Customer Reviews

Starting Over C

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

 

 

Acclaimed actress Lynn Redgrave (winner of two Tony Awards and twice nominated for an Academy Award) gives superb reading to Robin Pilcher's second novel, "Starting Over."

Aptly titled, the story is all about beginning again. Now living on her family's farm in a small Scottish town, 38-year-old Liz Dewhurst is reeling from the disintegration of her marriage. But not to worry, a broken heart may be mended when Liz takes in a boarder - a handsome older man, Arthur Kempler, a professor at her son's school.

True to the Pilcher program (which the author's mother novelist Rosamunde Pilcher mines so successfully) complications develop. The farm is on the verge of bankruptcy; developers want to turn it into a posh golf course. This is a fate that Liz's father, a fifth generation farmer, cannot countenance. The betraying Gregor, Liz's ex husband, with his filly of the moment in tow shows up to lobby for the golf course as he owns adjoining property.

What conundrums - if Liz turns down the tempting financial offer town folk will be unhappy as they perceive the golf course to be an asset. However, if she accepts it, she will be helping Gregor and his new lady friend.

When Arthur invites Liz to join him on holiday in Spain, she accepts. There is much more than the Prado in Spain as the pair soon discover when they meet someone that neither of them expected to see.

Surprises spiced with romance make "Starting Over" entertaining listening.

- Gail Cooke

About halfway through this convoluted but somewhat interesting tale based in Scotland's golfing country, I wondered if it is really fair to compare Robin Pilcher, a man well into middle age, judging by the photo on the book jacket, to his brilliant and much older mother.

But I also wondered if this book would be getting the attention it has if he did not carry the famous name.

For the record, then: I think I, and many other reviewers and readers, have established rather firmly that the son is not the mother. Although "Starting Over" weaves a tale of many different types of people with all sorts of secrets and private heartbreaks, there the comparison ends. This is a slow-moving, not very believable story about two farms, joined by marriage, that fall privy to a monied consortium that wants to turn the land into a prize golf course to rival St. Andrews and the other famous links on Fife's East Coast. This set of events strongly affects Elizabeth, who is only 37, but who acts and speaks as if she were 20 years older (I actually had to turn back to the first pages to confirm her age); her 20-year-old college student son Alex; her recently bereaved father; and her estranged, cheating husband Gregor.

Gregor, who speaks in hip, up-to-date language on one page, and lapses into a wee bit of Scottish dialect on the next, also seems older than his 38 years. He has taken up with a bimbo, thus losing his loyal wife and loving son. The bimbo has moved into Gregor's farmhouse (yeah, right), and cooks dinner in her tight pink pants while he helps the sheep give birth out in the barn.

Elizabeth (Liz) and Alex have decamped from their bimboed family home and taken up residence with her father, who IS old, but who manages to scramble up and down hills, do the work of 12 men himself, and lug extremely heavy golf bags for 18 holes without breaking a sweat. I kept expecting him to have a heart attack!

Then there is Roberta, an Australian 60-ish spinster who arrives in the vicinity after the death of her beloved father, to whom she had a childlike and chilish attachment, precluding any serious relationship for herself. It is her clubs that Liz's dad (called Mr. Craig through most of the book) is hefting about the golf courses, acting as her erstwhile caddy, because he senses sorrow in her demeanor, and thinks he can help.

Rounding out this motley crew is a highly eccentric professor of German from Alex's college, who needs lodgings and winds up at the farmhouse. He is given to spouting German that is never translated or explained. In the same way, another character (I won't be a spoiler and reveal in this review who he is) is fluent in Spanish, which comes in handy during a trip to Spain, but which is not translated either (I know Spanish, even to the point of recognizing the misspelled word, but it must be terribly annoying to those who do not, because there is quite a lot of it in the middle of the book).

OK, I have to say it: If these characters were gathered together in a book by Rosamunde, it all would have made sense, we would have come away with a new depth of understanding and a heartwarming sense of a story well-told. That is not the case here. The characters never really quite meld, the story is quite awkward in places, and in the end, nothing at all makes any sense.

I love Scotland, and I generally like books with ensembles rather than one or two characters, but I will not make the mistake again of expecting more than Robin Pilcher can give. He is a pleasantly average writer, and that is not a bad thing. And certainly, with this second book, he deserves to be reviewed on his own merits. I hope I have done so, but I have to admit that I did not see this book as having star quality.

Well, I must admit I looked forward to reading this book. Although Robin Pilcher does NOT have his mother's (Rosamunde Pilcher)gift of fluid writing, you can put up with the overlong laborious descriptions at the beginning of each chapter in expectation of the story to come. And it was all believable: until you get to the end. It was like Robin got tired of writing the book after one year and just stuck some stupid ending on it. Never mind that it doesn't make any sense. The character says: "I belong here". But she sold the property - she does not have a here to belong to! "I must stay here for my son - I can't abandon him" But he is 18 years old, in college, trying to make a life for himself. And then the ultimate - thinking about going back to the husband who cheated on her; who, just two days ago she realized she had no feelings for?????
Aw, come on, don't you think better of your readers than this?
At least remember what you wrote before so you can have some kind of continuity. Poor job and what's more, a waste of all that time reading.

Liz Dewhurst feels as if her world is falling apart. Her husband has left her for another woman, her mother has died, and the farm which has been in her family for 150 years is being threatened with foreclosure. Her son Alex is estranged from his father and feels a keen responsibility for his mother and widowed grandfather. A developer appears and proposes to create a golf course on the property belonging to Liz and her ex-husband. Liz is opposed to this, but financially it seems to be the only solution to her problems. Alex tries to help by bringing his German teacher, Arthur, home as a boarder. Although Liz and her father are not too pleased by this arrangement at first, they soon grow fond of their new boarder.
Arthur is estranged from his son due to past indiscretions
and needs a travel companion to replace the son who refuses to go with his wayward father. Liz is persuaded to go, and she embarks on a voyage of self-discovery as well as investigating a new culture. Pilcher makes some statements about love and loyalty which are important although some may disagree with him. This is a pleasant read with a gentle message.

Robin Pilcher's first book, "Oceans Apart", was a poor imitation of his mother's talent. Not so with his latest novel, "Starting Over". The dialogue and descriptions flow easily. There are several romatic matchups possible during the course of the book, and the reader will find himself trying to guess the outcome. While some might not like the not ending, I thought it different enough to rate the book above average. With his Mother Rosamund apparently no longer writing, I look forward to more Robin Pilcher novels.

I agree with the writer of the review "Who wrote the ending?" Having read 99% of Rosamunde Pilcher's books, I found Robin's story similar to some of her novelettes;i.e., a decent read...until the end. The Liz who decides she may attempt a reconciliation with a not well-drawn character of an ex-husband for the sake of a mature 18-yr old son was not the Liz who left Spain! Very irritating ending; left me with the feeling "Why did I waste my time reading this book".

This book was just okay. It could have been better and more well developed in some areas.

Liz Dewhurst's happy marriage ended when she dicovered her husband Gregor having an affair with another local woman for two years. To add more problems, Liz and Gregor's family businesses were intertwined. Growing up on neighboring farms on the east coast of Fife, an area blessed with rich soil, and beautiful unspoiled landscapes, they decided to merge the farms upon their marriage. The separation however, came at a really bad time, when these farms were struggling to survive.

Then when an opportunity arises to sell the land, and make it into a golf course, Liz is torn. The money is tempting, and she knows that by turning the scheme down she will face the wrath of the local community. On the other hand, the farm has passed through five generations of her family.

At the same time, Liz's son, Alex, a student at nearby St. Andrews University, suggests renting a room out to raise some money. And the person he suggests, is his German tutor, Arthur Kempler. Arthur turns out to be the man to change everything.

Excellent read. Being a fan of Rosamunde Pilcher, I expected nothing less than excellent works from her son. Uses his individual style, of course. The characters are wonderful and many; there's history about the areas his characters are involved in; it doesn't take long to keep everyone straight as the story unfolds. I continue to look forward to more books from this author. I believe he's truly "off and running" as a writer.

Poorly written, long, lagging passages that are best skipped over. Characters lack depth and backbone. I kept turning the pages, hoping for more. And then when I got to the last page, I threw it down in disgust. Absolutely senseless!

Robin Pilcher's first book, "An Ocean Apart" was one of the best books I had read in a long time. I was glad to find this one. What a waste! Badly written. Pilcher's character's have all been in other books. Some of the scenarios are laughable. The love interest knocking on Liz' door at a hotel pretending to be a bellboy and then leaning up against the doorframe when she opens it is written to melt our hearts but appears sophmoric. The book is overall very wholesome until you get towards the end when Will encourages Liz to use the "F" word to get out her frustrations, so she does to a point of ridiculousness. Then, she is encouraged by a woman they meet to have sex with Will because it brings healing and SHE KNOWS because she cheated on her husband and now things are wonderful. A silly book that had potential, but Pilcher tries too hard and needs to be more original.