Your Blue-Eyed Boy: A Novel [Hardcover]

Helen Dunmore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

From the acclaimed author of "Talking to the Dead" comes a haunting novel about a judge whose husband is on the verge of personal bankruptcy and breakdown. As she struggles to shield her two sons from rising tensions at home, a letter arrives that threatens to destroy her public life.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An intriguing situation, seamless pacing, a rising sense of menace and a surprise ending bring Dunmore's new novel (after the well-received Talking to the Dead) into the winner's circle. British district judge Simone struggles as the family breadwinner, while her unemployed husband faces bankruptcy and takes care of their two boys. Keeping the family together in their remote seaside village is hard enough, but Simone's fragile worldAalso undermined by a childhood traumaAis threatened by the intrusion of her long-buried past. Michael, an American Vietnam veteran whom she met during a summer in the States, sends her an intense letter and copies of several photographs of them nude together. Then he arrives in her village, having decided to reconnect with the one person whose image he has nurtured over two decades, some of which was spent in a mental hospital. Dunmore intricately weaves past and present, bringing the experimental atmosphere of the 1970s to life as Simone reads Michael's letters and views the incriminating photographs taken by his war buddy, Calvin, whom she remembers as a constant unsettling presence. The indelible impression of a first true love contrasts with Simone's fierce desire to protect her family from what seems to be a blackmail plot. The novel's marsh-country setting, where bogs can swallow people whole, is a fearsome metaphor for a life abundant with insecurity and tension. This is a provocative tale, candid about the way past deeds and encounters can endanger present lives, casting shadows that can't be erased.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

To the outsider, Simone's would appear to be an enviable life, but as Dunmore (Bestiary, LJ 1/98) reveals here, Simone's life is fraught with personal and financial difficulties even before her former boyfriend Michael reenters her life after a 20-year silence. Michael begins by writing, then telephoning, Simone, and as he draws closer to her, Simone remembers her youthful and largely innocent relationship with him and is forced to question his motives and decide how far she's prepared to go to protect the life she now lives. Dunmore's writing is adept and her plot solid, if somewhat predictable. However, Simone never emerges as a truly sympathetic character, and the novel lacks the spark to captivate readers totally. Recommended for large fiction collections.ACaroline M. Hallsworth, Cambrian Coll., Ont.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316197386
• ISBN-13: 978-0316197380
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,731,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking book, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Your Blue-Eyed Boy: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is generally well written. However, although the all too frequent digressions are often important in character and plot development, they sometimes appeared as unnecessary space fillers, and contributed to the slow-moving pace of the book. Nevertheless, Dunmore's descriptions of the settings, especially of the sea, are vivid and powerful. This and her development of mental conflicts of the main character make this a very worthwhile read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars doesn't follow through, April 26, 2001

By 

lady detective "sakura kitty" (east coat) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Blue-Eyed Boy: A Novel (Paperback)

helen dunmore has a lovely way of writing, her narrative is sensual, and really draws you in. but, in "your blue-eyed boy" the plot, which builds and layers very well, falls short about three quarters into the book. i felt like she had forgotten what the rest of the book was about. the narrator's actions take a turn for the bizarre, new details are thrown in just to make the end seem plausible... and i was just left with a feeling of "ok, come on, this is just silly." her writing, her eye for detail, specifically in the language of landscape and food is brimming with delicious description... but the plot in this one falls flat at the end.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unsettling, August 3, 2007

By 

Ann Ahnemann (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Blue-Eyed Boy: A Novel (Paperback)

A disturbing desperation on almost every page. A 4 because one can't put this book down. The writing is superb.
Simone is 18, goes to be a camp counselor in Cape Cod from London. Has a love affair with Michael, 28. They are haunted everywhere they go by Calvin, a Vietnam vet friend of Michael's. With this unholy pair, the then naïve Simone is trapped inand a parasitic relationships. Skip to Simone age 38, now a district judge in civil court, two boys Joe and Matt and a husband who has recently brought the family to the brink of bankruptcy due to a failed architectural firm. Michael looks them up where they live in the northern marsh land. He's got pictures, his own failed life, and the belief that only Simone can save him. There seems no way out of doom. That must be the point.