19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Beach Read, July 27, 2008
Elin Hilderbrand's, The Blue Bistro, was a fun book to read in the summer. The story takes place in Nantucket which is always a great location to read about in the summer months.
The Blue Bistro is a fine dining restaurant located directly on the beach of Nantucket. The author presents inticing images of Nantucket.
The owners of this magnificient restuarant are Thatcher Smith and Fiona Kemp. They are long-time friends from childhood and they have a powerful bond to one another. Thatcher, a very conflicted character in the novel, loves Fiona deeply, as a friend, but his love runs so deep that this unique friendship has interfered with his love interests. Girlfriends cannot compete with Thatcher and Fiona's friendship -- it can be isolating and infuriating to others. Fiona suffers, since childhood, with Cystic Fibrosis. An outsider cannot compete with Thatcher and Fiona's relationship nor with Fiona's illness.
Fiona, although small in stature, is a tough, strong-minded individual. Fiona is the exceptionally talented chef at the Blue Bistro and Thatcher is her business partner, and this is the final year for the restaurant. Fiona's health is suffering; she is on the list for a lung transplant, and she and Thatcher both need a rest.
Adrienne Dealy, escaping from a drug addicted boyfriend who stole her life savings, arrives in Nantucket with the sole purpose of making money and paying off her debts. Her mom died from Pancreatic Cancer when she was a young girl and she and her dad (a very loveable character) have been running ever since. Adrienne has been working all over the world in the hotel industry. She has made numerous poor choices in men, her last boyfriend being the last straw.
It is really Adrienne's story, even though there are many stories taking place at the same time. Adrienne is hired by Thatch to run the front of the restaurant. There also is a love interest between them, and Adrienne has to cope with this unusual friendship between Thatcher and Fiona.
There are many varied characters in the book. Each has a very interesting story to tell.
It was so interesting learning about the restaurant business and being part of all of the hustle and bustle. Additionally, the food is described so deliciously -- the reader longs for a sampling. The author clearly shows her love of Nantucket. You want to make the trip there, if only for the descriptions of the food and the sunsets on the beach.
I loved the book, but found the ending flat. There were story-lines left hanging. Adrienne needed to be given more of a voice. I don't need endings tied up in a bow, but it felt as though the story was leading to a big climatic ending, but it never materlized. It is hard to end a book that way.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite, December 8, 2005
This review is from: The Blue Bistro (Hardcover)
his has been the most emotional of Elin's books. The Blue Bistro is an upscale, totally different restaurant where the staff is a family. There are a few visits from the staff at the Beach Club, Elin's first novel, which really helps to build the vision of the town, having never been there.
The book starts off by a young girl coming moving to town with no money or much of anything in her life, being taken under the wing by the co-owner of the restaurant and then falling in love with him. The relationships within the Blue Bistro are so complex and emotional, it's hard to put this book down!
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23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Beach Read, July 17, 2006
I loved this book even more than Hilderbrand's other books. After reading Blue Bistro I wanted to visit the restaurant, her vivid descriptions of the sunsets on the beach, the food sounded wonderful. I thought the story was very touching about a friendship that could be broken by nothing else (Thatcher and Fiona). I grew up in Massachusetts and never visited the island of Nantucket, I now visit it through Elin's books, I have read them all and I feel like I am there each time. Maybe one of these summers I will get there!
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