Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin

Synopsis:

Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life.

Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie---a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance---and even, to some degree, friendships---believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.

Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.

In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most.

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Sara's Review:

This book is not at all what I expected it to be - it's better. I loved Emily Giffin's Baby Proof and Something Borrowed, but was less a fan of the two follow up books - Something Blue and Love the One You're With. Nevertheless, I was eager to get my hands on this one and was stoked to be the sixth person in the library queue!

I completely loved this book. I know a lot of people don't agree. This particular subject (I don't want to spoil it, so you'll just have to read!) is tricky and touchy and uncomfortable. A lot of people have complained that there's no big action or drama to the plot line. For me, I think that's why the book worked - it is delicate and nuanced and so unlike most of the in-your-face drama we are so used to seeing on reality TV. This is how life really happens.

I found myself unable to put the book down. I simply had to know what happened next.

Grade: A

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