Sally – Freya North
I got this out of the library because I’d really enjoyed her latest book, Pillow Talk. This was her first. Always interesting to see where a writer’s come from.
To start with, I have to say, it was disappointing. The two main characters, Sally and Richard, are in the middle of sex when the book starts, and for the first half of the book, they don’t seem to do much else. And of course it’s all absolutely fantastic. Yeah, right. Then he tells her he loves her and she goes mental, so they both run off and have (bad) sex with other people. What on earth is that about?
The main characters aren’t terribly sympathetic, at least not to start with: the man is a total poser, and the woman seems to want to reinvent herself as a complete bitch. I have no idea why. He is an architect (like the main character in Home – is that cliché?), she is a primary school teacher (albeit that her school sounds in many respects more like a secondary school). That’s probably a cliché too, I’ll have to watch out for that one. Still, at least we get to see their work.
I think the thing I liked least in this book was a conversation where a friend of the main character confesses that she has stopped taking her contraceptive pills and is concealing the fact from her husband – she knows he doesn’t want to have children yet but feels she is ready. And the female character sees this as “wisdom”!
But half way through, maybe three-quarters, somehow, the book picks up. Once the two main characters fall apart and are wondering whether to get back together again, the story starts to work. We start to get deeper into the characters and see them more sympathetically. As with Pillow Talk, the characters’ main problems don’t stem from stupid misunderstandings but from bigger issues – attitutes and expectations. I guess Sally’s biggest problem is she needs to grow up and stop being a stupid cow. Fortunately, she does.
I guess at a high level, the story works. The characters’ relationship starts off as a “fling”. As the relationship gets deeper, so do the characters; and Sally at least has a lot of thinking to do when things start to get serious. It’s interesting to read about commitment phobia in a woman – all credit to the author for reversing what’s normally seen as a male trait.
Overall I’d have to say this is not a patch on Pillow Book, but the books are not without similarities, and I haven’t been put off reading another Freya North.
To start with, I have to say, it was disappointing. The two main characters, Sally and Richard, are in the middle of sex when the book starts, and for the first half of the book, they don’t seem to do much else. And of course it’s all absolutely fantastic. Yeah, right. Then he tells her he loves her and she goes mental, so they both run off and have (bad) sex with other people. What on earth is that about?
The main characters aren’t terribly sympathetic, at least not to start with: the man is a total poser, and the woman seems to want to reinvent herself as a complete bitch. I have no idea why. He is an architect (like the main character in Home – is that cliché?), she is a primary school teacher (albeit that her school sounds in many respects more like a secondary school). That’s probably a cliché too, I’ll have to watch out for that one. Still, at least we get to see their work.
I think the thing I liked least in this book was a conversation where a friend of the main character confesses that she has stopped taking her contraceptive pills and is concealing the fact from her husband – she knows he doesn’t want to have children yet but feels she is ready. And the female character sees this as “wisdom”!
But half way through, maybe three-quarters, somehow, the book picks up. Once the two main characters fall apart and are wondering whether to get back together again, the story starts to work. We start to get deeper into the characters and see them more sympathetically. As with Pillow Talk, the characters’ main problems don’t stem from stupid misunderstandings but from bigger issues – attitutes and expectations. I guess Sally’s biggest problem is she needs to grow up and stop being a stupid cow. Fortunately, she does.
I guess at a high level, the story works. The characters’ relationship starts off as a “fling”. As the relationship gets deeper, so do the characters; and Sally at least has a lot of thinking to do when things start to get serious. It’s interesting to read about commitment phobia in a woman – all credit to the author for reversing what’s normally seen as a male trait.
Overall I’d have to say this is not a patch on Pillow Book, but the books are not without similarities, and I haven’t been put off reading another Freya North.
Labels: Reading
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