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libraryowl's review
4.0
The Widow's Season is a great novel with a nice slow pace that is captivating. Sarah has lost her husband in a canoeing accident... or has she? He disappears in an accident only to reappear in her life again. This is an excellent story of Sarah coming to terms with her husband and a marriage that was less than ideal. This book was enjoyable up to the end. I was a bit worried about how the author would wrap things up. But, no worries, everything seemed to fit into place in a way that contributed to this emotionally involving novel.
readsalot's review
2.0
For every 100 pages of this book, my rating went down a star. Increasingly boring to read.
pussreboots's review
4.0
The Widow's Season by Laura Brodie opens with Sarah seeing her husband at the grocery store. There's just one slight hitch, he's missing and presumed drowned. Sarah does her best to assume it's just her grief playing tricks on her until he shows up at her doorstep as if nothing had happened.
Until David shows up at their home, I was considering putting the book aside. Sarah's grief after seventeen years of marriage is understandable but the first chapter or is completely focused on her grief. I began to worry that the book would just become a long pity party for Sarah.
David's appearance though, shakes things up. He and Sarah act as is it's completely normal for him to appear after so long. He gives a lengthy explanation about his absence, his lack of money, why he hasn't tried to contact her or why he doesn't have his ID. Under all these apparently simple answers there are little clues, things not quite right, that add a new layer of understanding.
Had the book reintroduced David sooner, I would have rated the book five stars. I'm taking one off for the slow, melodramatic opening.
Until David shows up at their home, I was considering putting the book aside. Sarah's grief after seventeen years of marriage is understandable but the first chapter or is completely focused on her grief. I began to worry that the book would just become a long pity party for Sarah.
David's appearance though, shakes things up. He and Sarah act as is it's completely normal for him to appear after so long. He gives a lengthy explanation about his absence, his lack of money, why he hasn't tried to contact her or why he doesn't have his ID. Under all these apparently simple answers there are little clues, things not quite right, that add a new layer of understanding.
Had the book reintroduced David sooner, I would have rated the book five stars. I'm taking one off for the slow, melodramatic opening.
elineedsmoreshelves's review
4.0
"She knew very well how she looked and sounded on her worst days, and to hell with them if they didn't like it. Life was not always pretty and cheerful, with hair curled and teeth whitened and supper waiting on the table. Life was sometimes a bitter harpy perched on the bedpost." (page 13)
"Love was complicated, that was all. Or was love simple, and marriage was complicated? In seventeen years of marriage, David had often left her feeling frustrated, and furious, and disgusted, yes - but he had also made her feel beautiful, and protected, and loved. And oh, what she would give to feel loved right now." (page 25)
"Love was complicated, that was all. Or was love simple, and marriage was complicated? In seventeen years of marriage, David had often left her feeling frustrated, and furious, and disgusted, yes - but he had also made her feel beautiful, and protected, and loved. And oh, what she would give to feel loved right now." (page 25)
nannybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Reseñado en mi blog Nanny Books:
La intriga es el punto fuerte de esta novela, el misterio que rodea a David, el esposo de Sarah. El lector irá enterándose detalles acerca de la vida matrimonial de esta pareja mientras se descubre si él ha muerto o no. ¿Parece un rompecabezas fácil de resolver? No lo es tanto.
Sarah siempre fue una mujer oprimida por su deseo insatisfecho de tener hijos. Toda su vida va cayendo alrededor del hecho de que es estéril, su profesión, su matrimonio, sus amistades. Pero cuando su marido es declarado muerto después de la crecida del río, la oscuridad comienza a desaparecer.
La novela es lenta, cada detalle va surgiendo de a poco, los acontecimientos se van narrando con cuidado. Y si bien el punto central de la novela es si David está muerto y su fantasma ha vuelto para torturar a su esposa, o si está realmente muerto y Sarah está loca, o si él está vivo y es una... mala persona; también es una historia acerca del duelo de un ser querido y de las liberaciones o pesares que tal acontecimiento puede tener.
Los personajes son pocos, pero cada uno de ellos es profundo. Desde los vecinos, hasta los amigos cercanos y los familiares, todos poseen una historia personal. Algunos más, otros menos, los iremos conociendo mientras Sarah hace su duelo. Nuestra protagonista nos va contando de forma intermitente hechos del pasado que se relacionan con su presente. Este retroceso constante es justamente lo que hace lenta la lectura.
Con continuas reflexiones acerca de su vida y con el mito de Halloween presente, nos plantearemos la ancestral pregunta: ¿hay vida después de la muerte? El estilo pulido de Brodie hace que no podamos descubrir la verdad acerca de David hasta el final, ya que muchas escenas acerca de su "situación" son ambiguas. La novela tiene un gran cierre, muy bueno. Y el comentario del epílogo, por parte de la autora, muy acertado.
La intriga es el punto fuerte de esta novela, el misterio que rodea a David, el esposo de Sarah. El lector irá enterándose detalles acerca de la vida matrimonial de esta pareja mientras se descubre si él ha muerto o no. ¿Parece un rompecabezas fácil de resolver? No lo es tanto.
Sarah siempre fue una mujer oprimida por su deseo insatisfecho de tener hijos. Toda su vida va cayendo alrededor del hecho de que es estéril, su profesión, su matrimonio, sus amistades. Pero cuando su marido es declarado muerto después de la crecida del río, la oscuridad comienza a desaparecer.
La novela es lenta, cada detalle va surgiendo de a poco, los acontecimientos se van narrando con cuidado. Y si bien el punto central de la novela es si David está muerto y su fantasma ha vuelto para torturar a su esposa, o si está realmente muerto y Sarah está loca, o si él está vivo y es una... mala persona; también es una historia acerca del duelo de un ser querido y de las liberaciones o pesares que tal acontecimiento puede tener.
Los personajes son pocos, pero cada uno de ellos es profundo. Desde los vecinos, hasta los amigos cercanos y los familiares, todos poseen una historia personal. Algunos más, otros menos, los iremos conociendo mientras Sarah hace su duelo. Nuestra protagonista nos va contando de forma intermitente hechos del pasado que se relacionan con su presente. Este retroceso constante es justamente lo que hace lenta la lectura.
Con continuas reflexiones acerca de su vida y con el mito de Halloween presente, nos plantearemos la ancestral pregunta: ¿hay vida después de la muerte? El estilo pulido de Brodie hace que no podamos descubrir la verdad acerca de David hasta el final, ya que muchas escenas acerca de su "situación" son ambiguas. La novela tiene un gran cierre, muy bueno. Y el comentario del epílogo, por parte de la autora, muy acertado.
robinhigdon's review against another edition
4.0
I cannot say much to describe this book without ruining the ending. Suffice it to say that it was engrossing and left me guessing until the very end. Loved it.
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