6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't go back, July 25, 2006
While this book is written from Minty's point of view, Buchan brings to the fore all the feelings of the various people that were affected by the second marriage. You feel the anger radiating from Rose's adult children. Rose and Minty maintain their icy relationship, and family friends have mixed loyalties. Rose's successful career and personal happiness assure the reader that there can be life after divorce. Nathan seems to be drowning in the turmoil created by his two families and appears to regret having created a second family to support and is often worn out by the demands of being a 54 year old father of 7 year old twins.
Love, anger, hurt and sadness are interwoven in a realistic and difficult second marriage. It is hard to be a second wife to Rose. As Minty matures, she begins to understand how she actually broke up Nathan's first family and will never replace Rosé. It is this maturity that helps the reader to feel compassion for Minty. While you "Can't go back", and undo the past, you can make the best of a difficult situation. And things do get very difficult! A very satisfying read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult to Read, Difficult to Like, March 4, 2007
This sequel to "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman" gives us a look at the "other woman," Minty Lloyd, 7 or so years after she stole Nathan, her friend and colleague's husband. That friend and colleague, Rose, was someone to greatly admire in the first book, as she reeled from the blow but handled her pain and anguish with grace and strength, and prepared to move on with her life.
We didn't know too much about Minty in that book, other than from Rose's point of view, and frankly, there was little to like. How could there be?
Now we see life from Minty's point of view. She is now the mother of twin boys, Felix and Lucas, and an unhappy wife, unhappy mother, unhappy woman and VERY VERY hard to like. Her boys are a drain on her. Her husband is a drain on her. Even her au pair, Eve, is a drain on her. She is working part time but wants to leave her boys, against Nathan's wishes, to work full time. She is miserable and whiny and so awful that it was hard to even turn the pages. Was this on purpose, or was there something the author wanted me to see that I missed?
Anyway, as another reviewer so aptly pointed out, Minty whines her way through her life, unspeakably hard and even cruel, in my mind, to her husband, and even her children on a different level, although she loves them. Then tragedy hits.
The second half of the book is the forced interaction between Rose and Minty, Rose's adult children, Poppy and Sam and their respective spouses, Minty's loyal (or maybe not) friends, and other interesting characters. But it is Rose and Minty who must finish the dance Minty started when she stole Nathan, and for the life of me, I found it hard to care.
This book is well-written, as are all of Buchan's books, but very hard going and a difficult read. It is somewhat interesting as a sequel, but not enough to have to struggle with the main character. Minty is supposedly redeemed in the end, but by that time I was so heartily sick of her, I didn't care.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing sequel, November 18, 2006
I loved Rose in "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman" and was looking forward to reading more about her. However, Rose doesn't put in an appearance until almost halfway through this book. It's all about Minty, the second wife. I found this book disappointing and light on the plot that the first book had.
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