Sheer British, Sheer Fun-- Sheer Abandon

I've never been an Anglophile.  Though I enjoy a spot of tea, find British Humor (or Humour) wonderfully entertaining, and found the greatest boot shop in the world in London, I've never put much thought into immersing myself in the culture.  I know that may seem odd, as many of my favorite books are written by British authors and set in England (Atonement, Gurnsey Potato Peel, Saturday, One Day, etc...) So, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that i was so wildly entertained by Sheer Abandon, a novel by Penny Vincenzi.  Nonetheless, I found myself rapidly immersed in the story and was genuinely disappointed when I finished the book.

Sheer Abandon is the story of 3 women, Jocasta, Martha and Clio, who meet at age 18 on a post-high school trip to far East.  Although they had the best of intentions, they don't remain in contact after their trips and instead meet up again by chance sixteen years later.  As is the case in books like these, all three are incredibly successful and beautiful and everyone around them is equally successful and beautiful.

The book was not, in my opinion, very believable.  Everyone falls in love, everyone has a happy ending (well, almost everyone...) and everyone makes the right choices at the right time.  I usually hate books like these (Jodi Picault, I'm speaking to you) because life doesn't work that way.  Actions have consequences and in stories like these, those consequences are always positive.  Usually that frustrates me.

For some reason, I liked Sheer Abandon in spite of-- or perhaps because of-- it's flawed positivity.  What struck me most about the story was the ability of the characters to forgive and to act so welcomingly towards people they barely knew, or those who had wronged them.  As a person who is not easy to get along with and one who expects her friends to give of themselves as much as she is willing to give to them, I found these women to be completely fictionalized.  However, for some reason, I was willing to suspend my belief and even my criticism, a feat much more rare than it should be.  I liked that these women opened their hearts and their homes to others, I liked that they forgave so quickly and I liked that they so easily empathized.  While I normally want to throw the book out the window when I read about characters who are so ridiculously unrealistic, I actually wished to be more like them.  I credit Vincenzi; her writing is easy enough that I enjoyed suspending reality for a bit.

Vincenzi also gives us an intimate portrait of London in a way that many other English writers haven't.  She immerses the reader so thoroughly in the British culture that I actually found myself telling Andrew that we should put the groceries in the boot of our car.  I felt as if I was an official Brit.  All of the sudden, I wanted to listen to the BBC and eat blood pudding, well, minus the blood pudding... and the BBC...

The point is- Sheer Abandon will never win awards for it's story line, nor will it change any lives.  But, we need books like this from time to time.  The opportunity to read a light book that is well written is a welcome change from some of the heavier books out there.  I highly enjoyed my literary visit to the UK and recommend you all travel there as well.

Little Bee

LITTLE BEE: A Novel -- Chris Cleave

I had a bad day on Wednesday.  Someone was mean to me and it hurt my feelings.  I wanted to wallow in self-pity and self-doubt and lament over how terrible life was.  I climbed into bed early that evening and picked up my new book, Little Bee.  I decided a story about a Nigerian girl and the British couple she met on the beach would be a nice escape for the misery that was my life.


Two days later, I am ashamed at how selfish and self-centered I am.  After reading Little Bee's story, I am reminded about the real horrors of life and, more importantly, the true heros whose stories we may never know.  We've been taught to believe that a hero must be larger than life; he must save the world in some outrageous gesture that lands him on the cover of People Magazine.  To us, heros are people who end up with book deals, Dateline specials and a reality show (not to mention a Lifetime movie...)  We reward heros, we laud their moment of action and grace, we place them on pedestals as an example of what we all should aspire to be.

Little Bee will never be a cover model.  She will never be the Emcee of an awards show, she'll never walk the Red Carpet at the Espys.  (I should probably point out that, yes, I realize that she is a fictional character.  But, she represents so many nameless refugees whose stories have yet to be discovered.)  Yet, Little Bee is a heroine.  I don't want to give you any details of the story because I really want you to read the book with an open mind, as I did.  But, I will say this- there are those who look at their situation and become overwhelmed.  They turn in on themselves and allow whatever hardships face them to defeat them.  Then there are those who accept the challenge their struggles present, who rise to face them head on, who survive.  Little Bee survives.

If Little Bee and I were to trade places, I know I would not survive.  And, I know, too, that Little Bee would look at my Wednesday and be grateful for all that she has- a wonderful husband who loves her, great friends, the world's best dog.  It's so easy to look at all the negative in life, to focus on the mean people and the rainy weather.  Little Bee doesn't ignore these facets of life, she simply chooses to accept them for what they are and to move on.  Her strength comes from this acceptance and from her ability to make her own choices.  Little Bee creates her fate instead of allowing others to do so.  In that way, she teaches us what it truly means to live.

The story of "THAT" couple - ONE DAY

ONE DAY -- David Nicholls

Not to name names, but didn't we all have that friend in college who had a "Just friends! No, lovers! No, enemies! No, lovers! No, friends!" relationship  in college?  You know the kind I mean, where you feel like you're on a roller coaster just by watching them go through their own personal soap opera?  I was always frustrated because she's such a fantastic girl and he's usually a pretty cool guy, but together they confuse and disappoint...

David Nicholl's newest book looks at that couple over a 20 year span.  What makes his book so unique is his choice to return to the couple every year on the same date.  We meet Emma and Dexter on the day after they graduate college and we continue to meet up with them each year on that anniversary.  At first, I was concerned that the book would feel jumpy or that I'd have to piece together what they'd done during the year, but Nicholls is a gifted writer and the story flows really well.

Nicholls is British and I often find that current British writers present fairly depressing or despicable characters.  Take, for example, Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy.  Will is a fairly challenging character to like, what with his lying and cheating his way through life.  (Good book,though.  You should read it, but then watch a happy movie afterwards! I recommend Up!)  Even Nicholls' other two books focus on the lives of really challenging characters; one is smarmy while the other is, well, smarmy!

But, Emma and Dexter are wonderful!  They're the British version of us.  They're fun, funny, smart and great people.  They have insecurities and problems, sure, but they deal with them in the same ways that I would. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Nicholls actually snuck onto the Union College campus to get his inspiration!  Dexter's an awful lot like a certain guy I know, who will remain nameless.  And, Emma?  I think she was in my sorority...

If reading a book about the lives of your friends isn't enough of a selling point, here's another for you:  production has already begun on the film version of this story.  And, of course, the wonderful Anne Hathaway is playing Emma.  I'm confident it'll be a great movie, but it likely won't come close to the book. So, grab the book, dive in and head back to discover whatever happened to that crazy roller coaster couple you used to know...