| "Suddenly" by Anne DeBondt A Review by Bob Gilkes SUDDENLY is unashamedly a woman's romance. Over-simply put, it is the story of a young woman's executive's search for true love in the late twentieth century. The author takes you inside the head, heart and the body of Kate, the heroine ( yes, heroine) as she navigates through several years of traumatic relationships with three men. The rest of her life swims past her like the view from the window of an express train. The author writes in a style that is reminiscent of the ebb and flow of a long conversation between two female friends -- like a conversation between Kate and herself as she makes this long journey. But like any good conversation, a listener can be swept up to join in, and most women will undoubtedly do just that. They will not worry about the absence of depth in the descriptions of Kate's work, home, friends, likes and dislikes. What they want to know is how she feels. Anne deBondt accomplishes this with grace and skill and insight. But, before starting this unusual book, male readers need to know that the author is writing for women and that most men will not 'get it.' Pity: the effort is rewarding. Bob Gilkes http://www.wingedlion.org |
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| "Suddenly" by Anne DeBondt A Review by J.W.Glover The heart-strings have the unique ability to go 'Zing', but just as importantly they are apt to go 'Zong', like the doomy elongated chord of an especially slack bass string. And Kate, the heroine of Anne deBondt's novel 'Suddenly', has her heart-strings played with gusto by a trio of men. After her first setback (a messy divorce) she girded her twenty something loins together and made the decision to relocate her youthful (and almost undoubtedly) handsome butt to Cambridge, England. Not looking to change the world, not looking for a new England...just looking for another bloke. Now, in these days of Argos style, money back if not satisfied marriages, do you know anyone who's been married more than ten years? I remember someone warning me; 'marry in haste, repent at your leisure', and although in my case I'm happy to report this is not proving to be the case, it is in Anne deBondt's closely observed account of her heroine Kate's struggle to recover from a failed marriage. We see her desolation and inability to comprehend how badly things had gone for her. As Kate tiptoed through the minefield of her emotions I was reminded of an old public service advert. Remember those old British Gas safety adverts about what to do if you smell gas? As the lady returned home, laden down with shopping, you just knew there'd been a gas leak. And as, in super slo-mo, she reached for the light switch you saw her husband shout, 'Noooooooo!!!' in an effort to avoid the inevitable 'Kaboom!' Parts of Suddenly are like this. Just as Kate is approaching a stable part of her life she contrives her very own gas leak and finds a naked flame - just to keep things interesting. During a particularly bad decision involving Steve (the third of the trio and my favourite - I liked Steve) I found myself shouting 'Nooooooo!!' at the book, but she still went and made an unwise decision that ranks alongside the miners going on strike in the summer. Bad. 'Suddenly' drinks greedily from the Lexicon of Love (if you can drink from a dictionary) and I found myself captivated by the scenes of 'tenderness'. The late Auberon Waugh who presided over the 'Bad Sex' award would have had little to complain about in the scenes that follow Kate's rejuvenation as she teams up with new colleague Brian. Their lovemaking more than meets expectations and she begins to realise the truth; herself and Michael had obviously not been compatible. She's experiencing fulfilment for the first time. How many fleeting marriages come to grief for the same reason; why do people not realise that the person that they have met is Mr or Mrs Right? Why do fools fall in love? With emotions tearing Kate apart, she struggles to recover from a failed marriage, find love, cope with tragedy and acclimatise to her new surroundings when...Suddenly. Well, you'll have to read it to find out. I did. |
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