Fault Lines Pb [Paperback]

Anne Rivers Siddons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1997

Throughout her life Merritt has cared for all those around her. When Glynn, her stepdaughter runs away, Merritt follows her but soon decides that she is going to stay in California, where she finds an unexpected love and confronts Glynn before an earthquake strikes. From the author of HILL TOWNS and DOWNTOWN.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Her 11th novel (after Downtown) finds Siddons squarely back on track with an immensely readable narrative that's been trimmed of excesses and?except for the ending?unnecessary melodrama. In fact, even the symbolism here is lean and explicit: Merritt Fowler is at the end of her emotional tether and about to crack; then the earth does, in an earthquake that imperils her and three people she loves. The fault lines in Merritt's character are common to women, Siddons implies. Since her mother's death when she was 13, Merritt has been a willing caretaker for members of her family: first her younger sister, "fragile, lovely, hungry" Laura, now 38 and still a would-be actress; then her husband Pom, a doctor dedicated to the patients in his Atlanta clinics but demanding and dictatorial at home; then Pom's Alzheimer's-demented mother, Mommee. Merritt knows she's shortchanging her 16-year-old daughter, Glynn, who has survived one bout with anorexia but is again close to despair because she feels neglected by her father. When Glynn runs away to her aunt Laura in California, Merritt follows to bring her home but is caught up in circumstances that will forever change the lives of all three women. If Siddons initially makes Merritt a bit too perfect, selfless and saintly, she nicely traces the flowering of her heroine's self-image during several crises and a bittersweet love affair. Settings are authentically rendered, from Atlanta's upper-crust social milieu to Hollywood's tawdry glitz and the serene beauty of the redwood country near Santa Cruz. Neatly alternating earthquake lore with steamy sex scenes, Siddons manages her absorbing, if predictable, narrative with panache?and though the earthquake is employed as a tear-jerking deus ex machina, readers will probably take the device as fair exchange for the various epiphanies and rites of passage that Glynn, Laura and Merritt experience. $250,000 ad/promo; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Siddons has produced another heartwrenching drama of Southern women in her 11th novel. As in Downtown (LJ 6/15/94), Siddons deliciously portrays the story of three women who have failed to find internal happiness. Merritt Fowler has spent her entire life in the role of caretaker. After the death of her mother, Merritt provides for her naive and illustrious sister, Laura, who longs to be an actress. But when Merritt meets Pomeroy (Pom) Fowler, the doctor on a crusade to save the world, Laura exits her life. Soon Merritt finds herself taking care of Pom's two sons; his aging, senile mother; and their daughter, Glynn, who is battling anorexia. When Pom's mother lights all Glynn's clothes on fire, the young woman flees to California to seek solace with her Aunt Laura. Merritt soon follows, and there the three women attempt to rectify their tormented relationships. Siddons keeps readers absorbed until the climactic ending, complete with natural disasters. Recommended for all collections.
--Shannon Dekle, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks (March 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751517712
• ISBN-13: 978-0751517712
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,300,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A promising premise but doesn't really satisfy, March 4, 2003

By 

Kenneth Simon (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fault Lines (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has a lot of promising character work in it, but is undone by its own lack of subtlety. I was drawn in to the characters' lives during the first half of the book, and found myself caring about what happened with the mother-sister-daughter trio. My involvement remained, even though I was put off by the author's tendency to beat the reader over the head with points she felt were important. I could have gleaned much about the main character through her actions; instead, I was told, over and over, what kind of person she was. I kept wanting to edit those passages down -- "I get it already!"

Still, I was happily reading along. Unfortunately, a little more than midway through the book, the story grew more and more melodramatic. A relationship was developed -- a pivotal point for the main character -- but it pulled her out of the family context and into an overblown, false-feeling love story. Again, it's the author beating the reader over the head with what could have had more power through subtlety.

The book kept me reading, but I couldn't help but wish that these interesting characters were given a more thoughtful and restrained treatment.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Had me crying and wishing it wouldn't end, October 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fault Lines : A Novel (Hardcover)

I made the mistake of trying to read this as a "distraction" during finals week my sophmore year of college. In the end, my finals, my packing, and even sleeping became secondary to finishing "Fault Lines". Possibly, I was simply homesick for my own hills in Washington, but I fell in love with the forested California setting and the thought of running away from it all to hide in the forest. I cried at least three times, causing my roommate, who thought I was immune to emotion, to decide that I had finally gone off the deep end from stress. Later that summer, when I was coming to terms with breaking up with a boyfried who never quite was one, I was hearing, in the back of my head, "Be my same stars, Gavin," and it seemed that Merritt and TJ were splitting alongside Gavin and I.
I've been a fan of Anne Rivers Siddons ever since I stumbled across "Heartbreak Hotel" in the public library, but this has got to be the most engrossing book of hers that I've ever read. I read it again, when finals were over and I didn't have to deal with classes and my roommate, and I loved it just as much the second time. I don't often gush about books (or anything) but this definitely deserves it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great rainy day book., April 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fault Lines (Mass Market Paperback)

Just a good book, not trash like Steele, but intelligent and thoughtful