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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When the Happily-Ever-Afters Come, They Arrive in Abundance, Leaving Readers Deeply Satisfied,
By Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Best of Times: A Novel (Hardcover)
Penny Vincenzi is known for her sweeping, dramatic, often surprising sagas that usually focus on large families and associates, groups of people who have long-standing connections by virtue of blood or business (and sometimes both). In her latest novel, Vincenzi takes a startlingly different approach. Here she uses her tried-and-true approach of focusing on intersecting lives, but the lives of random strangers intersect (sometimes literally) following a harrowing traffic accident on Britain's M4 motorway between London and Wales.
THE BEST OF TIMES opens with a journalistic-style account of the fictional accident and then steps back in time, as it explores the lives of some of the key players in the accident, examining who they are and outlining how they happened to be on that particular road at that pivotal time. At the center of the story is handsome doctor Jonathan Gilliatt, a happily married father of three who is carrying on an affair with Abi, a sexy younger woman (who happens to be in his car at the time of the accident). How will he explain her presence to the police, the newspapers --- and his wife? There's also eager groom Toby and his best man Barney, rushing to get to the church in time for Toby's wedding to Tamara, but delayed by a top-secret errand that would destroy Tamara if she knew of it. There's Mary, an elderly lady heading to London to reunite with the love of her life, an American man she met during World War II. Both of them are widowed, now finally free to be together after 60 years apart. And there's Georgia, an aspiring (but ambivalent) actress on the way to the audition of her life. Following the catastrophic accident, other players enter the scene, including doctors who treat the wounded at the hospital, the friends and families of those involved, the police officers inquiring into the cause of the crash, and the farmer who witnesses the whole thing and becomes intimately involved with one of the crash victims. Encounters at hospitals, in hotels, and in courtrooms bring the accident participants together again and again --- often resulting in surprising connections, new opportunities, and even true love. Vincenzi's experiment with this new approach is rewarding, especially for long-time readers who might have thought they had her formula figured out. Here she juggles multiple plot lines, a mystery or two, and several romances, all while manufacturing circumstances (many based on coincidence) to bring together these characters who come from different worlds. At times the plotline lags slightly, especially when the narrative gets bogged down in exploring who is at fault for the crash. In all likelihood, most readers won't even really care much about the outcome of that investigation; instead, they're more invested in whether or not the couples they're rooting for will wind up together. But when the happily-ever-afters come, they arrive in abundance, leaving readers deeply satisfied even as they consider if, or how, the events of an instance can leave an impression for a lifetime. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars - great book, but the fluff towards the end was a little much,
By
This review is from: The Best of Times: A Novel (Hardcover)
If you would have asked me anywhere in the first 400 pages to give a one-word description of The Best of Times, I would have said "gripping." I was totally enthralled with the stories, and the characters, who are all so well developed. It reminded me very much of the movie Love, Actually where there are lots of storylines that all flow together and culminate at the end with a feel-good-heart-warming moment that restores your faith in love. But if I'm being really honest, it did drag just a bit for me in the last 50-75 pages or so. The storylines were being neatly tied up, and I thought there was a lot of filler. That being said, I loved the characters, the story was great, and for the first 400 pages or so, it really kept you guessing. It was an interesting premise - taking a horrible tragic accident and examining how it affected all these different lives. And I really enjoyed how the author went into each person's perspective when she was telling their story. It was very believable, and rang true for the most part. Some of the characters seemed a bit stereotypical, but it wasn't enough to make me not enjoy it.
All in all, it was a great ride, that could have been about 5-10% shorter for me to really have given it five stars.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner,
By shehar "shehar" (Western New York State) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Best of Times: A Novel (Hardcover)
Another great book. Story and character development are outstanding. This book will hold your attention from first page to last.
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