Reviews

Arms Wide Open by Tom Winter

mezu_641's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

mudep's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

jessicaustin's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

jaggedrocks's review

3.0

I had a hard time with this book. I liked the stories premise but the book seemed to fall a little short. The emotions in the book at times seemed to be lacking. It also felt long. The story wasn't horrible, and it was interesting enough to keep me reading. I also liked the twins, for me it felt that their characters were the most developed.

girlwithherheadinabook's review

4.0

Arms Wide Open is a poignant and surprisingly sweet story of a family 'in a cyclone of turmoil', searching for meaning and connection in a world of confusion. I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review, so thank you to Corsair Books. Jack and Meredith are twins who have reached middle-age and find themselves flailing. Their mother is in a stage of advanced dementia and their father died before they were born, so that when Meredith's son offers to take a picture of Jack 'with Grandpa', he is offering to photograph a grave. In the mean time, Jack finds himself in professional free-fall and locked in loneliness while Meredith finds herself emotionally attached to the mouldering yoghurt in her fridge which is the only remnant of her errant husband. A chance encounter with a stranger by the graveside raises the possibility that their father is not dead, leaving Jack and Meredith to question all that their mother has ever told them and what their lives have meant so far.

This could very easily have been a mundane mid-life unravelling but Winter writes with a kind of detachment, giving a real sense of a family struggling to communicate. Meredith's children are searching for meaning of their own; Jemima trawls online dating sites seeking to humiliate the unwary while Luke attempts to understand people through studying their behaviour. The ways in which we interact are changing and the extent to which that alters us as people is a popular topic for discussion but this is not a novel about the evils of modern technology, rather how our attitudes to our lives can affect our outcomes. What do we want to get from life? How can we live our lives to best make sure that we reach our goals? In short, are we living with our arms open?

For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/arms-wide-open-tom-winter.html