Customer Reviews

Off Season

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

While I do not agree that "Off Season" is Ms. Siddons best book, I will say it is her best since "Colony". I was disappointed in her more recent novels and feel that she has certainly redeemed herself with this haunting story of a widow revisting her childhood and her summers spent on the Maine coast where she met her husband. In many ways it is a coming of age story and in others a love story. Her character development is excellent and one feels they are actually at Edgewater watching Lilly as a tomboy and then a developing young woman. The author brings alive Lily's parents, brother and those who make up her world.

I, personally, was not happy with the ending which I thought could have been developed better which is the reason I did not rate this novel 5 stars. However, all in all it is a fine novel and a credit to Ms. Siddons.

While I have been a great fan of Anne Rivers Siddons since her first novel and have read everything, I found "Off Season" very disappointing. Her dialogue of children is so adultlike that I can't imagine any child under the age of 25 speaking those lines...or articulating the emotions. They were like miniature adults, not children, and therefore seemed ludicrous to me. There were story arcs I wanted finished that didn't get done and explanations for those innuendoes that blanketed the latter one quarter of the book. What exactly was the relationship with Peaches Davenport and Cam? And why in the world would Cam -- whom we are led to believe had impeccable taste, be drawn to the nasty, shrieking Peaches?

On the other hand, I read the book on my Kindle in two days, not able to put it down, which says something for Siddons and her compelling writing.
But this is no "Peachtree Road," which to me is by far her best work.

SPOILER ALERT -- come on, folks! It's pretty plain what happened at the end of this book. Hubby had an ongoing affair with Wifey's spiteful girlhood Nemesis, whom he had met while alone -- off season -- at the couple's summer place in Maine. The sight of the lookalike son his mistress bore him so shocks Wifey when she meets him years later -- also off-season -- that she drops dead on the spot. She then wakes on the other side in the arms of her true love -- who is NOT her cheating dog of a husband but a boy who drowned when she eleven years old and has been her guardian spirit ever since. The end.

It's a nicely written book overall. But I agree with some reviewers that the kitty was a bit much.

Also, writerly tics are setting in -- why does every ARS book seem to have a white-blond dreamboat and scads of redheads? An irrepressibly, pointlessly evil woman? A supposedly loving but unfaithful husband? Blacks who talk like Mammy in "Gone With The Wind"? Down-Easters who sound as though they just crawled out of some Stephen King trailer park but nonetheless say "you-all" like Southerners? Endless references to BO and other malodorous emissions? And why does the present lead character have a name straight out of "Colony" but seems unrelated to those particular Potters and Constables?

These are the things that mystify me. Too bad because otherwise, the lady can certainly write!

I pre-ordered this book months ago and was so looking forward to receiving it. In the back of my mind I remembered the author's previous novel Islands, and I hoped that she would not finish with a similar ending, which I found jarring and out of place. While I consider this book light reading, I enjoyed reading about Lilly's childhood, her parents, and her first love. Also, the descriptions of Maine, the ocean, and the local wildlife were interesting and often lush. I felt the spiritual/mystical dimension worked well, at least until the end of the book when it became predominant and overbearing. When in the book Lilly leaped from age 13 to 18 and subseqently met Cam, the storyline did not work as well for me. I felt that the instantaneous adoration between Lilly and Cam was strained and unbelievable, as was their courtship. Lilly's father's character at this stage also became unrealistic to me. He too easily changed his positions on what Lilly's future should hold. This is not to say that his first position was correct; but I find it hard to believe that for someone so adamant, he gave way so easily. Then we leap to 20 years later, and even 40 years later. While I searched for connections between Lilly the girl to Lilly the young woman, and then middle-aged wife at the end, I could not find a common thread, or at least until her and Cam's separate secrets were discovered. Especially with Cam, I felt blindsided. Not knowing the fundmamental basis of his childhood, how could I know him at all, or understand how he thought about and felt things? Even knowing his secret at the end didn't help me understand how it played out and the repercussions it caused. There are just too many loose ends to understand cause and effect. Yes, I can all too well understand Lilly's shock at the end of the book; but as a reader, it leaves me feeling uneasy and as if the story is unfinished. Anne Rivers Siddons is a good writer. I only wish she wrote the second half of the book as well as she did the first.

Two points:
If Mrs. Siddons had taken the time to develop the storyline and the rest of the characters as much as she did Lilly's in childhood, the book would have been excellent. Almost as though the author was rushed to print rather than finish the book properly.

Editing was abysmal! There are lots and lots and lots of mistakes. "She puts the cat and his sweater on the sofa. Then only 2 or 3 sentences later, the cat glares at her until she puts the sweater on the sofa. The urn looks well on the mantle. That urn should be looking good...All this on the first couple of pages - very distracting. Plot mistakes and character errors very evident throughout the book. Intro to Jon has him older than 12, but the ending has him 12.

Even through all that, my reaction to the book as a whole was the same as when I read As I Lay Dying at the age of 15. WHAT??? They went through all that for this ending??? Siddens is still a great read. And I am still thinking and talking about this book.

Will admit to two things: Chose this book because of the cover photo (yes, I know such a weak reason) and this is my first Siddons book.

Thoroughly loved it - the change of time crafted very well. Main character extremely "real."

When I got to the end of the book I wasn't sure I understood at first. Very well written - but felt while the end was very clever and complex - Siddons ended the book abrubtly and left the reader slightly out of kilter.

I have read all of ARS's novels and have liked most of them, loved some. Interestingly, COLONY, which has a tie to this novel, is one of my favorites. I had my doubts about this book when it began with her hearing her cat talk to her, but dug in anyway. Her stories are usually good, as was this one. I read the entire book, was engrossed by the story, despite the cat business, but was so disappointed in the ambiguous ending that I wanted to return the book. Not to give away the end to those who will still buy it, I think ARS let down her devoted fans by writing an end that was not an end. I don't agree that it was "mystical", as other reviewers have described it. I think she tried to enter a genre that isn't her specialty and she failed abysmally. By the time this goes to paperback, I hope she comes forward to explain what happened because I sure as heck don't have a clue. There must be something in the air because all of my favorite authors' 2008 novels have been disappointing. My favorite reads this year have all been by authors new to me. This was the worst disappointment. The excellent plot deserved a straight forward finish; not a "spiritual" guessing game.

I've read ALL of Anne River Siddon's books. I attended a book reading years ago in my home town and found her charming and entertaining. I was so excited to see she had a new book coming out and pre-ordered. Of course, some are better than others but this was a complete waste of time. As usual her writing style is engaging and very readable. The second half of this book, however, was very disappointing. The ending was a complete letdown. I usually put her books on the shelf to enjoy again another day. Off Season went straight to a used book store.

It took a long time to read all the descriptions while wanting to know the rest of a dialogue, here and there. Instead of describing a moment in time, I wanted to know Kitty's answer. I have just discovered ARS books and have found them very appealing. But not this one. After five books in a row, I am tired of beautiful women in the extreme, redheads, quotes from the Jungle Book, architects, Princeton and rump sprung sofas. I do not believe a girl not having one date between 11 and 17. Only two boy friends and each a great love of her life. C'mon . . . Really? Nothing in this book was believable. Her brother at a computer camp in 1960's? PC's came along in the '80's! A saracastic cat - cute! I took my sixth ARS book back to the library without reading it . . .maybe later.

I liked this story, but did not think it was as fully developed as some of the author's other novels.

I did enjoy the writing style and was enthralled with the middle sections of the book- basically the parts that take place in the past. I did not however enjoy the whole *possible spoiler* communing with her dead husband plot line. I also thought that the revelation at the end was a little skimpy and not worth the build up of the rest of the novel. Yes, I was surprised by the "revelation" but was that because Anne Rivers Siddons wove a great story, or because she just threw it out there? Yes, we get bits and pieces in the last couple of chapters and I realize that Lilly was suppose to be super surprised, but I don't think it was properly built up. A little more was needed I think. And I also thought that the relationship between Lilly and Peaches needed a little more fleshing out.

I'm a romantic, but I think that Lilly and Jon needed to be a couple of years older to really believe their storyline. Even 13 or 14 would have worked better for me. But perhaps I'm not allowing for the differences in the generation, and having trouble believing that present day 11 and 12 year old could have and recognize that depth of feeling.