A Short Time in Luxembourg

Rating:
Summary: A skillfully woven novel
Review: A Short Time In Luxembourg is Anne-Therese Macdonalds debut novel and tells an original and thoroughly reader engaging story of lost loves and blind ambitions. Anna Haggarty has reached the pinnacle of her academic career, is enduring a loveless marriage to a plagiarizing professor, and if that weren't enough, must deal with a troubled son chaining her to the past. Then Jules Randal (a musician she met twenty years earlier while traveling in Luxembourg) shows up with a free spirit, self-assured determination, and a book of poetry they had once shared. Anna's loyalties are testing and her social prejudices are unmasked, as she must make decisions that will affect the rest of her life. A Short Time In Luxembourg is a skillfully woven novel that clearly documents Anne-Theresa Macdonald as a very gifted storyteller and will leave her readers looking eagerly toward her next effort.

Rating:
Summary: Workings of inner conflict, outer strife and new beginnings
Review: The frustration and utter determination demonstrated through the characters only add to this book's twists and turns. Almost unable to stop reading it, this book gripped me, causing an emotional attachment to the characters, hoping of certain outcomes and dreading others.

I was impressed by the fluency created by new plots and insights in the novel. The characters' lives are compared to the betrayal, loyalty, failure and commitment in everyone's lives, yet remain imaginative. Like many new experiences, they seem surreal at first and achieve a familiarity later.

As I learned more about Anna's goals, her relationships and her past, I gained an understaninding for some actions, and utter disbelief for others. My loyalties towards characters changed throughout the novel, and I enjoyed the constant shifts as new information was shared. Frustrated by the main character at times, however, kept me alert, but the short passages of her family history were a bit dull at times. Overall it is a very excellent novel.

Rating:
Summary: Living With Your Decisions
Review: Who has not paid the price, later in life, for decision made in one's youth. This first time novel brings this universal experience home in a fast paced, tightly crafted story. The characters are both believabe and interesting. The academic setting gives the author a vehicle to advance the unique plot as well as an opportunity to add sub-plots to enhance the story. If your looking for a good, entertaining and enjoyable week-end read, A Short Time in Luxembourg is just the ticket. I will look forward to Ms. MacDonald's next offering.

Rating:
Summary: Living With Your Decisions
Review: Who has not paid the price, later in life, for decision made in one's youth. This first time novel brings this universal experience home in a fast paced, tightly crafted story. The characters are both believabe and interesting. The academic setting gives the author a vehicle to advance the unique plot as well as an opportunity to add sub-plots to enhance the story. If your looking for a good, entertaining and enjoyable week-end read, A Short Time in Luxembourg is just the ticket. I will look forward to Ms. MacDonald's next offering.