Customer Reviews

I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Julia Glass has flair for what Flaubert called the mot juste, the exquisitely right expression or word. She spins straw into gold with wise witticisms, well-crafted metaphors, and meaningful meditations on life. Her language has a layered intelligence; her inner dialogue reverberates and resounds, mirrors and bounces. As she demonstrated in a previous novel, The Whole World Over, Glass is capable of handling a versatile range of characters in a balanced, compelling story. She is also a National Book Award winner for Three Junes (which I have not yet read). However, in this latest novel, her talents did not coalesce--the whole was not a sum of its parts.

Although her insights were just as evident as ever, the story suffered from constriction and a one-note tone for most of the narrative. Yet, it is Glass' ability to conjure ripe phrases with robust philosophizing that kept me intermittently riveted through to the end of the novel. I was glad that I finished it, because she redeemed much of the sagging story in the final chapter.

In this double narrative of well-bred Rhode Island sisters, she spans twenty-five years (1980-2005) of their adult lives. She depicts the connections, disconnections, and missed connections to each other and to their own ideas of self in isolation and in relation to others.

Written in a quasi-diarized style, Glass alternates between older sister Louisa, who has more conventional aspirations, and Clem, her buccaneer sister. Louisa is a Harvard grad art editor and self-proclaimed failed potter desiring true love, babies, and recognition. Wily Clem, a wildlife scientist, eschews love and seeks sexual adventures as she travels to remote areas of the country studying fish, whales, birds, and bears.

Lousia and Clem were engaging, clever, provocative, and sympathetic, but the author's tone and dialogue did not adequately provide distinction of the two narrative voices. Although the tone is fittingly ironic when the sisters engaged in wry self-reflection, it eventually became overindulgent and tedious. Instead of two narrators, it felt like one narrator pretending to be two people. This led to confusion when I began a chapter or new section of narrative. We know Clem and Louisa by what they did and how they lived and thought, but I had to rely on information that was often teased out too cagily in order to know which character was speaking. The necessary shades and contours of separate voices were missing. Even in context, the voices were often difficult to identify.

The progression of events drifted, sometimes aimlessly or messily. After some juicy inner dialogue, for instance, the narrative would often become stilted and expository. During these expository phases, the story went flat, the center did not hold. The author began telling rather than showing, displaying rather than revealing. Long passages of wildlife descriptions, for instance, did not feel fluidly connected to the story--it seemed like I was reading from National Geographic cut and pasted into the scene. It was artificial, like Glass was straining for a device in order to move events along. Dramatic tension inevitably snared--the narrative would gather momentum, offer a dramatic pause and wilt. The characters' thoughts stayed elastic but the story itself was stiff and narrowly executed. The important events were explained, often offhandedly, in a desultory tone.

Clem, Louisa, an eccentric Aunt Lucy and a panic-driven mother were the only characters with buoyancy. The men in their lives, including their father, did not resonate. They existed, I felt, as contrivances. There was another character, a male employee of their mother, who entered with a blaze of comic zaniness and provided a dramatic surge for the sisters. However, he just as quickly disappeared with an ambiguous resolution. I felt manipulated, as if he were only there to provide counterpoint to Louisa and Clem--don't get attached, he is going away, no longer useful.

The climax also felt synthetic. I do not want to give spoilers, so I can only describe my response. It felt like the author decided to assault the consistency of character in order to make a point about the elusiveness of human nature and the enigma of the human condition. I came to the conclusion that she never intended the characters to have a life of their own beyond the decisions she made prior to putting pen to paper. In her vision to place them outside the box, she paradoxically boxed them in.

The anti-climax was thoughtful and redeemed the manufactured denouement. The author pondered the climactic events through character and plot, giving the reader a rest from endless insouciance. The mood was suitably contemplative and compassionate, and when I finished the last sentence, I closed the book with a piece of my heart pierced and open.

There is a family--two sisters who don't get along very well and their well-meaning but somewhat eccentric parents. There are many boyfriends and hangerson and an eccentric aunt who dies quickly. The sisters don't get along with each other and then a tragedy occurs and the family has to cope. This is the stuff of dozens of novels, and I usually like the genre, but this book left me almost completely cold. By about page 40 I despised both of the protagonists, from whose alternating viewpoint the book is written. So the tragedy left me unmoved, because I had learned to dislike the characters, and I had little interest in finding out how the plot resolved. I think that the "family problem" novel needs to have at least one person with whom one can identify or for whom one feels at least a little liking, but these women were egotistical and erratic and treated each other and their family poorly. I resented the time I spent with them.

In the novel I See You Everywhere , the two sisters, Louisa and Clem, speak to us in their alternate voices, to reveal their distinctive qualities; as unique as each one is, the bond they share is heightened by their distinct individuality.

Louisa is the oldest - the conscientious student and the one who longs for marriage, children and an art career - while Clement (Clem) is the daring one - the rebel, uncontainable, and irresistible to men.

Their story begins in the eighties and continues for more than a decade - and then veers off in a new direction when their bond is tragically severed.

In Clement's voice, we learn how she feels about her life, her choices: "Sometimes I feel uncommitted to life, or to mine. I feel as if what I thought was going to be My Life (the Siamese twin) quietly snuck off on her own when I wasn't looking, chose a different fork in

the trail a ways back, and sometimes our two paths cross, so I bump into My Life by accident, and I say, `Here you are! Where have you been?' "

An excerpt from Louisa's story reveals and sums up how different she feels from Clem - how different she is... "About the only thing we had in common that summer was solitude. Or so I was led to believe. Mine was a solitude of retreat and longing, fraught with wishes and sighs - but Clem's I imagined as sure and intrepid, a flight from everything soft about civilization. I was copy-editing ruminations on art. Clem was counting seals...We communicate best by mail. On the phone, we argue. In person, we tend to become sarcastic. Our letters, though, have a touch of romantic collusion."

From an early age, the girls are rivals, even as they cling to each other to define them as individuals and as part of a unit known as sisters. They validate each others' feelings, even though they disagree about so much. Through the years, the strength of the bond increases...They face difficulties and support each other despite the rivalries and differences between them. Their lives change in dramatic directions. The author beautifully chronicles the growth of the women and their relationship, even as she teases us by leaving clues that, at some point, everything will change dramatically and unexpectedly.

This story, beautifully wrought with great descriptions that bring the reader right into each moment, spotlights clearly the emotional life of each woman through the alternate use of the first person narrative. It is almost as if we can see inside each woman's soul.

I enjoyed Julia Glass's novels Three Junes and The Whole World Over, but this story topped them both, in my opinion.

"I See You Everywhere" follows two Jardine sisters, Louisa and Clement, from their early twenties in 1980, to 2005. The sisters are as different as can be - Louisa, the older one, is the artistic type, who worries a lot about her future and obsesses about Clement being the favorite of their parents. Clement, or Clem, is the naturalist, working with animals, opinionated, fit and sensuous, changing men like gloves. The sisters have a complicated relationship... and this is about all I could say about this novel, which I found rather unsatisfying.

I love books about sisters, having a younger sister myself. I liked Julia Glass's first novel, "Three Junes". Maybe I expected too much, but this novel was for me something like a cup of cocoa - nice for a cold, long evening, but ultimately clogging and sticky. I think the theme is so promising, that the book had the potential to be very good, but it was wasted. The beginning, the chapter of the year 1980, is also intriguing enough, suggesting the family saga with secrets and warmth, and connections between family members, but later it all falls apart. The girls were from good, rich family, there was a parade of boyfriends and husbands, each one very original and different from others, but I did not care about them and the twisted plot around them. The parents' characters are sketched with rough lines and unrealistic (like most of the men around the sisters). Even the weighty themes are described somehow superficially, and there are too many (cancer, depression, suicide, accidents, unwanted pregnancy, miscarriage...). Nothing unusual happens and the "deep" conclusions and thoughts are banal and shallow.

I like the way Glass builds the atmosphere of home, habits, introducing all possible stimulants that can help to imagine the situation: music, flavors, landscapes, food. Unfortunately, this is probably the best thing about this book. I will still think about Glass as the author of "Three Junes" (hoping that it was not only serendipity that allowed her to write something good as a debut, and the rest is fluff) and wait for her next novels, but this one was a disappointment in comparison.

Julia Glass wrote one of my favorite books, "Three Junes", so I have bought her two later books the moment they came out, AND been extremely disappointed. The structure of "I See You Everywhere" got on my nerves. I would find myself reading and not realizing who was talking. The sisters never became clear characters for me, and their inherent jealousy was annoying. I, too, as others have pointed out, did not care about any of the characters. Finally, at page 120, I quit.

This book was difficult to finish. I thought it was because this is not a genre I prefer. But in reading other reviews I must agree that the two sisters are self-absorbed whiners who are difficult to like. The story meanders aimlessly through their lives. We meet a lot of boyfriends, we experience the "who am I" angst of each sister in turn, we watch them spit and scratch at each other, all the while whining. I found the story depressingly pointless. It finally gets marginally interesting late in the book when cancer and the specter of death is introduced, but it is too little too late. From reading the other reviews, I take it that you either love or hate books in this genre. I gave it two stars because the author does show moments of craftsmanship in her writing, but not enough to save the book.

First, just got to say that I found it really annoying to bounce back and forth between the sister's accounts. Mostly found it annoying because it took me awhile to catch onto which sister was up at bat - sorry - I am slow.

The story that was shared was interesting. Don't agree with the comment that the sisters were as different as white chocolate and seaweed! My goodness - They were much more alike than different!

Book read quickly and there were many interesting events and dialogues. Little asides on the raising of dogs and equine was educational.

Kept thinking the author was going to go into more character development of the mother as it appeared she had done a lot to "shape" both daughters. At times the author implied how much impact she had - yet stories of their upbringing implied they were left on their own as much as sea turtles are.

All in all, an enjoyable book.

This was an interesting story about two sisters, narrated by each of them at different times of their lives over 25 years. The thing is, it is more narration than actual living, where we could to part of what happens in their life.

It seemed as if there were big holes in the story. I would have loved to know a little bit more about their relationship with others and how they dealt with something from beginning to end. Instead all we get is snipets of attitude, reflection, griping and narration.

I was quite surprised and left feeling quite sad by the ending. It left me to think, "but how could this happen?" Too many loose ends and not enough substance here to make me give this any more than three stars.

One of my Book Club members selected this book (for our November Book Club meeting) upon the off-hand recommendation of a librarian, based on a previous book written by Julia Glass.

We have 15 members in our Lake Geneva Book Club (established in 1997) and it was UNANAMOUS that this was by far the worst book we have ever read! Despite our feelings of dislike for the book, we managed to have a very spirited, intense discussion of personal "sister issues", involving our own and our children's relationship. In all, the labored read of a "bad" book promoted one of our more interesting discussions. Was the result worth the hard labor?? NO, a thousand times NO.

Sue Theimer

Julia Glass' latest novel is wonderfully written but pitiably plotted. Those who enjoyed her National Book Award-Winning Three Junes will be wondering what happened to her ability to produce a creative, credible plot. After having tried (but failed) to get through her second book, The Whole World Over, I figured her for a one hit wonder. But when I learned that it was a tale of two sisters, close in age but miles apart in personality (much like me and my own sister), I decided to give her another chance. Unfortunately, except for a handful of memorable phrases, (p 19) "In her mouth, that word was a delicacy, a chocolate-covered cherry..." (p 51) "His teeth are white as gulls, a little jagged, and his eyes the color of trout, pewter specked with green," and (p 144) "...earthy and elegant as the mistresses of kings," it was just short of boring. The novel covers a span of twenty-five years, from 1980 to 2005, alternating updates on the siblings about every three years (1980, `83, `86, `89, `90, `93, and 2005). Almost invariably, at each checkpoint, we find both of the women involved in a new relationship, the one topic of which there is a lot of variety: dating single guy when single, dating two single guys when single, dating married guy when single, dating single guy when married, and dating single guy when divorced. Additionally, the reader is left wondering too much.

What's with the title?

Why repeat the dog breeding occupation? (a big part of the plot in Three Junes)

What happened to the character that was a family secret?

What was the relationship between the character in the paintings and the painter?

How was the choice of recipient of the brooch explained to Louisa?

Overall, I See You Everywhere was a total downer, one that I can't imagine recommending to anyone (including, especially, my now best friend sister). Better: Three Junes by Julia Glass, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and The Hours by Michael Cunningham, and Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett.