Body Surfing: A Novel

Anita Shreve
Little, Brown and Company (2007)
ISBN 0316059854
Reviewed by Vicki Landes for Reader Views (3/07)

Award-winning author Anita Shreve releases her next smash hit in April 2007 titled “Body Surfing.”  Set at a New Hampshire beach house, Shreve weaves her emotional story of 29-year-old Sydney – once divorced, once widowed and now presented with a potential third shot at lasting love.  Sibling rivalry, unspoken family secrets, and even the hypnotic ocean all play a part in the twists and turns that threaten her spirit’s delicate balance.  

From the beginning and right through to the very last page, Shreve captivates you with her beautifully descriptive writing style.  She easily sets her scenes with such tiny details as how the gritty sand feels underfoot on a wooden floor, the taste of the cool, salty waters, the rush of the powerful surf against the body, the warmth of a blissful sun, or the gloomy depression in a cloud-filled sky.  Each element, relevant and important to her unfolding saga, surrounds and pulls you in for a much deeper reading experience.  Shreve has an uncanny ability to see every facet in a particular setting with vivid clarity and interprets this with an effortless flow on paper.  It’s as if her pen is a direct conduit to her imaginative soul.

“Body Surfing” is engaging, breathtaking, exciting, expressive, surprising, and even heart-wrenching as Shreve takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride .  She’ll have you mourning Sydney’s losses, feeling her fears and apprehensions, and celebrating her accomplishments.  I would recommend this touching novel to women over 25, especially those who have loved and lost.  Shreve not only truly understands this concept but she conveys it exceptionally well.

Already a prolific novelist and an accomplished writer, Anita Shreve has been praised by such publications as People Magazine, The New York Times, and Cosmopolitan as well as countless book related websites, and even the queen of all book clubs, Oprah Winfrey – which is definitely a testimony of her creative talent.  Shreve is absolutely brilliant in this latest work which is with absolute certainty, destined to be another notch in her best-seller belt.  Impossible to put down and easy to read over and over, “Body Surfing” not only floats, it soars. 

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