Review: Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Body Surfing

Little, Brown & Co.

2007

264 pages

At the age of twenty-nine, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to find her footing again, she answers an advertisement to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage.

But when the Edwards' two grown sons arrive at the house, Sydney finds herself caught up in old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.

It's no secret that I think Anita Shreve to be one of the greatest prose writers alive today. Having read her previous endeavors such as The Weight of Water, Resistance, The Pilot's Wife, and Sea Glass, this book only solidifies my opinion.

I think you could hand Shreve a telephone book and she'd be able to weave something magical out it.

She tells the story with such simplicity and subtlety that it really is sublime. And the setting- summer at an oceanfront cottage is just gorgeous- reminds me why I love the beach so much.

I love the evolution of Sydney- at the beginning, after the loss of her second husband, she's obviously detached and somewhat aloof. But as the novel progresses, and she becomes involved with this family, you watch as she slowly drifts back down to earth and reconnects with life.

It's another amazing book by Shreve- read it if you can.

4.5/5