Scan barcode
A review by amyvl93
Here and Now by Santa Montefiore
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This novel is, essentially, Elizabeth is Missing as directed by the Hallmark Channel.
We open on Marigold, a selfless loving wife who has been married to her perfect husband Dennis for many glorious years. She runs the village shop, and is a prominent member of her community. Her younger daughter Suze is 25, and a self-obsessed influencer; her glass-half-empty mother has recently moved in and her oldest daughter Daisy has returned from living in Italy after the breakdown of her relationship. However, Marigold is just thrilled to get to look after her family because isn't that just women's natural instincts (a paraphrase, but also the main vibe of the plot). Things start to go awry in this picture perfect world when she starts to forget things and her family and friends have to become the carers.
This was very readable, I managed to polish it off on a couple of train journeys and even if the setting is saccharine it is well built, I could picture the village very clearly in my mind. However, whilst there were moments that did feel moving, the shiny gloss over everything really stopped this book being able to have much of an impact. There's hardly a glimpse of tension anywhere; there's an incredibly benevolent local landowner, the village dramas are slightly ridiculous and Daisy returns home and instantly becomes a smash hit artist and gets her own new romance plotline within weeks.
Montefiore also leans heavily on stereotypes for some of her characters - sassy gay man with cats, self-obsessed influencer daughter (as well as showing a fairly limited understanding of how income works from instagram - 30k followers would definitely earn you something), misogynistic Italian men, women whose only focus is marriage and children, and even a random bit of bashing of both the NHS and inheritance tax. Every time you think one of these stereotypes has been set up to be bashed maybe Sir Owen the landlord wasn't a perfect man, maybe Daisy returned from Italy because her boyfriend wanted commitment and she didn't, maybe Suze will have literally any character development , it is found wanting. The most impactful parts of the novel for me were with Dennis and towards the very end.
A perfectly fine read, but if you want to read something that tackles the impact of dementia without the sweetness, there are other books you can read.
We open on Marigold, a selfless loving wife who has been married to her perfect husband Dennis for many glorious years. She runs the village shop, and is a prominent member of her community. Her younger daughter Suze is 25, and a self-obsessed influencer; her glass-half-empty mother has recently moved in and her oldest daughter Daisy has returned from living in Italy after the breakdown of her relationship. However, Marigold is just thrilled to get to look after her family because isn't that just women's natural instincts (a paraphrase, but also the main vibe of the plot). Things start to go awry in this picture perfect world when she starts to forget things and her family and friends have to become the carers.
This was very readable, I managed to polish it off on a couple of train journeys and even if the setting is saccharine it is well built, I could picture the village very clearly in my mind. However, whilst there were moments that did feel moving, the shiny gloss over everything really stopped this book being able to have much of an impact. There's hardly a glimpse of tension anywhere; there's an incredibly benevolent local landowner, the village dramas are slightly ridiculous and Daisy returns home and instantly becomes a smash hit artist and gets her own new romance plotline within weeks.
Montefiore also leans heavily on stereotypes for some of her characters - sassy gay man with cats, self-obsessed influencer daughter (as well as showing a fairly limited understanding of how income works from instagram - 30k followers would definitely earn you something), misogynistic Italian men, women whose only focus is marriage and children, and even a random bit of bashing of both the NHS and inheritance tax. Every time you think one of these stereotypes has been set up to be bashed
A perfectly fine read, but if you want to read something that tackles the impact of dementia without the sweetness, there are other books you can read.