Your Blue-Eyed Boy : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: On irreversible decisions - a story of passing time
Review: "Your Blue-Eyed Boy" is a novel about time lost. You cannot regain the features of the body you once had, every single cell of your flesh underwent many a transformation, and more to the point, your mind has changed. Irreversibly. The past cannot be brought back, feelings, if they ever return, soon vanish under the thick layer of the present, the overwhelming mindset that had gripped you long ago and refuses to let you loose. Perhaps it's for the best, perhaps it's as it should be, for what would happen if we were able to reverse the flow of time? Would we gain as much as we think we would? The answer is yes, indeed we would come straight back to the world of lost impressions, in spite of our altered bodies. The irony is that such reversal is insane. Our ever rational mind revolts against that very idea, for everything we have now, would be lost. You cannot eat the cake and still have the cake, as they say. There is a price for everything in this world. Are you willing to make that irreversible move?

The life of a thirty-eight years old judge changes when she receives a call, and then a letter, and then a visitor from America, a sequence of intrusions in her steady life consisting mainly of desperate trials to make ends meet. In an instant, she travels back in time to the era when she had been just eighteen years old, a stranger in a strange land of America, where she met her blue-eyed boy. At that point you think that what you're reading is a mere blackmail thriller, but if you do, then you're deeply mistaken. The book has a barebone storyline, yes, and I strongly advise you to persevere and read the novel to its end, should you happen to have a deeply ingrained aversion to thrillers and mysteries as yours truly. Thanks Helen for small favors, the book didn't turn out to be shallow. The novel is a touching, and yet cruel evaluation of the primary truths of life, sad as they are. There are difficult choices to be made, and there is the horror of passing time we have to reconcile ourselves with. There is infinitely much more to this book than it appears from the terse descriptions, or even from what it seems to be about when you read a couple of chapters. Your "Blue-Eyed Boy" is a novel apt to be largely misunderstood, that seems inevitable. I might also add that those of you who like uplifting stories should better stay away from all books of Helen Dunmore. You might not endure the contents in one piece.

Rating:
Summary: On irreversible decisions - a story of passing time
Review: helen dunmore has a lovely way of writing, her narrative is sensual, and really draws you in. but, in "your blue-eyed boy" the plot, which builds and layers very well, falls short about three quarters into the book. i felt like she had forgotten what the rest of the book was about. the narrator's actions take a turn for the bizarre, new details are thrown in just to make the end seem plausible... and i was just left with a feeling of "ok, come on, this is just silly." her writing, her eye for detail, specifically in the language of landscape and food is brimming with delicious description... but the plot in this one falls flat at the end.

Rating:
Summary: doesn't follow through
Review: helen dunmore has a lovely way of writing, her narrative is sensual, and really draws you in. but, in "your blue-eyed boy" the plot, which builds and layers very well, falls short about three quarters into the book. i felt like she had forgotten what the rest of the book was about. the narrator's actions take a turn for the bizarre, new details are thrown in just to make the end seem plausible... and i was just left with a feeling of "ok, come on, this is just silly." her writing, her eye for detail, specifically in the language of landscape and food is brimming with delicious description... but the plot in this one falls flat at the end.

Rating:
Summary: A really freaky book, but somehow satisfying
Review: I just finished reading this book, and I really thought that it was a great look on stalkers. Simone really has been through too much to deserve a blackmail threat. It really gets to her with the bricklayer/blackmailer line. This book also explores who you really are. Are you someone who you were twenty years ago, or are you the person living today? If you want to have a really scary read, read it on a dark night all alone.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly disappointing
Review: I've just finished reading this book and found it to be disappointing. The blackmail theme is interesting and well developed. You certainly feel involved in the complicated life of Simone and her family who are struggling to hold it all together during tough times...but where was the plot heading? Not to spoil the ending for other readers but I found it didn't warrant the build-up. Overall, I thought it was an average book and I'm not sure that I would recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly disappointing
Review: I've just finished reading this book and found it to be disappointing. The blackmail theme is interesting and well developed. You certainly feel involved in the complicated life of Simone and her family who are struggling to hold it all together during tough times...but where was the plot heading? Not to spoil the ending for other readers but I found it didn't warrant the build-up. Overall, I thought it was an average book and I'm not sure that I would recommend it.