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MauritiusToday.com - Shopping Mall - Off Season
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List Price: $26.99
Our Price: $16.88
Your Save: $ 10.11 ( 37% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780446505482
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 044650548X
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 496
Publication Date: 2008-08-13
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.
For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.
It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Poignant story about life and love
Comment: Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (11/08)
I found "Off Season" to be a compelling and poignant story. It is about life, the complications of family, love and incredible loss. Overall, the book was well written and enjoyable to read.
When Lilly Constable McCall loses her husband to an untimely death, she is not sure how to pick up the pieces. As she feels the world closing in on her, she decides to return to the one place she can find comfort, her family home in Maine. When Lilly arrives, she finds she can breathe easier and as she relaxes, the memories about all the important things in her life come rushing back.
Every summer, Lilly and her family spent the summer in their summer cottage in Maine. Her eleventh summer was a very memorable one. During that summer, Lilly spent her time trying to figure out her complicated relationship with her Mom, an artist and activist who was just coming into her own. This is the summer that Lilly also experienced love for the first time in her life. When the summer ends in tragedy, Lilly has to learn to deal with her emotions in a way that will impact the rest of her life.
The story then follows Lilly's life as she must deal with her Mom's illness and the aftermath of that. So much happens in her life that she really grows up more quickly than she should. The one place that Lilly finds peace through all of this is in the water and she becomes quite a proficient underwater swimmer. When Lilly meets Cam, who is fun and loving, she begins to really live for the first time. As Cam's wife, a mother and sculptor, she finds real happiness for the first time in her life.
With her children grown and married and Cam gone, Lilly must figure out what is next in her life. Maine is the only place that she can possibly find the answers that she is looking for. I recommend "Off Season" by Anne Rivers Siddons for anyone who enjoys reading about family and relationships.
Customer Rating:
Summary: From J. Kaye's Book Blog
Comment: The story begins shortly after the funeral services of Lilly Constable McCall's husband, Cam. Against her daughters' protests, she decides to head to coastal Maine where her family's cottage and its memories await her. Lily takes us back to her childhood of innocence and the losses she experienced and then her life with Cam.
Before I go further, let me make something perfectly clear. I feel Anne Rivers Siddons is a phenomenal writer. In OFF SEASON, she digs deep, exposing the human side in all of us. Do you hear a "but" coming? There really isn't one, but Siddons goes too deep that it's painful for me to experience. The last time I was moved to such a state was over Terms of Endearment. The writer packed such an emotion punch that leaves me so sad and full of pain days after reading the last page. It's a wonderful literary read, but sensitive types might feel Lily's pain all the way to their bones.
Now that I have made that perfectly clear, the ending was a total let down. I can understand no happily ever after, but this left me bitter. This is just a suggestion. If this isn't an author you tried before, try another book first. This was my first and it's totally ruined me for reading another.
These are the things I look for in a good story. I had a heck of a time getting into the book. I picked it up several times and what I read was good, but it wasn't enough to hold my interest. So for me, it had some dry spots.
The second problem was at the end. I just thought that was wrong. Maybe I became too wrapped up in Lily. But I asked the question what was the purpose for Cam's betrayal and couldn't come up with a logical answer. That was cruel, totally cruel. The book doesn't get a check in the good ending department.
Customer Rating:
Summary: off season
Comment: I purchased this book as a gift for my daughter. I was sure she would find this recent Siddons book as compelling as I had. Everyone who has read "Off Season" has said,:" Call me when you finish it" And with good reason; one could never guess the ending! One of the best written books that Siddons has done; beautiful descriptive sentences; you can almost taste and smell the ocean!
Customer Rating:
Summary: ' NOT HER BEST "
Comment: I enjoyed parts of it which kept me going enough to want to finish and see what & how 'ARS ' would tie all this up . Thank goodness I borrowed this one from my Library . I won't repeat what most people who gave it 3 stars or less have said , BUT, I felt she didn't know herself how to end this story til " Eureka " ...a light came on in her head and within such a few pages at the end it was supposed to have answered all your questions ....did it ? I think there was too much talking cat ...which I suppose was really Lilly answering her own questions most of the time like speaking to oneself or a dead loved one ...til the end when the cat answers for her . I really think this last part could have saved the book if she was allowed more pages OR gave it more thought and didn't rush the ending ....leaving me kinda shocked " saying .....whaaaa happened ? "
Ages ago I read " UP RIVER " and enjoyed it . after which I bought a couple more which disappointed tho, so, from then on I borrow her books with the hopes I'll come across another novel of hers which is worth my time & money .
Very few writers can be consistant. One which rates great reading about 90 % of the time , is the novelist " Anita Shreve ".....rarely disappoints ( except her last one ; ) sorry .
Customer Rating:
Summary: Off Season is a good read!
Comment: Like many other reviewers, I too have read almost all of Anne Rivers Siddons books beginning with The House Next Door and Fox's Earth. And like many other reviews here, I too loved some of her titles such as Colony and Outer Banks.
And while I really did enjoy this book, I had trouble with two aspects of the book. The first was the intenisty of a relationship between an 11 year and almost 13 year old. And convoluted ending. I finished this book scratching my head wondering who was a certain person and was another individual born from an adulterous liason. In some ways I felt as through the author tired of the subject and rather abruptly ended the book. But even if she did, she never fully wrapped up the narrative and unlike other books which leave an ending to your likes, this ending should have been more straight forward. Still until the last chapter and epilogue, I might have rated this title with 5 stars.
Please don't discount thsi book on the basis of a four star review. The pages are filled with wonderful descriptions of a summer home in Maine and some rather interesting characters. And maybe some day the author will write another book like Colony, which this book did remind me of on certain pages, which just blew me away.
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