the characters had a giant metal bucket used to repeatedly beat me over the head with the horribly, horribly obvious plot. The writing was pedestrian, uninteresting; I was emotionally removed from the storyline.
What should have been romantic — or at least interesting — was made ridiculous by the poorly written conversations and so much telling and no showing. For instance, instead of telling us that Michael and Jane had these sparkling, life-changing conversations, why can’t we actually hear them? Why does everything have to be spelled out as though we’re a group of third graders, completely incapable of processing an emotionally fulfilling relationship? (And it would probably insult third graders, too.)
If Patterson’s name hadn’t been slapped across the top, I can’t imagine who in the world would have picked this one up for publishing, crying, “This is it! This is the one — our international bestseller!” Because, wow. No. I’m very sorry, but no.
Honestly, there isn’t much more to say. Terribly disappointing!
1.5 out of 5!
ISBN: 0385341245 ♥ Purchase from Amazon ♥ Author Website
No comments:
Post a Comment