Customer Reviews

The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I almost let some of the reviews scare me off from this one as much of a Lou Ann Rice fan as I am. I went ahead and ordered this along with Geometry of Sisters, as someone said this book should be read after the other as it continued with some of the characters. I totally agree. Both books were excellent. I couldn't put them down and wish there would be another. I am not quite ready to leave these characters yet.

This book was just OK. It was enjoyable but it was kind of a slow story and you knew just how it was going to end well before you were half way through the book. I've read almost all of the Luanne Rice's books and really like her work, but this is not one of her best. The character of each person could have been developed more. There was no character that one could really like or dislike.

This was a great book - I would recomment reading the Geometry of Sisters first as I didn't and the books are connected somewhat. The description of Capri really got to me. I have visited Greece a number of times, but this part of Italy really seemed familiar. I loved LuAnne Rice's writing and have read every book that I know of that she has written at least in the past five years.

This was not nearly as good as "The Geometry of Sisters". Seems too hurried. I found it difficult to wrap my mind around a sixteen-year-old girl being so intensly in love. Would have liked more focus on the romance between Max and Lyra. Some of Rice's books blow me away and others leave me flat; which finds me reading all of them. This was a flat one.

First...let me say that I have read every book that Louanne Rice has ever written & have been entertained by all of them, but, I am sorry to say that I was NOT entertained by "The Deep Blue Sea for beginners"!

I LOVE to read & it takes alot for me to give up on a book, but, I found myself skipping pages & muttering "get on with it"....the book just DRAGGED for me!!

Somehow...it never jelled together smoothly, but, left too many unanswered questions & didn't seem real to me at all. The mental health information (or lack of)was just appalling & I wondered if Louanne even researched for this portion of her book.

I won't give Louanne up without another try....& look forward for her to prove that she still has that "spark" to keep me reading into the "wee hours"!!!

This book is a sequel to Geometry Sisters, which you don't necessarily have to read; plenty of background information is provided. (I highly recommend Geometry Sisters, too!) If you read Geometry Sisters, this is Pell's story and we learn why her mother Lyra abandoned her two daughters. The book moves quickly as family secrets unroll. The story line is engaging, the diverse cast of characters is interesting as past experiences are woven into secondary story lines, and the setting in Italy is a refreshing change from prior work. Despite my commentary in the spoiler alert, this is a very enjoyable read because it touches upon interpersonal issues at different stages of life which is rather appealing.
- SPOILER ALERT - As a mother with a similar health history to Lyra, her outcome is unrealistic given other resources that were not mentioned in the book, namely medication and outpatient therapy. As far as her husband fears, Lyra could not have been released from the hospital if she was a threat to herself or children. (Note that one can think about it as Lyra mentioned, but still not pose a threat.) Lyra's husband's decision for her to leave was based on fear and ignorance; he didn't consult with professionals, nor did he support his wife as she was trying to discover her authentic self. His actions were testament to the stigma associated with mental health in our society.

Audiobooks simply do not get any better than those read by Blair Brown. Giving her cover credit as reader is an understatement - she's a gifted actress who brings emotion, vitality, and stage training to her narrations. A Tony Award winner for her performance in Copenhagen plus a slew of awards for The Days and Nights Of Molly Brown, she's a performer who raises the level of every title she voices.

For this listener that was certainly true of The Deep Blue Sea For Beginners. With Brown at the mike this story of a family asunder became compelling drama.

Not to worry if you're not familiar with Rice's Geometry Of Sisters in which two sisters, Pell and Lucy, were introduced, you'll have no trouble in catching up with their lives. It has now been ten years since they were abandoned by their mother, Lyra Nicholson Davis. Now, why a Mom would desert two daughters, a doting husband, a lovely home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and a plush lifestyle is anyone's guess. But, that Lyra did and left behind nothing but a rather odd crayoned map.

Well, now due to Dad's death the sisters are not only fatherless but motherless. At this juncture, Pell decides to go after her mother to make sure younger sister Lucy is cared for before Pell's college days begin. Where is Mom? On the fabled Isle of Capri. Really, if you have to go somewhere to bring someone home, that a cool destination.

Once there, as one would expect, Pell learns some surprising facts about the earlier abandonment, and meets Rafe for whom she develops feelings. However, her boyfriend, Travis, is about to join them. There's also Max who has developed a serious fondness for Lyra. Plus, some blue sea supernatural shenanigans find their way into the story line.

Sound a bit much for a 16-year-old to unravel? In Rice's hands it somehow all begins to make sense. The Deep Blue Sea For Beginners is an entertaining diversion set in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

- Gail Cooke

In spite of her wealth, heiress Lyra Nicholson is lonely while living on Capri, Italy. Her two teenage daughters, sixteen years old Pell and fourteen years old Lucy are almost as lonely as their mom while residing with their grandma in Newport, Rhode Island.

Lucy, a math prodigy, with the help of her best friend Beck tried to use equations to contact her late father, but failed (see Geometry of Sisters). Pell decides it is time to confront Lyra so she travels to Italy to demand her mother finally be a mom to them; having abandoned them years ago. Playwright Max Gardiner, who loves Lyra, encourages Pell to go for it while the older daughter is attracted to his nineteen years old Rafe, a recovering addict.

This profound sequel to GEOMETRY OF SISTERS focuses on the older sister (whereas the previous one centered on Lucy) who after a decade of separation has come to challenge her mom. Ironically when mother and daughter meet, the former seems like a young teen and the latter appears as the more mature fortyish parent. Capri with is vivid setting enhances a deep look at families that as a unit may not survive a tragedy, but the component members endure coping in their own ways.

Harriet Klausner

A number of years ago I attended a reading by Jodi Picoult. At that time it was a rather small audience as compared to the last time I tried to see Ms. Picoult. Because of the size we were encouraged to ask questions so Iasked Ms. Picoult who her favorite authors are or were. Immediately she said Luanne Rice, reiterated and pointed out this was Luanne Rice and Not Anne Rice and also mentioned Alice Hoffman. Thinking back on thsi today I find it rather curious since at that time both of the above mentoined authors were also among my favorites. Today I'm afraid to say that with their recent books both authors have disppointed me with their last books. And now I must say that Ms. Rice's newest book The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners is a first rate disappointment. Before you wonder how familiar I am with this author, I must tell you that I have always enjoyed Luanne Rice's books and have never ever thought about not finishing one of them. But today I feel differently and find that about a fourth of the way into this new book, with so many good titles waiting, I am going to close the book. I'm not sure what has happened to the author of Home Fires, Beach Girls, the Firefly series and more but I have found recently her books just don't move me the way they once did. Oh well, maybe next time. And please forgive me for posting a review and rating a book I didn't finish but I have a sneaking suspicion that this book wasn't going to get much better.

As someone who has read all of Luanne Rice's books, I was so disappointed with the decline in her talent over the last several books. This one prompted me to write a review because it contains disturbing conflicts. On one hand, she should be reclassified from Women's Fiction to the Young Adult category. She writes that her main character, a sixteen-year-old named Pell, can 'take in people's stories through her skin'. What nonsense. A young adult reader would be more tolerant of such hubris, but her adult audience may soon tire of these all-knowing teens she keeps writing about. Most adults I know are not going about their lives in suspension, waiting for their teenager to right all wrongs. While I certainly agree that some teens are more mature that others, Ms Rice's recent body of work would have us believe that kids can cure all ills, if adults were only smart enough to listen.
The second major and more disturbing problem I see with this book is the appalling way Rice dealt with mental illness. She broaches very serious subjects and then dismisses the actual work that is done to effect management of a mental illness, much less a cure. Without benefit of medication, in- and out-patient treatment and perhaps years of on-going therapy, her adult characters make life-altering decisions without professional, medical help. It's insulting that she glosses over such deep issues, and perhaps even dangerous if her books ARE read by a young adult audience, who are ill-informed to realize that minimizing and trivializing mental illness can be life-threatening.
Ms Rice needs to return to adult main characters, acting as adults while dealing with the complex issues her books have previously featured, and been successful in portraying. I will carefully scrutinize her next works to see if they include omnipotent teenagers, or if she has returned to the strong women that made her books so good in the first place.