Impossible to put down…
Even if you’re very careful about picking your ‘To-Be-Reads’, you will likely end up with the occasional dud, unless you are extremely fortunate. Well, my friends, so far this year, I have been extremely fortunate in the books I’ve read. Certainly several of them were by favorite authors, and a few more were well-reviewed by a trusted book-advisor, but some were just random picks. And they’ve ALL been good.
My latest was one of the random ones. I selected it from Target’s Bookmarked selection and bought it almost completely on the strength of the reviews alone. I say that because there was no summary–only an author’s note indicating that the book was inspired by her interest in the Simon and Garfunkel song, Scarborough Fair. But the reviews! My gosh–there were tons! And all gushing. So, I snapped it up, very much looking forward to reading it.
And then I looked it up on Amazon. And things went haywire.
I figured it might be nice to know something about the book. Instead I found a review titled, ‘Rape. There. It’s right up front.’ Something you should know about me before we go further. I don’t like reading books or watching movies that include a rape in any form. So, after seeing this review, the book was sort of tainted in my view. It sat on my nightstand, waiting, and I glanced at it everyday, asking myself if I was ready to read it, knowing what I knew.
I wasn’t ready until this past Sunday when I locked myself in my bedroom, braced myself, and started reading. Based on the little bit I’d read on Amazon, I figured the incident would need to happen early on, so I read…and read…and read. The stress of it was KILLING me. I got to page fifty and had to stop to make my kids dinner, and not only was I tense and anxious, but the book had already lured me in. I felt like I just had to get past ‘that part’ and I was home free.
A few more chapters later and it was over–and not nearly as terrible as I’d imagined based on that review. It was handled well, and necessary to the storyline, and I felt immensely relieved.
After that, I read the rest of the book ravenously, pulled along by the very unique storyline and the easy flow of the narrative. I finished it yesterday and must say, even with a rocky start, it was excellent. Very, very clever. I’ll give just a quick summary here.
Lucy Scarborough discovers, through a life-shattering experience (i.e. a rape and its aftermath) that she is descended from a cursed line of women who must either accomplish three impossible tasks or else get pregnant at eighteen, go mad, and become the possession of an Elfin King.
Intriguing, no? The book is Impossible by Nancy Werlin. Read it.
03/25/2010 at 2:33 pm
I will read this because all the books I hear others people approach with trepidation and then read with pleasure are among my favorites.