So Long at the Fair [Paperback]

Christina Schwarz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2009

Is it possible to be in love with two women at the same time? This is a question Jon has been asking himself frequently these days. He's loved his wife Ginny since the days when a chance encounter in the halls of their high school would leave him unable to speak. But recently Jon has found himself bewitched by Freddi, his colleague at the ad agency, where late-night brainstorming sessions devolve into giggles and sexual attraction. As Jon's guilt becomes all-consuming and Ginny inches closer discovery, a secret kept for thirty years threatens any hope of salvation. Weaving together past and present in a small Midwestern town, Schwarz beautifully conjures the emotional labyrinth of a marriage on the brink of collapse, and a history of love and revenge.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

From the outside, Jon and Ginny’s marriage is solid. But Jon must make a decision: should he end his affair or his marriage? He never intended to cheat on his wife; the affair just happened. The attention from a young, beautiful woman and Ginny’s apprehension about starting a family made the affair so easy. What he doesn’t realize is that Ginny is getting closer to realizing the truth. The long work hours and his strange attachment to his computer are making her suspicious. Over the course of one day, Schwarz follows Jon and Ginny, expertly describing the complexity of their marriage, revealing the thought process behind Jon’s adultery, and exploring the way in which Ginny rationalizes Jon’s behavior. It is an honest and balanced portrayal of a marriage in trouble. However, Oprah author Schwarz muddies their story with a flashback sequence about their parents that ultimately has no bearing on Jon and Ginny’s relationship. Read and recommend this for Schwarz’s skill in deciphering relationships, and overlook the flashback cliché. --Carolyn Kubisz --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“A complex journey into lovers' hearts and minds. . . . So Long at the Fair is a thriller and a mystery as well as character-driven literary fiction." —Los Angeles Times"Christina Schwarz's multilayered storytelling makes this novel spellbinding." —People“Schwarz has a gift for telling a suspenseful tale. Both the fate of the marriage in peril and the unfolding of the decades-old drama drive the reader forward. . . . Satisfying.” —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel“The book's pacing races. . . . When you read the last page, you will want to start over, to see the clues you missed and appreciate Schwarz's delicate weaving of family histories that leave legacies of guilt and revenge.” —USA Today

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (July 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307275493
• ISBN-13: 978-0307275493
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #943,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars CRIMES OF THE HEART, July 30, 2008

By 

Red Rock Bookworm (St. George Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: So Long at the Fair: A Novel (Hardcover)

This mercurial story of love and adultery in a small Wisconsin town spans the course of three decades and serves as undeniable proof positive that people don't always learn from their mistakes or the mistakes of others.

Two stories, inextricably linked, are related to the reader in alternating chapters. Each of the plotlines is character driven and telegraphs a sense of foreboding. Agilely pivoting between one fateful night in 1963 and a single hot July day some thirty years later, Schwartz deftly intertwines the two stories to give us an evocative portrait of sympathetic individuals caught up in unsympathetic situations.

When a writer of Schwartz's caliber has proven her ability to produced jewels such as All is Vanity and Drowning Ruth one tends to view future offerings with a more critical eye. Although better than a lot of writer's best work, one always expects more from those whose obvious talent sets them apart from the rest. For this reason, this reader found So Long at the Fair to be a little heavy handed in its resolution and definitely lacking the insight into the foibles of the human animal so accurately and flawlessly characterized in her previous works. For this reason.........3 stars.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Penetrating look at marriage, July 15, 2008

By 

Osceola "Cynthia" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So Long at the Fair: A Novel (Hardcover)

I didn't know what to expect from this book (I haven't read Schwartz's other books), but I found its evocation of time and place pitch-perfect, its dissection of character probing but generous, and its examination of marriage penetrating and poignant. Moreover, it's a page-turning suspense novel. I really loved this book--and I'm turning next to All is Vanity.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Mess, August 1, 2008

By 

Mary Lins (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: So Long at the Fair: A Novel (Hardcover)

Could "So Long at the Fair" by Christina Schwartz, involve a bigger group of unlikable characters? There is the lying cheating husband, the messy self-centered wife, the other woman who believes "she" is not the one cheating, and the nerdy, creepy stalker. Then we have a confusing, predictable and totally unnecessary back story set in 1963. Where was the editor with the sense to cut that entirely?

All this mess makes it too easy to hate them all which makes it difficult to appreciate the sub-text and the underlying human conditions that can make a story of adultery interesting, human and compelling.