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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One that caused me to lose sleep ..., May 27, 2009
This is the story of four women who graduated from the same small, liberal arts college in North Carolina in the early 1980s. The women are all very different and yet have a bond that seems to hold them together even when circumstances should tear them apart. The book moves between their college years and 2005 when they all get together for the first time after college at the luxurious beach-front cottage owned by one of the women's husbands.
I was expecting a light, fun summer read along the lines of a Debbie Macomber book but it is much, much more complex and much deeper than that. The characters are well developed and are dealing with the life choices they have made and where those have lead them. Unfortunately, I actually didn't get enough sleep a couple of nights because I couldn't put the book down and turn out the light. This author really knows how to tell a story ! Great writing and some very insightful portions. Each character is three-dimensional with flaws and strenghts exposed -- I came to care about them all.
I will definitely be seeking out other books by this author and will be recommending this book to friends.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can you go home again?, May 24, 2009
One of the challenges of friendship is if it can weather and survive the things life throws at it through the years. Mel, Sara, Annie and Lola became friends at their small, private, all girls' school in the early 80s. They've managed to at least stay in touch with one another and now find themselves in their 40s - the kids are growing up or have already left the nest, some men have come and gone, careers have waxed and waned, and each woman has significant questions about the next stage of her life.
Lola, the starry-eyed waif who married an ogre with more money and power than compassion and humanity, invites her friends to spend a week with her at her new beach "cottage" on Whale Head Island in North Carolina. Successful, single, more-mouth-than-sense Mel flies in from New York. She's between novels and trying to figure out where her life is going. Sensible, OCD, prudish Annie joins the group, knowing she's going to let them talk her into doing something she doesn't want to do. And Sara, smart and beautiful with what others think is the perfect family, relunctantly accepts the invitation even though she and Mel have, at best, had a rocky relationship over the last several years. Each woman has her own private pain, and there are secrets and guilt galore in this friendship.
What do women with too many responsibilities and too few chances to let their hair down do for a week at a beautiful, remote beach home? Why, they do what any sensible group of girlfriends would do in that situation - they fire up the blender, pour the drinks, let go of some inhibitions, and open up for some long overdue soul searching.
There's a slew of "southern sisterhood" novels out there. Some are quite good, and some leave a lot to be desired. On the surface, Beach Trip looks like a fluffy, these-strong-women-still-need-a-man type of book. Don't be taken in by the stereotype of what tends to be termed women's literature these days. Beach Trip is thoughtful and funny and manages to be entertaining while delivering some pretty good insights into the hearts and souls of its main characters. Given the title, it's inevitable that this book will be labeled as a beach or summer read, and I admit that I finished it on a sunny day, lounging on the deck with the wind rustling through the trees. But this is simply a darned good book. It was at times a bit too close to comfort to some of the same issues my close friends and I have gone through over the years (minus the expensive beach home and amenities!). I think most women will find something they can relate to in these pages, and I see this book becoming the hit of bookclubs in the next few months.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beach Trip Fun, August 28, 2009
Cathy Holton's Beach Trip: A Novel is Southern women's fiction with a twist. Mel, Annie, Sara, and Lola were college roommates and reunite in this novel two decades later. Like the heavy surf churned up by an offshore hurricane, their relationships are wrought with tension, love, jealousy, and forgiveness. Each chapter shifts between the past and the present--the mid-1980s to the early 2000s.
Each woman embarks upon their own path and makes her way in the world. Sara, Annie, and Lola each marry and have children, while Mel marries and divorces a few men and concentrates on her career as a novelist. Mel is the independent, strong-willed feminist, while Sara is a follower and tough attorney fighting for the rights of children caught in the middle of parental divorce. Lola is laid back and pushed around by her husband, friends, and mother, and Annie is obsessive compulsive and striving for perfection. Each of these characters juxtaposes the other, and these characteristics weigh heavily on their relationships in college and beyond.
Holton creates deep characters with simple flaws, placing them in situations of their own making. Readers just have to sit back and watch how they make their way out. The secrets revealed by these women as they reflect on the past are sometimes cliche, but the end of this novel will leave many readers agape. Overall, Beach Trip: A Novel examines the complicated relationships of women with a flare of wit, humor, and sarcasm.
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