Fiction
1999 Little, Brown and Company
Finished on April 24, 2001
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
A stunning new work from Anita Shreve, the author of the acclaimed bestsellers The Pilot's Wife and The Weight of Water, Fortune's Rocks is a profound and moving story about unwise love and the choices that transform a life.On a beach in New Hampshire at the turn of the last century, a young woman is drawn into a rocky, disastrous passage to adulthood. Olympia Biddeford is the only child of a prominent Boston couple--a precocious and well-educated daughter, alive with ideas and flush with the first stirrings of maturity. Her summer at the family's vacation home in Fortune's Rocks is transformed by the arrival of a doctor, a friend of her father's, whose new book about mill-town laborers has caused a sensation. Olympia is captivated by his thinking, his stature, and his drive to do right--even as she is overwhelmed for the first time by irresistible sexual desire. She and the doctor--a married man, a father, and nearly three times her age--come together in an unthinkable, torturous, hopelessly passionate affair. Throwing aside propriety and self-preservation, Olympia plunges forward with cataclysmic results that are the price of straying in an unforgiving era. Olympia is cast out of the world she knows, and Fortune's Rocks is the story of her determination to reinvent her broken life--and claim the one thing she finds she cannot live without.
A meditation on the erotic life of women, an exploration of class prejudices, and most of all a portrayal of the thoughts and actions of an unforgettable young woman, Fortune's Rocks is a masterpiece of narrative drama, beautifully written by one of the most accomplished novelists of our time.
My Original Thoughts (2001):
Engrossing story of young love between a 15-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man. Reminds me of Edith Wharton's books. Victorian-age. 1899. Olympia is from a wealthy, well-known family from Boston who has a summer "cottage" in Fortune's Rocks. Somewhat predictable, yet still a page-turner.
My Current Thoughts:
Until I glanced at my notes from my reading journal, I had no memory of Olympia's age! 15-years-old with a 40-year-old man? Yikes. I still have a copy of the book, and I love Shreve's stories, so maybe I'll give this one a second reading and see if I enjoy it as much as I did all those years ago.
I miss Anita Shreve, she fied too young. I just purchased a trade copy of my favorite book by her Strange Firs of Passion. I plan to reread other like this one one.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I have a few left of hers that I haven't read, but I'm glad I have some that I want to reread since there won't be anymore. :(
DeleteI remember loving this book, along with several of Shreve's other novels, and would love to reread it one day. I did not remember Olympia's age... yikes!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, isn't that odd that neither of us remembered how young Olympia was in this novel?! I don't know when I'll get to it, but I do want to read it again. Maybe after my summer reading challenge books.
DeleteI know I read this, but I recall very little about it. I think I'll reread it, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteLaurel, I want to read it again, but who knows when I'll make the time. So many books...
DeleteAnita Shreve was an author at the top of my favorites list when this book came out, but I haven't read any of her books since 2010. I rated this one three stars with little explanation for my rating in my short review.
ReplyDeleteDeb, I read this with a book group and my higher rating might have had something to do with that discussion. I've only read a few of her books and look forward to trying some of her earlier works. It looks like she wrote 19, publishing a new book each year. Her last release (The Stars Are Fire) is one of my favorites.
DeleteI'm not sure if I've read this one or not. Might have with the book group that you read with. Yes, that age difference is more than a bit 'ick'. Think our 'ick'-meter has changed a bit since 2001? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteKay, I read it for a f2f (Barnes & Noble) book group discussion, so maybe you didn't read it. Yeah, I think our tolerance for that sort of age difference has changed as we've gotten older, although I can't imagine it didn't bother me 20+ years ago.
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