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| The Beach House | 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Green
Publisher: Michael Joseph Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £8.49
You Save: £8.50 (50%)
New (26) from £6.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 400
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.5 x 1.7
ISBN: 0718148088
EAN: 9780718148089
ASIN: 0718148088
Publication Date: June 12, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 BRILLIANT September 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is such an enjoyable book and I must recommed any chick lit fan in need of a decent summer read buys it now.
About half way through, the book was starting to get a little obvious with who was going to end up with who but then a few twists appear along the way, which just kept me glued. The characters are so well described and you really feel part of them when the story starts to unravel.
I have only read one other Jane Green book (Bookends)and would truly recommed both. I will certainly be reading more of her books in the future.
An excellent book and well done Green. You truly are amazing.
 Nice easy summer read August 28, 2008
Nice easy summer read,with a few twists and turns thrown in at the end that i didn't see coming at all.Not her best but enjoyable all the same.
Enjoy!!! August 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you have never read Jane Green...now is the time to start!!!
All her books are enjoyable and i guarantee you will be keen to read all her books ..
Perfect for Summer holidays!! I read this in 3 days and didn't want it to end...
 One to leave in your holiday cottage July 29, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'd say 'The Beach House' is a good choice for a holiday read - as in a book that doesn't keep you from sightseeing on your summer holiday because it's just not interesting enough to want to lie around reading.
Not the kind of book I tend to normally choose, but I was hoping to enjoy it all the same. It reminded me very much of magazine fiction...those short stories that I only used to read when I'd read everything else and done the word search!
Actually, it wasn't really awful, just not very challenging. It's very light, lacking in intrigue, and is full of people with relationship problems of varying kinds that predictably all end happily in a blissful location...with everyone becoming bosom buddies.
Just a bit airy fairy for my taste I think. 2.5 stars
Beach house foam July 17, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Jane Green tends to write write fluffy beach reads, the sort of books that get turned into equally fluffy TV movies.
And in "The Beach House," she links together a series of storylines that could have easily made up their own books, with a warm'n'fuzzy sentimental core in an ancient Nantucket house. Unfortunately it begins to come unravelled about halfway through, and some of those storylines simply rush to the finish line without bothering to spin up a satisfactory conclusion.
Eccentric widow Nan Powell is faced with selling her beloved old house Windermere, with its memories of her beloved albeit gambling-addicted hubby. The alternative: take in boarders for money, and fend off the developers who want to tear down Windermere for McMansions.
At about this time, her son Michael returns home after an ill-fated affair with his boss's clingy wife, who now wants a commitment from him. And among the boarders are Daff, a newly-divorced wife and mother who is seeking "herself," and Daniel, a nervy young man who has just realized that he is gay, and is struggling to deal with this. His young wife Bee, who is understandably upset by her husband's distance, is still ignorant of this.
As time winds on -- and the developers circle around Nan's run-down mansion -- the various people begin to relax and open up to each other, like members of a family. But then a series of crises hit -- Bee's father is badly injured, Daff's daughter is arrested, and Michael's desperate former lover shows up with some shocking news for him (yes, you can probably guess what). And even Nan is faced with an old face from her past, who she thought was gone forever....
"The Beach House" has more than enough plot -- any of its subplots would make a decent novel, and Green winds together a series of them with some tenuous links. Jewelry stores, yuppie marriage counseling, and an empty house post-divorce are all explored in detail, as the characters' lives start spinning out of control. And she tackles some of the nastier aspects of adultery and moving on, such as disaster dates and a tantrum-throwing teenager.
But when all the characters get to Nantucket, Green seems to lose some of her inspiration. She rushes through the last quarter of the book after a leisurely build-up. And she seems vaguely embarrassed by the prospect of a big emotional scene -- big shattering events are dealt with via a phone call, a horrifying betrayal is handled by a few sniping comments and general shunning. One character even conveniently expires to avoid dealing with the general baggage.
This is particularly troublesome in Daniel's story -- his coming-out and tentative explorations into the gay subculture is both wrenching and intriguing, as you wonder what this loving father will do to avoid hurting his wife and kids. But once he's out'n'proud, then Green shies away from actually dealing with it, or with his attraction to the conveniently hunky Matt. The drippy "let's not have sex because I want a commitment" scene is simply absurd.
As for the characters, they're a mixed bag. Nan is the biggest problem -- she's not really eccentric, and she's not really nurturing. Yet Green has her randomly flip-flop between being an eccentric old free spirit, and being an earth mother-type. Not that it's very plausible that her tomato garden could instantly turn a spoiled, shrieking, shoplifting regressed teenager into a little angel overnight.
On the other hand, Daniel and Bee are explored with painful, beautiful detail, as he struggles to deal with his homosexuality and she struggles with the revelations about what their marriage was, and where this leaves her as a desirable woman. Too bad Michael is an insensitive and self-absorbed jerk who strings along a married woman until she ditches her hubby, and Daff loses her tragic wronged-woman dimensions as soon as she shrugs off Michael's adulterous liaison. Who cares if that's the sort of thing that broke up her marriage? He's hot and has tight abs!
"The Beach House" has potential and plot to burn, but the rushed final lap and a couple puttered-out storylines leave you frustrated. Here's hoping the next try is longer and more passionate.
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