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45. Silver Bay

Rating:  ☆☆1/2

Recommended by:

Author:   Jojo Moyes

Genre:  Fiction, Romance

392 pages, published February 1, 2008

Reading Format:  Book

Summary 

Silver Bay tells the story of a romance between Liza McCullen, a pleasure boat operator in the fictional town of Silver Bay, Australia, and Mike Dormer, a hot shot developer.  Mike arrives as a guest at Liza’s Aunt’s dilapidated inn to secretly assess the development potential of Silver Bay for his London based Real Estate Development Company and before long he has fallen for Liza.   Conflict ensues when Mike’s plans are revealed.

 

Quotes

“Perhaps we all harbor a perverse need to get close to things that might destroy us.”

 

“There is nothing redemptive about the loss of a child, no lessons of value it can teach you. It is too big, too overwhelming, too black to articulate. It is a bleak, overwhelming physical pain, shocking in its intensity, and every time you think you might have moved forward an inch it swells back, like a tidal wave, to drown you again.”

 

“Hannah ran past, beaming. I remember that feeling–when you’re a kid and it’s your birthday and for one day everyone makes you feel like the most special person in the world.”

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44. The End of the Affair

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   Graham Greene

Genre:  Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II, Romance

192 pages, published 1951

Reading Format:  Audio Book

Summary 

Set in London during and just after the Second World War, The End of the Affair examines the obsessions and jealousies within the relationships between three central characters:  writer Maurice Bendrix,  Sarah Miles,  and Sarah’s husband, civil servant Henry Miles.  The narrator of the book is Maurice, a rising writer during World War II in London based on Graham Greene, and focuses on his relationship with Sarah based on Greene’s lover at the time, Catherine Walston, to whom the book is dedicated.   While Maurice and Sarah fall in love rapidly, he soon realizes that the affair will end as quickly as it began as he cannot contain his all consuming jealousy and frustration that Sarah will not divorce Henry, her kind but boring husband. When a bomb blasts Maurice’s flat as he is with Sarah, he is nearly killed.  After this, Sarah breaks off the affair with no apparent explanation.  Maurice is still consumed with jealousy and hires a private detective to discover Sarah’s new lover.  Through her diary, Maurice learns that when Sarah thought Maurice was dead after the bombing, she made a promise to God not to see Maurice again if God allowed him to live again. After her sudden death from a lung infection, several miraculous events occur, bringing meaningfulness to Sarah’s faith.  By the last page of the book, Maurice may have come to believe in a God as well, though not to love Him.

 

Quotes

“It’s a strange thing to discover and to believe that you are loved when you know that there is nothing in you for anybody but a parent or a God to love.”

 

“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”

 

“I want men to admire me, but that’s a trick you learn at school–a movement of the eyes, a tone of voice, a touch of the hand on the shoulder or the head. If they think you admire them, they will admire you because of your good taste, and when they admire you, you have an illusion for a moment that there’s something to admire.”

 

“My passion for Sarah had killed simple lust forever. Never again would I be able to enjoy a woman without love.”

 

“I measured love by the extent of my jealousy.”

 

“I became aware that our love was doomed; love had turned into a love affair with a beginning and an end. I could name the very moment when it had begun, and one day I knew I should be able to name the final hour. When she left the house I couldn’t settle to work. I would reconstruct what we had said to each other; I would fan myself into anger or remorse. And all the time I knew I was forcing the pace. I was pushing, pushing the only thing I loved out of my life. As long as I could make believe that love lasted I was happy; I think I was even good to live with, and so love did last. But if love had to die, I wanted it to die quickly. It was as though our love were a small creature caught in a trap and bleeding to death; I had to shut my eyes and wring its neck.”

 

“I hate you, God. I hate you as though you actually exist.”

My Take

The End of the Affair is the first book that I have read by iconic British writer Graham Greene and it did not disappoint.  I especially enjoyed listening to the Audio Book version narrated by Colin Firth (an actor I like quite a bit) who does a great job with the material.  Greene brings to life the misery, insecurity and jealousy that is the ugly underbelly of Maurice’s all consuming, obsessive love for Sarah.  A fascinating, albeit depressing, book that I can unreservedly recommend.

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43. The Girl You Left Behind

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:   

Author:   Jojo Moyes

Genre:  Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance

369 pages, published August 20, 2013

Reading Format:  Audio Book

 

Summary

The Girl You Left Behind tells the stories of modern day Liv Halston and early twentieth century Sophie Lefevre and how their lives intersect through a portrait of Sophie.  In 1916, French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight for France in World War I.  When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes Sophie to risk everything – her family, reputation and life—in the hope of seeing Edouard, her true love, one last time.  Nearly a century later and Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death.  Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting’s dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv must make a momentous decision about the thing she loves most.

 

Quotes

“the ability to earn a living by doing the thing one loves must be one of life’s greatest gifts.”

 

“I wanted to live as Edouard did, joyfully, sucking the marrow out of every moment and singing because it tasted so good.”

 

“Do you know how it feels to resign yourself to your fate? It is almost welcome. There was to be no more pain, no more fear, no more longing. It is the death of hope that comes as the greatest relief.”

 

“I know it’s been tough. But we’re terribly proud of you, you know.” “For what?” She says blowing her nose. “I failed, Dad. Most people think I shouldn’t have even tried.” “Just for carrying on, really. Sometimes, my darling girl, that’s heroic in itself.”

 

“I thought the world had actually ended. I thought nothing good could ever happen again. I thought anything might happen if I wasn’t vigilant. I didn’t eat. I didn’t go out. I didn’t want to see anyone. But I survived, Paul. Much to my own surprise, I got through it. And life…well, gradually became livable again.”

My Take

The Girl You Left Behind is the third book by Jojo Moyes that I read this year (the first two were After You and One Plus One) and it was my least favorite of the three.  However, I still liked it and recommend it (even though the voice work on the Audio Book version that I listened to sometimes detracted from the story).  While The Girl You Left Behind has a lot in common with The Nightingale in that both books involve the struggle of two sisters in war torn France, The Nightingale is the superior book.  Nevertheless, Moyes knows how to tell a gripping story and I found myself very interested in the characters and plot of The Girl You Left Behind.

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