June 1, 2018

Looking Back - The Love Letter

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.


The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine
Fiction
1996 Signet (first published in 1995)
Finished in October 1997
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

An anonymous love letter arrives in Helen MacFarquhar's mail one summer morning. Written by an unknown lover to a mysterious beloved, the letter becomes Helen's obsession. The proprietress of a bookstore in a quaint New England town, Helen is content with her calm, controlled world, running her life like a well-oiled machine. A merry divorcee with a bright, lovable 11-year-old daughter, she has settled happily into a sensible daily routine of selling books, motherhood, and charming the local townsfolk. "How do you fall in love?" the letter asks. To her dismay, Helen finds out. Johnny is the college student who works in Helen's bookstore, a boy with all the irresistible modesty and arrogance of youth. Helen knows she is too old for him, and too wise, but the letter's ardor is overpowering and Helen is swept up in an unlikely, but fiercely tender love affair. 

My Original Notes (1997):

Fair to mediocre. I was pretty bored with the plot and didn't feel any connection to the characters.

My Current Thoughts:

I haven't read any other books by Schine, but I have The Three Weissmanns of Westport on my TBR list. 

4 comments:

  1. I can't think if I've read any books by this author. Don't think so. The Three Weissmanns is a favorite of someone, another blogger, maybe JoAnn of NY/FL fame. I keep meaning to try it.

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    1. Kay, I think you're right about the Weissmanns book. I'm pretty sure it was JoAnn who enjoyed it.

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  2. I did read this one back way back when and I may have liked it more than you but I remember being disappointed by the movie. I think I was just excited about there being a bookstore central to the plot. Ha.

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    1. Iliana, I know what you mean about a bookstore being central to the plot. I think that's why I read this book. I can't remember if I ever saw the movie, though.

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