I have spoken to a few people who have read this book and I have seen some disgruntled reviews online. The chief complaint seems to be with how the book ended. Did you like how the story of Sarah was resolved with Julia finding her son and becoming friends with him? Are you happy Julia divorced her unfaithful husband and moved her daughters to New York? Were you perfectly happy with how things turned out? Any thoughts? :-)
I think the point to the ending was that whether we are happy with it or not, that is how it turned out.
ReplyDeleteI think the baby name "mystery" was more contrived than it needed to be. I mean, did anyone not see it coming? :)
I'm not really sure how I felt about the ending. I felt as if the whole story of Sarah was so steeped in reality, that the serendipitous impending romance of Julia and Sarah's son was a bit contrived and movie-ish. I mean, hooray for romance and all that, but it just didn't seem to fit the very serious message and storyline of the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh my goodness, I knew immediately what that little girl's name would be. :o) I totally saw it coming.
I am glad for sure that Julia left her husband and went to NY. She seemed like she just didn't fit there and was able to find better happiness at home in the US and with her sister.
All in all... great book. But I'm not sure the mixture of such a serious story fit with the chick flick ending.
I welcome other opinions whether they match mine or not. ;o)
Kim, you took the thoughts right out of me! That's exactly what I think- the ending seemed silly after such a serious subject matter. I liked the book all the way to the last couple of chapters when I could sense what was coming. When I was done, I was disappointed. Oh well. I understand how someone might appreciate that happy ending, but I just didn't.
ReplyDeleteI do think the ending could be perceived as a bit cheesy, but I also think it was the author's way of bringing both of the stories "full circle" and connecting them again. I think without that, the ending wouldn't have felt grounded.
ReplyDeleteApril:
ReplyDeleteThe end seemed to tie up the story in a little bow of happy..it just felt weird and made up. Like she wasn't sure how to end.
The baby's name was no shock to me, either.
I agree with Stephanie that the baby's name was way too corny. And obvious.
ReplyDeleteLoved the book, was unsatisfied with the ending. I think that Julia (perhaps it was her journalistic nature) overstepped the boundaries of appropriateness in pushing herself and her feelings on Sarah's son.
I didn't like the ending of the book for a couple of different reasons but I think mostly I thought once Sarah's story ended the book kind of fell apart. It was like one really serious story line with one that has a lot of selfishness all around. To be honest, I think maybe the problem is more on my side. I really have a difficult time reading about divorce or abortion.
ReplyDeleteThe name part was corny, and even just the fact that Julia and William were both probably romantically interested in each other was also very corny.
I agree with pretty much everything said here. I did a big eye roll when the romantic aspect became apparent between Julia and Sarah's son. I was all "wasn't he married?" And then, conveniently, he's divorced. Gross. I agree with the full circle aspect of it, but I think that could have been done differently, maybe they are just friends or work together on a memorial or something. I don't think it's absolutely necessary that they become romantically involved for the circle to be completed.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that REALLY bugged me was the fact that Julia never seemed to doubt the pregnancy at all, she never seemed afraid that it would end. Wouldn't someone with a history of miscarriage be a LOT more paranoid?
Yes! I felt the same way about her history of miscarriages. There she was, flying back and forth between New York and Europe....
DeleteI'm a sucker for happy endings so I have to say I enjoyed the ending. I do feel that the author could have included more of Sarah's life in the book like it was in the beginning, every other chapter. I felt her point of view of what was going on was cut too early.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing . . . was her connection to Sarah really believable? I just can't see a person getting so caught up in someone's past so much that she's still thinking about it two years later. That I found hard to believe.
Again though without looking in too deep I loved the book. It was a page turner.
Like Cyndi I kinda liked the ending even though it was a little bit like "really?" I still liked it. I like romance and happy endings...I did think it weird that suddenly Sarah's son had moved to New York just when Julia did, but I didn't mind. Maybe life is just so random and crazy things happen all the time (good and bad) and maybe that was part of the point of the story? I don't know. It was weird how Julia didn't seem that worried about the pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI think Julia's connection to Sarah was believable. She researched the Vel d'Hiv and then found she was living in the same apartment as a family that had been taken, and that her family had met Sarah, etc etc. I'm still thinking about Sarah and her family and I just read a fictional book about her, I think if I had been through what Julia had been through in relation to it all I would absolutely never forget. I loved the book and I'm a sucker for happy endings too :-)
Hi! Stopping in from ICLW. I really enjoyed Sarah's Key, but I was wishing after all that time she was able to find Sarah herself. I suppose it would have been what we expected though and the fact that she was able to connect with her son, quenched my thirst for resolution. Definitely glad she left her husband and moved the girls to New York.
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