The Castaways: A Novel by Elin HilderbrandThe Castaways are a group of eight friends who live on Nantucket. They take trips together, they drink and play Scrabble on Sunday nights, they are a very tight knit group of four married couples. The novel begins with the deaths of Tess and Greg the youngest of the four couples. The others recollections of the couple, secrets and guilt are intertwined with discovering why Tess and Greg died so tragically.
For starting off with a death it was a bit slow going at the beginning. I had a lot of trouble getting into the story since the narrative kept shifting from one character to another. This continues throughout, but got less confusing as I became more familiar with each character and who they were married to.
Many have described this as a soap opera of a story and I have to agree. This group of friends, all married and some with kids, was very incestuous. We have some having affairs, others lusting after their friends' spouses, one woman is an ex of one of the other husbands. Oh, and that isn't all the secrets they are keeping or all the drama they deal with.
I really don't know how or why they considered themselves "the best of friends", because with the amount of cheating, lusting, keeping secrets and just being vindictive against the others, they do not resemble friends at all. Despite this, or probably because of it, I couldn't put the novel down once I figured it all out.
Very addictive, just like a soap opera.
3.5/5
Great review, it sounds like it would be a page-turner. I like this type of book for relaxing with - my idea of a good beach read :)
ReplyDeleteJoanne- That is what it is exactly. Summer is a great time for beach reads even when not at the beach. :)
ReplyDeleteI have this book but haven't read it yet. After following the tour, I was thinking the same thing, that they don't sound like true friends. I can't wait to read this one.
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Love your comment on all the cheating and lusting....so very true... very flawed friendships.. but pretty addictive.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. If it's that addictive, maybe I'll pick it up.
ReplyDeletelol-I have to agree, they didn't seem like best friends with all that going on, did they. In spite of it all (things I myself wouldn't do), I still really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.
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