In the book Eden Close by Anita Shreve, a young man named Andrew returns to his childhood house after the death of his mother to attend the funeral and pack up the house and try to sell it. The longer Andrew stays renovating his old home, the more childhood memories flood his mind. Like the memories of Eden Close, his childhood neighbor and friend. The summer before Andrew had left for college, Eden had been blinded by a gunshot to the face in her own home, and her father had been murdered. The more Andrew remembers about that night, the more he realizes that the truth had never been discovered about that tragic night. I have read a couple other books of Anita Shreve, and I loved this one as much as I did the other ones I have read. She writes with so much emotion and great detail, I always feel like I am there in the story with the characters. Once I got past the first couple of chapters, I really couldn’t put it down. I would definitely recomend this book to anyone who enjoys reading a good story about the tragedies of life and love. Out of five stars I give this book four. I only would not give it five stars because I thought that it takes a couple of chapters to get hooked. The first couple chapters are just explaining things having to do with Andrew’s mothers funeral, and I didn’t find it the most entertaining parts. The reason I did not give up on this book was because I really wanted to know the ending and who the killer was! Overall, it was a really cute book.
This started off slow, sort of confusing in the first chapter. I actually took a break from reading it, but then started again and was glad the story got better. The chapters were long, I don't like that in a book, because you can often get lost while reading and forget what you are reading about. But, these held their own and I didn't need to back track to re-read something. This is my first book to read by this author and I have others that I will read of hers. I liked how the story ended. Half way through the book, I was hoping that maybe Andrew and Eden would get together. I had also figured out what she was talking about when she would say little bits of things to Andrew about her life and then at the end, when it all came out, you could perhaps understand how the mother felt, but also not understand how she could hate an innocent child like she did for so long. I think too that Andrew and Eden needed each other, to come to understand how they felt about each other and to answer many questions. The ending was nice with the two of them together and finding out they were expecting a child.
What do You think about Eden Close (2005)?
I have read several of Anita Shreve's novels and love her ability to put you into the mood and emotions of her story. In Eden Close it seems her ability to do so was at its infancy. Although a quick read and interesting enough the gloom pervaded the story and was almost too much. The story line was compelling but no great surprise. I think an ending where Andrew did not get the girl would have been more in line with the mood and maybe even more believable. Regardless, I will still seek out Shreve's novels -- can't judge an author by just one book.
—Rebecca Moll
This book took a little bit for me to get into and for the story to get going, but once it did, it was pretty good. The language was very descriptive, so you can really see the story.Andrew returned to his childhood home after his mother passed away for her funeral and to take care of things. Once there, he remembers the girl next door, and the attack and murder that took place there many years before. The attacker was never found, and Andrew tries to piece together what happened that night, as he begins to spend time with his childhood friend again, behind her mother's back.
—Kelly
Having a good friend is very important in our life. Make a good friend is not as easy as we tought. A good friend will always be there when we need it. He/She will always give us a spirit to reach something. He/She will not forget us even he's/she's not close to us. Beside that, I also learned about how to be a good person. Sometimes we didn't realize what we are doing. We never think about the effect from what we have done. We never think if theres a good or bad thing will come to us. Then, at the end we just able to regret it. That's why, as a person we must think clearly about what are we going to do, and we must be able to think about what probably will happen next. These means what I've got/learned from this novel.
—Ayu
