Thursday, December 8, 2011

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

3.5 Star
What if saying hello to an old friend meant saying good-bye to life as you know it?

It’s been six years since Pen Calloway watched her best friends walk out of her life. And through the birth of her daughter, the death of her father, and the vicissitudes of single motherhood, she has never stopped missing them.

Pen, Cat, and Will met on their first day of college and formed what seemed like a magical and lifelong bond, only to see their friendship break apart amid the realities of adulthood. When, after years of silence, Cat—the bewitching, charismatic center of their group—e-mails Pen and Will with an urgent request to meet at their college reunion, they can’t refuse. But instead of a happy reconciliation, what awaits is a collision of past and present that sends Pen and Will, with Pen’s five-year-old daughter and Cat’s hostile husband in tow, on a journey across the world.

As Pen and Will struggle to uncover the truth about Cat, they find more than they bargained for: startling truths about who they were before and who they are now. They must confront the reasons their friendship fell apart and discover how—and if—it can ever fall back together. 

Kathryn - 3.5 Star

As I was reading this novel I was aware that I was going to be having some mixed thoughts on the review.  I unfortunately had to push myself to get through the first few pages to a point where I could grab on to the plot.  My hesitation came with my aversion to what I think of as “forced” description.  Any description that is trying to direct the reader into seeing things in a beatific light makes me grumpy and I tend to start skipping paragraphs which is dangerous because you then might miss something important to the plot and that can make a very frustrating read.   
I therefore found it difficult at first to grasp the point of the plot of Falling Together but once I had an idea of the people and situation I really liked the premise of the story and also even enjoyed the different characters and their interactions.  Once in a while I’d find myself confused again by the descriptions and have to re-read things to make sure I hadn’t missed something but all in all once I got used to the writing I enjoyed the novel’s personality.
My personal favourite character was Will as I felt he was given the most concrete history and most realistic personality- he wasn’t hiding anything  to the reader whereas I found Pen’s intent a bit confusing.  I appreciated the concept of lost friendships and wanting to re-ignite them later in life and I’m sure many people will also be able to relate.  There are many people from my past I’d like to have back in my current life- sometimes though they won’t always still be a good fit and I think the author did a wonderful job of putting these thoughts on paper.
In the end I actually quite enjoyed Falling Together and definitely appreciated de los Santos’ intent - I could have  done with a little less description but that’s, quite possibly, just me.
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for our review copy! 

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