Alice Adams (1) (1926–1999)

Dit verhaal over vier op leeftijd komende vrienden speelt zich af binnen de tijdsspanne van één jaar. De vier kernfiguren Celeste, Dudley, Polly en Edward zien zich geconfronteerd met een belangrijk verlies/afscheid in hun leven en even opent zich een gelegenheid tot 'herkansing'. Een verhaal over vriendschappen, relaties, geheimen, over wat telt in het leven, over de angst rond het naderen van de dood. Een verhaal hoe vrienden onderling mekaars wel en wee bekritiseren en bekommentariën.
Het verhaal kabbelt traagjes van januari naar januari, pluspunt is dat de prachtige natuur en de soms hevige weertoestanden als het ware mee een personage zijn.
Best te lezen als je zelf op leeftijd komt, niet bestemd voor wie jong of in de fleur van zijn leven is.
'Vormt de oude dag een herhaling van de puberteit?'. Herkansing is best een toepasselijke titel die in enkele van de levensverhalen een rol speelt.… (más)

Alice Adams' novels, generally speaking, all start out with the potential to be an especially good, memorable story. It is hard to pinpoint exactly where she fails, but once again, "Second Chances" is disappointing.

The plot basically involves six old friends and their realization that they are getting old. As they look back through time, and ponder their past actions, they are hoping for a second chance to find true happiness.

Character development is good, but lacks depth when it comes to associating the characters to the plot. Alice Adams effort to incorporate current events into the script definitely date the plot, and that could be an asset, but there is no follow through on details. And it is frustrating how all the loose ends remain there, dangling, at the end of the story.

What was all the drama about Bill if he is so easily pushed aside at the end? Why was there no disapproval from any of the characters when Victor, the father of 7 or 8 children, runs away to a foreign country with Polly?

As much as the “friends” all gossiped throughout the novel, there sure weren’t many details revealed into any of their personal lives.

The one redeeming quality of "Second Chances" is that it addressed the issue of elderly people and their anxiety about aging, losing their spouses, and facing their own mortality. Had the story focused more on that theme, instead of alluding to secret covert activities it might have been a better novel - and received a better rating.

At the most - a light “chick-lit” summer read.

3 Stars August 2022… (más)

"A Southern Exposure" takes place in the late 1930s - pre-World War II as a wealthy couple and their only daughter are in the process of relocating from Connecticut to a small town in the Deep South. A town not much know for anything other than the fact that a famous poet resides there. I expected a clash of fast track urban sophistication versus modest laid-back southern genteel manners. Was I in for a surprise!

Acclaimed mostly for her award winning short stories, Alice Adams falls short in composing full novels trying to blend scandalous love affairs with a variety of social issues: the war, the looming threat of a Holocaust, civil rights, mental illness, women’s roles in society, and abortion. However, she does not delve too deeply into any one issue, skirting the perimeter, jumping from character to character in a fast paced plot. Even though I assume the plot is meant to be taken seriously it come across is light fiction. One humorous example: the family moving south is Mr. and Mrs Baird, and when they arrive they want to sound southern so pronounce their name “Baaard” which is interpreted as Bad. So everyone in town is calling them Mr. and Mrs. Bad.

In this particular novel the problem is that in many ways the plot just does not seem authentic for the time frame of the story - late 1930s in a small town of rural America. Some examples: In this small cast of characters, a 12 year old girl’s best friend from school is a black boy. A female is going to college to become an attorney. Married folk are jumping from bed to bed as though the sexual revolution of the 1960s had already taken place, and everyone in town seems to have phones and cars. Is that possible?

In addition, despite being born and raised in Virginia, Alice Adams mocks the southern accents, and derides the hypocrisy of the “southern manners”.

The one redeeming quality is that the plot is unpredictable - it is quite a page turner. In many ways it resembles "Peyton Place" which created quite a sensations 40 years prior to A Southern Exposure’s publication.

Rated 3 Stars August 2022… (más)