I See You Everywhere The ways the lives of two sisters wrap around each other is at the heart of "I See You Everywhere" by Julia Glass. The novel is presented as the point of view of each of the sisters at various intervals in their lives. They are the daughters of an upper class couple who live in Rhode Island. Their mother is a very enthusiastic woman obsessed with dogs, horses, and fashion. Their father manages marinas for the very wealthy. Louisa is four years older than Clem and in many ways the more serious, more conservative of the two. They are often in conflict, even though they don't always acknowledge their differences. In the first episode, Louisa has come home following the death of a great aunt. Although the aunt was wealthy, Louisa is only interested in a minor piece of jewelry for which she has a sentimental attraction. Clem had been spending some time with the aunt as a quasi caretaker and she casually pocked the necklace. Louisa never confronts that loss and it is never mentioned again in the novel. The women treat many of their disagreements that way. Many differences are just accepted and any discussion is off limits. The sisters follow roles which seem pre-set with no opportunity to fully acknowledge either the love or the competition they feel for each other. Their roles seem trapped in the attitudes of young children who argue about which parent loves them the best.
Flashbacks follow the teen years when they shared fashion experiences, jewelry, and sports. Louisa was the more focused sister with a plan for life. She got a degree in art history and attempted to become a serious potter. Gradually, she began writing magazine articles for the art world and that eventually became a solid career at a prestigious art journal. Clem was always more physical than cerebral. Her passion connected her to the natural world. She had short term jobs all over the world helping to preserve the habitat of various wild animals from seals to grizzly bears. The men she became involved with are an active part of this world. Other than a memorable time when Clem "stole" a man from her sister, they are never attracted to the same type of man. Louisa has a solid, predictable marriage, but Clem plays a sympathetic role when Louisa's marriage fails under the burden of infertility. This novel thoroughly explores the burden and pleasures of sisterhood. [6-7-09]
How to Buy a Love of Reading "How to Buy a Love of Reading" by Tanya Egan Gibson is a first novel filled with characters in pain. Gretchen and Francis Wells have moved to Fox Glen, a prestigious New Jersey suburb where the residents continually attempt to outdo each other in excess. The story begins with a Sweet Sixteen party. The attendees are presented with copies of their heads sculpted by a noted artist. The Wells must top that for their daughter. Carley is a disappointing daughter whose greatest failing is that her personal trainer has stated she is 57 pounds overweight. Her English teacher quoted her reply to what her favorite book was as "I never met a book I liked." For some misguided reason, her parents decide to purchase an author's services to help Carley create her own novel to be featured at her Sweet Sixteen party. Copies of the beautifully leatherbound, gold stamped novel will be presented to each party-goer.
Carley is made miserable by the hype of all this preparation. She tries so hard to ignore all the size zero girls that surround her at school. The only close friend she has is Hunter, a young man with problems of his own. No one can understand their platonic friendship. Hunter is the golden boy of the school. He excels in both sports and academics and is irresistible to both his peers and adults. Underneath it all, Carley realizes how troubled he really is. He had been a sickly child before he moved to Fox Glen with his divorced mother. The move was his chance to create a new identity for himself. These two are children of parents so wealthy that their excesses are far out of control. Even though all the characters are larger than life and have almost infinite amounts of money to spend on their whims, the problems the families have are universal ones.
Bree McEnroy is the author hired by Carley's
parents to help Carley create her novel. Bree is obsessed with Justin who
has produced a novel that made him a rock star of the literary world. When
Bree learns that Justin is living in Carley's neighborhood, very complicated
interactions begin. Bree feels that she must conceal her own feelings of literary
inferiority and still maintain her veneer of literary capability. Her tangled
prose and obscure literary references provide another level of entertainment.
The main characters suffer from teen angst, but there are no happy characters
in this novel. [6-21-09]
by Helen Davis