Customer Reviews

Waiting to Surface: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sculptor Todd Larkin travels to Florida to visit his girlfriend. Soon afterward the police call his estranged wife of a decade Manhattan magazine editor Sarah informing her he has disappeared after going for a midnight swim. Apparently his Sunshine State girlfriend let four days lapse before calling the cops.

Although she wonders if Todd is alive, Sarah is more worried for their six years old precious daughter, Eliza who she fears will be permanently traumatized by the apparent tragedy as their child was still struggling with her parents' separation. Still as Sarah tries to be there for Eliza, she takes a chance professionally and personally. She knows she must never forget Todd but she rationalizes that this is for Eliza's sake, but deep in her gut she knows his memory is important to her too.

Based on a true tragedy that happened to the author, WAITING TO SURFACE is a character driven haunting tale that asks what people do to cope and help their preadolescent children adjust when closure is unavailable. The story line grips you from the onset as Sarah struggles three months after Todd vanished with how to help Eliza while ignoring her own grief, which in turn eats at her gut. This powerful family drama shows how much love hurts yet means so much when an unexpected loss occurs.

Harriet Klausner

Emily Listfield writes from the heart as her heroine, separated from a difficult husband, tries to unravel the mystery of his disappearance and possible death. As Sarah works to balance Manhattan motherhood (the scenes with her young daughter Eliza are the book's most poignant,) the necessity of succeeding at her chic magazine job and ultimately, dating, you will ask yourself what YOU would do in the grip of similar emotional limbo. A well-written and well-paced novel.

A sensitive and beautifully written story that explores our deepest fear: What if someone you loved disappeared, seemingly vanished off the face of the earth? At once a page-turner with Law & Order like twists and a haunting exploration of what we know--and may never know--about the person we married, this is one of those books you keep thinking about long after you've read the last chapter. Pitch-perfect scenes between the mother and her young daughter and an insider's view of the magazine and art worlds make this a must-read.

This is an intriguing novel that covers the apparently real-life experiences of the author. The

main character struggles to solve the mystery of her husband's disappearance and to deal with

the ensuing grief and guilt. Her way of dealing with this is to channel her pain into carving a

path to a position of eminence in the publishing world. I found that the parallel plot paths

played off each other very successfully.

An unusual book for the mystery lover. Waiting to Surface is about the alleged disappearance of a husband who leaves behind only an airline ticket, pieces of a sculpture and two drawings. Is it an accident, suicide, homicide or something else? Listfield keeps you guessing to the very last page.

If you liked The Devil Wears Prada, you'll like this. Both books seem to be written by ex-fashion magazine employees dipping their toes in the world of literature. This book might appeal to Danielle Steele fans? I'm not sure. I couldn't believe how predictable it was- and how everything got perfectly and neatly tied up into a little bow at the end. I had just finished reading Jose Saramago's "Blindness" while on the same vacation...so it would be tough for any book to impress me immediately following that masterpiece. I think this is one of those books hat might be well suited for a teenager looking for something to read at the airport bookshop.

I read the first chapter of this book and gave up. It's all telling and never pulled me in. I didn't care! There was no dialogue between characters until page 12! The first rule of creative writing is, "Show, don't tell." Someone needs to send this author to a beginning writing class.

Sarah, the intelligent and resourceful main character, separates from her husband. In the midst of the resulting emotional turmoil, she is balancing a high-pressure career with the demands of newly single parenthood. So far, she is the contemporary Everywoman. Then she gets the phone call that changes her life. Sarah continues to attend to her job, her child and the day-to-day details of her life, even as her entire world is turned on its head.

The novel and its characters seem very real, to the extent that the reader has the slightly awkward sensation of having eavesdropped on many private moments. In fact, this novel is apparently based on the author's own life experience. Without giving anything away, it is safe to say that Waiting to Surface offers an excellent. realistic portrayal of a character in crisis. Life goes on, of course, and some mysteries are never solved, but the journey is compelling and believable from first page to last.

The strength, appropriateness and believability of the emotions portrayed throughout the book is what makes it a great book. Although encased in negative circumstances of a woman's life, she does what must be most difficult to do in situations of uncertainty...move forward. I read the entire book not realizing that it was based on true events in the author's life. Writing an autobiographical story from a fictional perspective, required her to stand aside from her life's events and view them as a bystander, yet she was able to take the reader through the emotions of the event of loosing someone but not being sure of the loss. The second tier story - the world of magazine production and her life in New York - was beautifully weaved into the primary story of her loss and I enjoyed the detail she provided about each of those areas. I quickly read the book and would highly recommend it to someone looking for an easy to read book that has depth, emotions and a sense of hope.Waiting to Surface: A Novel

I was disappointed with this book. I have friends that read it and liked it, but it just didn't do it for me. I thought it was strong at first, but then fizzled. Definitely something missing.