hoochee book club review - the letters

This is a true statement (as written in my profile):

"Unfortunately I didn't inherit the "Loves to Read" gene from my family. Unless it's really good (which is anything by Francine Rivers) then I usually don't read it."

Until now.

I have branched out and decided to join my friend Ainsley's on-line book club.

Our first assignment was to read The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger.

Here is the description of The Letters as found inside the book jacket:

Sam and Hadley West are both trying in their own ways to survive after the unthinkable loss of their only son in Alaska. For Sam, a sports journalist, acceptance means an arduous trek by dogsled across the bleak and beautiful arctic wilderness to find the place where Paul died. For Hadley, it means renting a benignly haunted, salt-soaked cottage off the Maine coast, where she bgins to paint again.

Now at opposite ends of the country, waiting for their divorce to be finalized, they begin to exchange letters by post, missives filled with longing and truths they've never before voiced, as they recall their marriage - its magic moments and its challenges - and begin to redoscover the reasons they fell in love in the first place.

As Sam risks his life to reach the remote crash site, Hadley begins an equally hazardous inner journey to a rendezvous with the mad grief of a mother's heart. At the place where all else is lost, they will meet again...


My Review...

For me, having just come off the euphoria of "The Twilight Saga", The Letters was hard to stomach. It moved along rather slowly and I personally found it a little boring. The story line - a couple struggling to communicate following the death of their child-was very true to life and I appreciated how Sam and Hadley were able to express their deeper feelings and hurts through their writing. At first it seemed as if Sam were much more interested in reconciling their marriage than Hadley, but as the book progressed and I read more of their letters, I could understand that she too was looking for reconciliation - a lot of which came through their writing.

Luanne Rice made a good choice in having Joseph Monninger write from Sam's perspective. I thought it was interesting how differently Sam and Hadley processed their grief. He pursued closure in a very tangible way by going to the crash site, while she expressed a lot of her feelings verbally through her letters to Sam (in addition to her painting).

I found myself wanting more substance, more drama out of The Letters. I also caught myself wanting there to be more characters to follow as Sam and Hadley seemed a bit melodramatic at times.

The ending proved to a be the only curveball thrown in this very predictable read. That's all I'll say in order not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this book.

The Letters was an easy read (even when I did have to force myself to keep reading) and a good choice for the first book of the Hoochee Book Club. I can definitely say though that I am very glad I didn't fork out the $22 Books-A-Million was asking for it.

Even though this wasn't my favorite book, I am looking forward to growing as a reader and can't wait to see what Ainsley comes up with next!