Dear Strangers: A Novel [Hardcover]

Meg Mullins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2010

A lyrical and romantic story of love, fate and family

In the high desert of the American southwest during the summer of 1982, the Finley family is awaiting the arrival of the baby boy they're due to adopt. Oliver, just seven, is eager for another playmate to join him and his sister in their idyll of swimming pools, climbing trees, and playing tag. But one hot afternoon, Dr. Finley dies suddenly and everything changes. Mrs. Finley, newly widowed, decides she cannot proceed with the adoption alone.

Twenty-one years later, Oliver believes he has finally found the brother his family was meant to adopt. Along the way, he also finds Miranda, an eccentric, charming photographer whose subjects are consenting strangers in their own homes after dark. Oliver and Miranda's love story collides with catastrophe when their worlds intersect in ways they could never have predicted.

A luminous, moving portrait of grief and atone­ment, romance and longing, Dear Strangers unearths the possibilities of hope and renewal in the unexpected bonds forged with family and strangers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mullins (The Rug Merchant) creates a thematically heavy but emotionally vacant web of connections in her second novel. For siblings Oliver and Mary, a series of tragedies defines their childhood. On the same day that a neighborhood girl dies, their pathologist father also dies suddenly, leaving their mother to abandon the adoption of what would be the family's third child. Twenty-one years later, Mary, a flight attendant, maintains a safe cruising altitude above the pain and loss that, to her, characterize life. Oliver, obsessed with finding his lost brother, helps grieving families memorialize loved ones by creating video tributes to their lives. Oliver's encounter with Miranda, a beautiful young photographer-artist, is the first of a series of interactions among strangers who might become something more. Mullins's novel is an extended exploration of similar connections made and missed, but the author is more focused on driving home her ideas than developing her characters, who come across as thematic functionaries. The emotional vacuum left in the wake of Mullins's dedication to her ideas makes this a difficult book to get into. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

Oliver is only seven when his father announces the family will adopt a baby boy. But when Oliver’s father suddenly dies, his mother finds she can no longer keep the baby and gives him away. It’s now 21 years later and Mom is remarried to the next-door neighbor, and Oliver is obsessed with finding his “almost brother.” While watching Jared, a young man believed to be the baby from years ago, Oliver meets and begins a relationship with Miranda, a quirky photographer who sends letters to strangers asking to take pictures of them in their homes. Oliver eventually confronts Jared with the adopted-brother theory and sets in motion events that will ultimately lead to unforeseen tragedy for Jared and Oliver’s families. A pair of seemingly disconnected side stories that add to the somber mood of Mullins’ novel eventually intertwine in odd and unexpected ways. In all, Mullins has created a bittersweet, poignant, and curious tale about how strangers can impact our lives, and how love and forgiveness have the power to renew. --Carolyn Kubisz

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (February 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670021431
• ISBN-13: 978-0670021437
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,825,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars psychologically astute depth in character development, March 1, 2010

By 

Mary M. Jones Quinn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dear Strangers: A Novel (Hardcover)

nailed the underlying psychology of unresolved grief and the obsessional defenses against loss beautifully. I love to find a writer who 'gets' stuff like that....especially one with a gift for language that makes me want to read passages out loud every few pages. The apparent simplicity of the character development gives way to spare, but eloquent depth. And you ended it very nicely, a surprise and a resolution all wrapped up in the last chapter. The reader knows these quirky characters she's come to care about will all be OK.
I've ordered copies for five friends! Keep working, Meg...you have a growing fan club!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starts slow - builds to a stunning climax - makes you think, February 27, 2010

By 

Roberta Karchner (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dear Strangers: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

If I had not read the back of this novel - giving the basic premise of Oliver looking for his adoptive brother - I might have put it down in confusion after the first chapter or two. Fortunately, this understanding made sense enough of the novel to keep me going.

The novel starts very slow - and the prologue is a glimpse into the novel itself - you are on the outside looking in on a story of strangers. They are strangers to you and strangers to one-another. Slowly you watch as you begin to understand the past, one small piece at at time, until all of the pieces join together in one explosive climax.

The novel is played against the background of two photographers, one who pieces lives together through video; and the other who takes photos of strangers in their homes in an attempt to build a connected web of the universal nature of humanity. Their perspective of what constitutes life is played out in the revelations of the novel itself, which seems to be a "video" of glimpses into the lives of the characters, with fades from one scene to another until the whole of the story (or life) and the connected nature of each individual is revealed.

I might have given the novel only 3 stars because it was so slow-paced at the beginning, but I found myself haunted by the ideas and concepts of the novel if not the characters themselves. From the beginning, I found quotes that I actually underlined in the book that made me think - things like Oliver wondering if when his Mother told him to lighten up, maybe what she meant was that he needed to dance.

In the end, if there is not a feeling of redemption, at least there is a feeling of hope that redemption can happen in spite of all circumstances. The author achieves a feeling, not only of connectedness, but of the cyclical nature of life itself.

This is not a mystery or suspense book that will grab you from page one and not let you go. This is not a romance that will leave you feeling warm-hearted and gushing. You never really get to know the characters themselves. Even the plot is unlikely. But when you are finished reading this book, you may find yourself looking at things from a different perspective, and I doubt you will forget it for a long time. For me, that makes it a book worth reading.

Four stars - maybe it really deserves five and I don't understand it well enough to give it what it deserves.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Tale of Discovery, February 22, 2010

By 

patbell451 (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear Strangers: A Novel (Hardcover)

Dear Strangers is a great read! Just the right amount of pathos and humor. The emotional depth creates some tough moments, but, ultimately, the novel is mysterious and moving. I was especially taken with the unique characters and their trajectories. As a male reader, I really connected with Oliver who is trapped between his past and his future. The author is superb at capturing this angst. A deep, revelatory novel.