A Summer In Europe
From the book jacket:
On her thirtieth birthday, Gwendolyn Reese receives an unexpected present from her widowed Aunt Bea: a grand tour of Europe in the company of Bea’s Sudoku and Mah-jongg Club. The prospect isn’t entirely appealing. But when the gift she is expecting – an engagement ring from her boyfriend – doesn’t materialize, Gwen decides to go. At first, Gwen approaches the trip as if it’s the math homework she assigns her students, diligently checking monuments off her must-see list. But amid the bougainvillea and stunning vistas of southern Italy, something changes. Gwen begins to live in the moment – skipping down stone staircases in Capri, running her fingers over a glacier in view of the Matterhorn, racing through the Louvre, and taste-testing pastries at a Marseilles cafe. Revelling in every new experience – especially her attraction to a charismatic British physics professor – Gwen discovers that the ancient wonders around her are nothing compared to the renaissance unfolding within…
A SUMMER IN EUROPE by Marilyn Brant was a right pleasant read. I can see it being a great get-away book, perfect for gift giving. The recipient can dive into in January, when escape may be on the mind. For me, I found it light.
Gwen’s personality morphed from somewhat uptight, let’s-plan-let’s-make-lists to someone who skipped and cavorted in Capri. Away from everyday life, it’s not unusual to try on a different way of being so I understand how a transformation like that could come about. A summer in Europe could certainly make that happen but Gwen went from one way to the other without much in the way of explanation. The change was fast without any real motivation that I could see, which was jarring. A character change that doesn’t seem to track with the story arc takes me right out of the story.
Still, Gwen was likeable. For instance, when she saw the Sistine Chapel, she was underwhelmed, which was genuine:
She exhaled, trying to hide her mystification. What on Earth were people feeling (that she was missing) when they saw this? She wanted to like it and, certainly, it was a highly decorated ceiling with many pretty and even evocative scenes, yet they didn’t strike her as any more inspiring than a well-painted mural by a group of art students.… She sighed. Well, anyway, now she’d seen it … She pulled out her list and checked “Sistine Chapel” off of it just as soon as she had got enough light to see the papers clearly.
I love when I’m reading and I nod along in agreement with the character. That’s what that scene did. It seemed so very human. (I’m not all that knowledge about art, either, so I appreciated Gwen’s reaction.)
The love interest story line felt like a formula. I was glad for Gwen that she found this guy and got rid of her straight-laced insurance-selling (and a bit clichéd) boyfriend, Richard, but it didn’t seem like much of a journey to get there.
I didn’t feel like I ever really knew her – because of puzzling things like that – or any of the other characters. But that’s just me; plenty of other readers specifically commented on how much they liked the character development. A SUMMER IN EUROPE is also a Literary Guild and Rhapsody Book Club Featured Alternate Selection for this month, so again, it may have been just me.
All in all, a nice piece of escapist fiction that fans of Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber will enjoy.
Overall rating:
Unboxed rating:
Did you feel as though you toured Europe, Keetha? And every now and then escape reading is a good thing.
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Escape reading is luscious, I agree!
The descriptions of restaurants (gelato!) and the sights and sounds were vivid. It makes traveling Europe quite enticing.
Keetha´s last blog post ..Granted
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Sounds like a book I would really enjoy! (And I too felt slightly underwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel. I’m glad I went, b/c of the history and significance, but it wasn’t my thing.)
I think with books like these, you can love them, but they’re just not going to generate the same kind of “WOW” feelings or ratings as other books. Kind of like your local Chinese restaurant. It’s the best place to get dumplings and fried rice, but it’s just not in the same league as that 5-star chef-owned place downtown. And that’s fine!
Kristan´s last blog post ..Gobbling up Houston
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Exactly!
Keetha´s last blog post ..Granted
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Sometimes a ‘light’ read really hits the spot. Just like gelato (I hope Gwen went to Vivoli or Grom in Florence – ah, gelato to die for). And I agree with Gwen and Kristan on the Sisine Chapel. I’m wanting to go back to Europe so badly, this book might be just the ticket (and is so much more affordable
). Thanks, Keetha, for a balanced review.
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Travel novels are tricky in that they are usually metaphors for characters awakening in some fashion through the magic of travel. I’m intrigued that Brant made some interesting choices to avoid the cliche.
A thoughtful review, Keetha, I enjoyed it.
Kathleen Bolton´s last blog post ..A Summer In Europe
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I’m ridiculously late to this one, sorry, the week was like that. Keetha, do you know — or any of you very able commenters — aren’t there a lot of these run-off-to-Europe books out there? All the way back to Shirley Valentine in, what, the 1980s? (She did Greece, not Italy, left her English hubby and got herself a minor Zorba on some island. It’s always Italy or Greece.) There’s that noisy one set in Cortona (great little town) in Tuscany, with the fixer-upper house, Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes’ thing. (Having lived in Italy, let me give you a tip: Every house there is a fixer-upper, lol.) And there’s that Pray, Eat, Sit Down, Stand Up, Get on the Train, Get off the Train book, what’s it called? The one by Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey to TED. More countries in that one. They all start with an “i.” And then I have a friend, Rebecca Bricker, who’s just published hers, Tales from Tavanti: An American Woman’s Mid-life Adventure in Italy — http://ow.ly/7VmTa. Seems sort of a genre unto itself, doesn’t it? Travel, yes, but travel by women who are sort of, maybe, kind of escaping from something normal to something less normal but more expensive? The longing-for-culture thing. I thought it was good, Keetha, that you gave this one the 3 and 3 rating you did, since you felt it wasn’t substantive. It’s not as if a 3 is on the Damnation end of the Sistine, but the more honest we are when something’s lightweight, the better. And I have to say, I think you’re keeping a very firm grip, better than I’d have done, after reading a character who refers to Michelangelo’s masterpiece at the Sistine as “a highly decorated ceiling with many pretty and even evocative scenes.” Yeah, like The Creation. That’s pretty evocative. Look, I know, the lighting is bad (even after the huge cleaning) and you’re crushed in there with a thousand other people looking straight up and stepping on your feet, and those rude Vatican guards herding you around. Seeing the Sistine well actually requires some elevation and special lighting. (Or a good documentary, lol.) But “a highly decorated ceiling with many pretty and even evocative scenes?” #haha #ohdear I’d better just shut my mouth now
Porter´s last blog post ..Review: The Art of Fielding | by Chad Harbach
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