Kay's Bookshelf

I started reading this book after reading a few reviews of it, and, as all of them were positive, I ended up having high expectations form it. However now that I have finished it, I am not sure what to think. It’s not a bad book and it’s not badly written, the subject matter (“a love triangle that transcends time“) has lots of potential and at times I was so caught in what happened I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, and yet I am not overly excited now that I finished it (but I agree that this may have something to do with the high expectations mentioned previously).

My major qualm would be that I didn’t actually care for the characters. Believe it or not my favorite one was the very antagonist, Erik Ruby (Joanna’s husband at the time the book begins). While I agree that he was too ambitious for everyone’s good and perhaps a touch too greedy too, there is a thing I really liked about him: he always keeps his promises (which is more than we can say about either of the star-crossed lovers that are the protagonists). As an interesting tidbit about him, the author has mentioned in an interview that “In early drafts Erik was an out and out criminal, a blackmailer, whose secret files rivaled those of J. Edgar Hoover“, but then he changed him to make the fact that Joanna has remained with him all those years believable, as she was too intelligent to be with such a guy for too long. Thing is, I for one would have very much preferred that first version, because that way Joanna’s deceit towards him would have been a bit more understandable for me. As things stand, I ended up liking Erik the most of all, which probably made me biased towards the rest of the cast.

Brian, the character most followed by “the camera”, is an overall good guy and I mostly liked him (especially somewhere near the end). I was amused to notice his similarities to the author (they share the same initials, they’re both authors, they both enjoy playing guitar, they both have an artistic side — Mr. Walker being a graphic designer, making books look good, and Brian being a video editor, making videos look good). Thing is, there wasn’t much of Brian in the book other than what related to his love for Joanna (his past was mentioned once or twice, but without shedding much light on his character, other than the fact that he was a really nice guy, but we already knew that) so for me he was mostly monodimensional (yes, I do think I have just created this word). Overall I actually find it fascinating how, while I’m usually head over heels with the good guys in books, I wasn’t that excited about this one.

As for Joanna, I’m sad to say I didn’t manage to connect with her at all. She is supposed to be this wonderful woman that makes every man around fall head over heels with her. To me she seemed a bit superficial and immature, not to mention more than a bit selfish. I know that I may be biased when I think of her by a pet peeve of mine (I don’t like people who cheat on others and I don’t like people who lie about important things, and she does these both to Erik), but I can’t really help it as my personality, including pet peeves, do influence the way I relate to things around me, including books. I do have one think I have really appreciated about Joanna though, and that is the fact that she was a talented artists and the way she viewed her art, as an expression of self.

You know, had I been the editor of the book, I would have requested at least one scene to be added, one where Joanna goes to Erik and confesses everything and tells him she wants out of the relationship. And then he does something (either begs or blackmails her) forcing her to reconsider. The presence of this one scene would have changed a lot of my feelings towards the book, because Joanna would have at least tried to do the right thing instead of jumping head-on into the wrong one, and then I could have, perhaps, esteemed her.

On the other hand (because there always is another side to the story), this book reminded me in a way of a biography of Prince Charles I have read many years ago. Prince Charles who, while married to Lady Di, tried for a while but couldn’t suppress his feelings for Camilla then Parker-Bowles. Sure, the story was a lot more complicated than that, as all sorts of things were at stake, but the thing that touched me the most was the way their love has endured for many years, despite both of them being married to someone else, and the very intensity of this love had some redeeming qualities in my eyes (and yes, I was thrilled when the two actually managed to get married to one another a few years ago). From this point of view I sort of regard Brian and Joanna’s love story a bit better than I would have otherwise. As both of them state, not only they are soul mates and understand each other to a T, but they have never stopped thinking about one another even in the fifteen years they spent apart. And yet I still have trouble accepting the deceitful side of the story. Why oh why hasn’t the author added that scene I mentioned :( :(

To end on a positive note, I think the cover is great. While it seemed a bit cryptic to me before reading the book, I can’t help loving it after. It depicts a Buddha (Joanna is a Buddhist), a single white rose (Joanna and Brian’s special flower) and a note whose first words are “Dear Brian”, a note that I like to think of as the “note from an old acquaintance” in the title, despite that note being actually an email :)

What I liked most: The way Brian described his being an author:

“I suppose I’ve always had a talent for words, ever since I was a little kid. And I’ve always loved telling stories, creating worlds that never existed. Yet they existed for me. I’d spend hours scribbling all sorts of fantasies, seeing them unfold in my mind like movies.”

The way Joanna always talks about her art too.
Plus I was mildly amused to notice that Erik Ruby’s email address was RedJewel@hotmail.com :)

What I liked least: For some reason I couldn’t stand one of Joanna’s pet names for Brian, “my sweet writer”. Every time she mentioned it I couldn’t help thinking “blech” (without a clear idea why, it’s just how I felt).

Recommend it to? I do realize that a lot of this review was subjective and had to do with that pet peeve of mine. Because of that and because of the fact that the book has gotten many good reviews I do encourage everyone to at least give it a try. Everyone not sharing my pet peeve that is :)

See also
Bill Walker’s official site

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