RA Crossroads: Marisa de los Santos's Falling Together
By Neal Wyatt Sep 1, 2011As Lewis Carroll's Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader's advisory service goes where it may. In this column, friends lost and found lead me down a winding path.
Begin:
de los Santos, Marisa. Falling Together. Morrow. Oct. 2011. 386p. ISBN 9780061670879. $25.99. F
Situated in the supportive grid of women's fiction (if leaning strongly toward romance), de los Santos explores the many guises of friendship and love in this tender and bittersweet story of growing into one's life. Pen, Cat, and Will meet in college and bond instantly over Cat (who had an epileptic seizure in the women's room). Inseparable friends, they remain close until Cat's boyfriend, and her decision to marry him, breaks them apart. Years later, Pen is raising her daughter Augusta on her own after a disastrous affair, and Will is writing children's books and working his way through the lingering traumas of childhood. They reconnect at their college reunion and discover that Cat once again creates a pivot for their lives. De los Santos has many strengths to recommend her: her blend of lyrical description and strong dialog, focus on interior spaces well described (be they a mood, landscape, or room), fully drawn characters, and an emotional investment in her characters and their stories. Readers who enjoy the connection forged through the ties of family and friendships should find much to savor in de los Santos's comforting, leisurely paced novel.
Read-Alikes:
Weiner, Jennifer. Best Friends Forever. Washington Square Pr. 2010. 384p. ISBN 9780743294300. pap. $15. F
A good match for de los Santos, Weiner also focuses on strong characterizations and the creation of an emotionally fulfilling story. She incorporates the standard themes of women's fiction-family, friendship, and a growing sense of self-with a large measure of respect and wit, much as de los Santos does. Weiner's sweetly sad (but always affirming) story of friendship lost and refound explores the connections between Addie Downs and Valerie Adler, which began when both were nine and Val moved in across the street. As they hit their teens, the mean-girl curse destroys what they once had, as Val blossoms and Addie sinks. Yet Val reaches out to Addie when her adult life comes undone, unknowingly bringing Addie more than she ever dreamed. As in Falling Together, the emotional grid of the novel is supportive, the pace is leisurely, and the story is redemptive.
Buxbaum, Julie. After You. Dial Pr: Random. 2010. 368p. ISBN 9780385341257. pap. $15. F
Loss and friendship and the ways one navigates to a sense of wholeness and togetherness is the prevailing theme of Falling Together. Buxbaum navigates this terrain flawlessly in the story of Ellie Lerner, who leaves her husband and life in Boston when her best friend, Lucy, is murdered in London. Flying to England, Ellie steps in to care for Lucy's daughter, Sophie, as Lucy's husband, Greg, sinks into drink. Her stay in London gives Ellie the time to reflect on her own losses, choices, and what she really knew of Lucy. Like de los Santos, Buxbaum writes with an honed sensibility (she uses The Secret Garden to mediate grief), creating an emotionally cathartic story filled with well-drawn characters. She is also deft at creating spaces and descriptions of mood, leaving readers with a sense that they, too, are living in a house on Notting Hill, navigating London, and feeling the heft of loss. Sophie and Ellie are grand together, and like Pen and Augusta, are strongly memorable.
Allen, Sarah Addison. The Peach Keeper. Random. 2011. 288p. ISBN 9780553807226. $25. F
Allen writes books of romance, friendship, family, and magic. Discounting the magic, she makes a fine companion to de los Santos for her strong writing, matching the poetic voice of Falling Together, her brilliantly built worlds full of detail, and her emotional stories of redemption and finding one's way. Here, Allen tells the story of multiple friendships as they teeter over the course of decades. Willa Jackson runs a shop in Walls of Water, NC, where queen bee Paxton Osgood reigns. Paxton's twin, Colin, travels home to aid Paxton with her crowing achievement, the restoration of a grand historic home, while Sebastian Rogers, a dentist living a bit outside the cream of Walls of Water society, finally forges his own life. Connections run deep in Walls of Water-Willa's and Patxon's grandmothers were friends in their girlhood and currently reside in the same nursing home. Now, Sebastian and Paxton as well as Colin and Willa are reforging their ties and finding more than they expected, while the grandmothers are hoping their own past ties stay hidden.
Binchy, Maeve. Circle of Friends. Dell. 2011. 608p. ISBN 9780345526809. pap. $5.99. F
Like de los Santos, Binchy writes stories of friendship and love held together by strong plotting, perfectly realized locations and scenes, and fully developed characters. Tracing the friendship of Benny and Eve, she explores the connections and interconnections among a large cast of characters in the tiny Irish village of Knockglen and Dublin during the 1950s. Benny is the loved daughter of an overprotective family, while Eve is an orphan, yet the two are fast friends and enter college with much excitement, forming new bonds with Nan Malone and Jack Foley. The novel traces the cast's interactions, hopes, disappointments, and futures. Benny always seems out of luck; Nan connives for what she wants, caring little for the fall out; Eve remains fiercely loyal; and Jack must face a crossroads that tests them all. The richness of the relationships should please readers who enjoyed the college connections of Cat, Pen, and Will as well as the ways de los Santos plays out the reverberations of relationships tested through tragedy and error.
Listen-Alikes:
Crusie, Jennifer. Bet Me. Brilliance. 2004. ISBN 9781593553975. $69.97. F
Funnier in tone than Falling Together (which does have its comic moments) but focusing tightly on friendship, family, character creation, and strong dialog, Crusie's story of two witty characters finally coming together is a winner. Just like Pen and Will, Min and Cal are part of two groups that slowly become intimately knitted together. But Min and Cal cannot stand each other-until fate, chicken marsala, and a very smart cat intervene. Like de los Santos, Crusie is vested in emotional connections and crafting the small scenes in books that make these connections vivid experiences. In doing so, she crafts smart stories full of moments that ring true and feel right. Read by Deanna Hurst, the audiobook comes to life with perfect pacing, hitting all the right notes of the fast, witty dialog. Hurst infuses her voice with humor and makes the listening experience a joyous treat-from forbidden rolls to thank you ice cream. Readers who enjoyed Pen and Will's near perfect connectedness will find the same emotional payoff in Min and Cal.
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. Natural Born Charmer. Books on Tape. 2007. ISBN 9781415937471. $120. F
The late brilliant narrator Anna Fields, still mourned by her many fans, reads the story of Dean Robillard and Blue Bailey with her typical clarity, investment, and novel-building sensibility-as well as the sly humor and tender affection she brought to every Phillips work she read. Dean is a charming football star estranged from his ex-alcoholic mother and his rock star legend of an absentee father. Blue is an out-of-work, down-on-her-luck artist, separated from her charity activist mother. Dean picks Blue up on the road and takes her to his country home, intent on a bit of fun seduction with no strings attached. What he finds is a knotted ball of thread, as his mother is in residence decorating his place and his half-sister, geographically now close enough to come calling, gets up the courage to claim him-which triggers a visit from their neglectful dad. As the five break apart and bond together, a family is finally forged in this novel, which should delight de los Santos fans with its heartfelt tone, strong sense of place and character, and smart dialog.
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