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A review by rosecarlyle
The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
Spoiler-free review
I can't give a star rating to this novel because I have such strong conflicting feelings about it. As always, Shreve's writing is lucid and lovely. The section in Africa was amazing; having spent time in Africa it was a joy to return there in my imagination, aided by Shreve's magic prose.
But.
This isn't a spoiler because you know from the beginning that this beautiful romance is about two married people cheating. They come across as such massive narcissists. Thomas even harbours obsessive jealousy towards Linda's husband, and as for the way he treats his poor wife, it's disgusting. Meanwhile, I guess we're not supposed to care what happens to the black characters (the only ones I actually did care about).
I know most readers focus on the shocking ending, either loving it or hating it, but for me it seemed almost irrelevant — so out of the blue that I couldn't really accept it and it didn't make a difference to how I thought of the book. I guess you might feel that Thomas's cruel behaviour is more forgivable once you know more about him, but I didn't. If anything, I hated him more.
The funny thing is that I still want to read Shreve's books (apart from The Pilot's Wife and The Weight of Water because I don't need that much sadness in my life). Part of the reason is that the crazy weird plots mean I never know what's going to happen, but also, I just love her writing so much. One star and five stars.
I can't give a star rating to this novel because I have such strong conflicting feelings about it. As always, Shreve's writing is lucid and lovely. The section in Africa was amazing; having spent time in Africa it was a joy to return there in my imagination, aided by Shreve's magic prose.
But.
This isn't a spoiler because you know from the beginning that this beautiful romance is about two married people cheating. They come across as such massive narcissists. Thomas even harbours obsessive jealousy towards Linda's husband, and as for the way he treats his poor wife, it's disgusting. Meanwhile, I guess we're not supposed to care what happens to the black characters (the only ones I actually did care about).
I know most readers focus on the shocking ending, either loving it or hating it, but for me it seemed almost irrelevant — so out of the blue that I couldn't really accept it and it didn't make a difference to how I thought of the book. I guess you might feel that Thomas's cruel behaviour is more forgivable once you know more about him, but I didn't. If anything, I hated him more.
The funny thing is that I still want to read Shreve's books (apart from The Pilot's Wife and The Weight of Water because I don't need that much sadness in my life). Part of the reason is that the crazy weird plots mean I never know what's going to happen, but also, I just love her writing so much. One star and five stars.