Rating: 
Summary: Better than any crime-attorney-trial- novel!
Review: I'm glad The Wash. Post reviewed this a couple of months ago or I would never have known of this treasure. Young or old, male or female, this tale is for anyone who was ever imaginative or adventuresome in their younger days. Besides suspense, it creates the mood of present day Paris and will have you wishing you spoke French or promising yourself a trip there someday (you can almost smell the croissants). The ending was surprising, but fitting for such an intelligent and dramtic novel. I would not be surprised to hear that someone has bought the movie rghts. Rose Treamin is definitely an addition to my "favorites" list.
Rating: 
Summary: The Way I Found Her
Review: If asked to suggest a great/good book, this would not be on my list. I found some of the dialogue unbelievable. Perhaps my dislike for this book had something to the main character (13-year-old Lewis) and his actions throughout the novel -- half the time I was disgusted with him -- he was at times arrogant, rude to his mother (even if she was distant), and even worse fantasizing and eventually doing inappropriate things with a woman who was older than his own mother. In the end, I simply was not impressed with the writing. 5 years from now this book will be long forgotten from my memory.
Rating: 
Summary: a book of beauty, to be remembered
Review: It is now 4:30 AM and I just finished THE WAY I FOUND HER. I wish it didn't end. A seemingly simple story of a 13-year old boy's "coming of age" during a summer spent in Paris, the book is a passionate exploration of love, friendship, intimacy and what it really means to live life.This is the first novel by Rose Tremain that I have read - I anxiously look forward to visiting her other literary worlds. Her writing expertly captures the mind, imagination and language of a real, albeit precocious, 13-year old. Her attention to detail is wonderful and as you are reading THE WAY I FOUND HER, you feel as if you are living amongst the character in Paris. The characters of Lewis and Valentine are people you want to know and have in your life.There are times towards the end when the novel takes a slightly off-key turn and wavers towards becomming contrived. Tremain handles this well, even if she does come close to becomming incredulous at times. She redeems herself completely with the ending and Epilogue where she is on firmer ground dealing with human emotions.There are few books that once finshed, I look forward to returning to years later. I add THE WAY I FOUND HER to this short list
Rating:
Summary: a book of beauty, to be remembered
Review: It is now 4:30 AM and I just finished THE WAY I FOUND HER. I wish it didn't end. A seemingly simple story of a 13-year old boy's "coming of age" during a summer spent in Paris, the book is a passionate exploration of love, friendship, intimacy and what it really means to live life.This is the first novel by Rose Tremain that I have read - I anxiously look forward to visiting her other literary worlds. Her writing expertly captures the mind, imagination and language of a real, albeit precocious, 13-year old. Her attention to detail is wonderful and as you are reading THE WAY I FOUND HER, you feel as if you are living amongst the character in Paris. The characters of Lewis and Valentine are people you want to know and have in your life.There are times towards the end when the novel takes a slightly off-key turn and wavers towards becomming contrived. Tremain handles this well, even if she does come close to becomming incredulous at times. She redeems herself completely with the ending and Epilogue where she is on firmer ground dealing with human emotions.There are few books that once finshed, I look forward to returning to years later. I add THE WAY I FOUND HER to this short list
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, evocative coming-of-age tale.
Review: It was hard to believe that this book was written by a grown woman, rather than a 13 year old boy, so well does Tremain evoke the agonies (and ecstasies!) of her main character. Lewis, despite his earlier reluctance to spend the summer in Paris with his mother, who is working on the translation of a French novel, soon becomes wrapped up in what he perceives to be the lives of those around him. Sometimes he is almost too perceptive for his age, but, as if she is aware that the reader might think this, Tremain always brings Lewis down to earth, usually with a dash of humour. I was a little disappointed that the book turned into a mystery and certainly found the second half less absorbing, but by this time was almost as involved in Lewis's life as he was himself and wanted to stay with him till the end. An excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a delight
Review: Like Harper Lee, Rose Tremain has the gift of capturing the voice of a child. In Lewis Little she creates a boy on the brink of manhood - he is starting to discover his hormones but still has a child's perspective on life. He is a character that you want to stay with. I really enjoyed spending some time in his company and several times found myself chuckling at his observations. The other thing that I loved about the book was the way that it captures the atmosphere of Paris so beautifully. The resolution of the mystery in the second part of the novel is a bit disappointing, but I was so caught up in the book that I couldn't put it down. It's a wonderful, captivating read - don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Superlatives
Review: Like Lewis Little, the hero (?) of this novel, I too spent my thirteenth year wandering around the streets and cafes of Paris as though in a wonderland of adulthood before my time. Happily, however, I wasn't caught up in love with a Russian novelist thirty years older than me, or kidnapped by...Rose Tremain has written a formidably intelligent romantic thriller, which evokes Paris perfectly, and says something important about the pain of adolescence. My favourite character is Didier the existentialist roofer. I loved his melancholy, and the way Lewis never had the heart to tell him that 'no one is an existentialist these days'. I also loved the neatness of the plot, in which everything seems to foreshadow later developments. It had me staying up till the small hours, unable to put the book down. I didn't care that Lewis, or the plot, are not entirely credible as 'real'. This is a novel, for heavens sake! Like the roof of the hospital chapel, where Didier accidentally killed his father, this book is a fantastic construction, to marvel at, not to pull apart.
Rating:
Summary: Mystery, romance and literary intrigue
Review: Like Lewis Little, the hero (?) of this novel, I too spent my thirteenth year wandering around the streets and cafes of Paris as though in a wonderland of adulthood before my time. Happily, however, I wasn't caught up in love with a Russian novelist thirty years older than me, or kidnapped by... Rose Tremain has written a formidably intelligent romantic thriller, which evokes Paris perfectly, and says something important about the pain of adolescence. My favourite character is Didier the existentialist roofer. I loved his melancholy, and the way Lewis never had the heart to tell him that 'no one is an existentialist these days'. I also loved the neatness of the plot, in which everything seems to foreshadow later developments. It had me staying up till the small hours, unable to put the book down. I didn't care that Lewis, or the plot, are not entirely credible as 'real'. This is a novel, for heavens sake! Like the roof of the hospital chapel, where Didier accidentally killed his father, this book is a fantastic construction, to marvel at, not to pull apart.
Rating:
Summary: A most unusual novel of romance!
Review: Louis is a thoroughly captivating protagonist, a 13-year-old boy whose attention vacillates between Elroy, his Action Man adventurer, and Valentina, the fortyish romance novelist whose work his mother is translating and with whom Louis is in love. As he comes to know Valentina, Louis wrestles with adolescent urges while contemplating some of life's Big Questions. Valentina's sudden disappearance and Louis's compulsion to find her, however, startle the reader by changing the focus of the book from Louis's character and what he may learn about life to whether or not the mystery will be solved, a significant change. Louis has been reading Le Grand Meaulnes and, later, Crime and Punishment and obviously wants to emulate the detective heroes of these books. In this respect the author may be playing games with the reader. Tremain, like Valentina, is borrowing from other sources, Russian sources, to help her story along. Her decision to create parallels with Crime and Punishment also show how unrealistically Louis relates to Valentina--it's certainly no coincidence that Louis's last name is Little and the "heroine" is his Valentina--but the tone of Crime and Punishment is so brooding and heavy that the parallel didn't feel appropriate here. Tremain, like Valentina, is writing a romance, complete with distressed damsel locked in a tower and waiting for rescue by a knight. It's an enjoyable story, carefully crafted, with no loose ends, a story in which the reader can appreciate the author's creative process almost as much as its results.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: One of the best books I've read recently. Couldn't put it down - haunting story, beautifully told. Probably worth reading Le Grand Meaulnes beforehand to fully appreciate the references to it.
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