noveldeelights's review against another edition
3.0
Here is something I often wonder about. A relationship fails, people move on and live their separate lives, and then one day, sometimes even decades later, they find each other again and decide to give things another go. Why? Do people change that much? What happened to the thing that made them split up in the first place? Is it no longer an issue?
Meet Jack and Stella. Once happily married, they have now been divorced for over two decades. Jack has remarried, Stella has a longtime partner and they haven’t seen each other in years. But now their daughter needs help and Jack and Stella will be bumping into each other on a regular basis, whether they like it or not.
There’s an especially devastating event that caused their marriage to hit the rocks back in the day. Neither has dealt with it particularly well. This is definitely the case for Stella, who has built a rock solid wall around her heart to protect herself. But this behaviour has had an effect on a lot of people, including her daughter. And for myself, as the reader, I found her quite hard to warm to.
The Anniversary is an emotional story about family, grief and loss with complex characters trying to navigate through complicated relationships. Any child of divorced parents knows how difficult it can be to have both parental units in the same place but in this case, there is also a massive elephant in the room and a need to somehow let go of the past.
This novel has you rooting for the characters and wishing for a happy ending. Although maybe not all that surprising with regard to the plot, it’s the characters that make this a wonderfully immersive and poignant read.
Meet Jack and Stella. Once happily married, they have now been divorced for over two decades. Jack has remarried, Stella has a longtime partner and they haven’t seen each other in years. But now their daughter needs help and Jack and Stella will be bumping into each other on a regular basis, whether they like it or not.
There’s an especially devastating event that caused their marriage to hit the rocks back in the day. Neither has dealt with it particularly well. This is definitely the case for Stella, who has built a rock solid wall around her heart to protect herself. But this behaviour has had an effect on a lot of people, including her daughter. And for myself, as the reader, I found her quite hard to warm to.
The Anniversary is an emotional story about family, grief and loss with complex characters trying to navigate through complicated relationships. Any child of divorced parents knows how difficult it can be to have both parental units in the same place but in this case, there is also a massive elephant in the room and a need to somehow let go of the past.
This novel has you rooting for the characters and wishing for a happy ending. Although maybe not all that surprising with regard to the plot, it’s the characters that make this a wonderfully immersive and poignant read.
zooloo1983's review against another edition
5.0
I am writing this with the tears still fresh on my face as this book has just completely moved me. It is safe to say that when Hilary’s next book comes out in 2019 I will be the first person to want to read it and I need to catch up with her back catalogue! I flew through this book today, I read a couple hundred pages without even realising it, I couldn’t put this down. An insight into this family, the “drama” unfolding, watching and waiting for the light to come to us.
With this book, I got the ending I wanted but the journey it took to get there was one of a heartbreak, and realisation that life is just too short. One of my favourite thing about this book was how it was not two twenty-somethings trying to resolve their life and find meaning. This was Stella and Jack, in their sixties! They were married before, and due to the most overwhelming soul destroying event that happened, they had to part ways not seeing each other for years. Then the summer when their daughter Eve was pregnant, needing her mother for the summer, Jack and Stella see each other.
This book is a beautifully tragic story, I am still emotional! Life is just too short and this book proves it. This book is so character driven, mainly told from the point of view of Stella, but we do get glimpses of Eve and Jack too. We also have flashbacks to the past, when Stella and Jack were younger and in love.
I must admit I did not warm to Lisa, nothing against her really but she is written this way. I did not want to like her, she was with Jack. I did not want her to be with Jack, but then I liked Iain who Stella was with. Crazy I know!
Could their love survive another go?
There were times when I was shouting at the book! I was getting frustrated, why can’t things be so simple! Instead, the conversations were guarded, there was hostility, this was not the way it was meant to be! I love the simple life, why could they not! Other times I was cheering, things were going to (my) plan and it was perfect. A lot of the time, I was bawling my eyes out, how could Hilary do this to me! Yes me, I take it all personally lol.
I love this book, and I urge all of you to read it, maybe have a couple of tissues with you. You are left with the warm fuzzy feelings, hope and a final acceptance of how life is and how it could be.
With this book, I got the ending I wanted but the journey it took to get there was one of a heartbreak, and realisation that life is just too short. One of my favourite thing about this book was how it was not two twenty-somethings trying to resolve their life and find meaning. This was Stella and Jack, in their sixties! They were married before, and due to the most overwhelming soul destroying event that happened, they had to part ways not seeing each other for years. Then the summer when their daughter Eve was pregnant, needing her mother for the summer, Jack and Stella see each other.
This book is a beautifully tragic story, I am still emotional! Life is just too short and this book proves it. This book is so character driven, mainly told from the point of view of Stella, but we do get glimpses of Eve and Jack too. We also have flashbacks to the past, when Stella and Jack were younger and in love.
I must admit I did not warm to Lisa, nothing against her really but she is written this way. I did not want to like her, she was with Jack. I did not want her to be with Jack, but then I liked Iain who Stella was with. Crazy I know!
Could their love survive another go?
There were times when I was shouting at the book! I was getting frustrated, why can’t things be so simple! Instead, the conversations were guarded, there was hostility, this was not the way it was meant to be! I love the simple life, why could they not! Other times I was cheering, things were going to (my) plan and it was perfect. A lot of the time, I was bawling my eyes out, how could Hilary do this to me! Yes me, I take it all personally lol.
I love this book, and I urge all of you to read it, maybe have a couple of tissues with you. You are left with the warm fuzzy feelings, hope and a final acceptance of how life is and how it could be.
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