Phaedra Patrick

“Sometimes you hold onto things, not because you want to keep them, but because they are difficult to let go.”

This was a wonderful story. It's both equal parts adorable and sad. Arthur's loss and his love for his wife is evident on every page. He misses her so many little things remind him of the life they had together. The discovery of the bracelet and the adventures that ensue were full of silly coincidence but also of self discovery and stages of grief.

I rode each emotion with Arthur as he struggled to understand the woman Miriam was before she was his wife and the person he'd spent 40 years with. I loved his journey.… (more)

this review is for the audiobook edition, narrated by james langton.

the story of arthur pepper is nice. he's a nice man. he's led a nice life. he had a nice family. one year after the death of his wife, he's at loose ends. he decideds to finally deal with his wife's clothing and personal items, and discovers a charm bracelet he's never seen before. what follows is a bit of a quest to learn about his wife, these charms, and how she came to own them. arthur has plenty of encounters with quirky characters while he's on his journey. many readers have made comaprisons of this novel with 'harold fry' and 'a man called ove'. i would also throw in 'the storied life of a.j. fikry'. there's a gentleness to the storytelling, and the sense of hope. during these really ulcer-inducing times in north america, there is certainly room for these kinder stories on the reading roster.

narrator james langton was.... meh. again with an audiobook, i had difficulty with the vocal choices for secondary characters. some of them just sounded weird and were awkward. my quest for excellent narrators continues.… (more)

Really very lite, typical "women's fiction." Several eye rolls. Both "twists" were easy to predict, and there's no real tension* to keep me turning the pages. However, all the ingredients, however casually or unconvincingly explored, are the ingredients that I was ready to read about. And the fairy tales that served as illustrations to the themes, well, those are quite wonderful.

The dinner party scenes alone are worth the time needed to read the book (because of course you need the context to appreciate them, and so must read the whole book).

Just one complaint: No librarian I've ever met wants patrons to reshelve books themselves. Maybe the UK is different, but all the different reasons that I've been told would be universal, so I do believe Patrick got the observation in chapter 14 wrong. (Would any of you comment about whether your library wants you re-shelve the books you decide that you don't want to borrow?)

So, highly recommended if you're in the mood for what the blurbs promise. I think I'll put Patrick's other books on my secondary list.

*I don't mean thrills or wickedness; I'm glad there was none of that. I mean, the kind of tension that might be a question of: how many more mistakes will our gal make before getting her act together....… (more)