More Than Words Can Say: A Novel (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Jacqueline LuongoApril 9, 2013Grade 12 Honors EnglishMore Than Words can say Chelsea Enright is a very wealthy socialite living in Syracuse, New York. Her father owns many car dealerships and her mother is a professional at spending Chelsea’s father’s money. When Brooke Chelsea’s grandmother passes away, everyone is devastated. Chelsea finds herself trying to console her mother when she cannot even console herself. Soon Chelsea’s life is changed forever. Not only because of the loss of her grandmother but also because of the things she left behind and most importantly the secret she wished Chelsea would uncover. When Chelsea finds out she inherited her grandmother’s lake house she is beyond surprised. Due to the pain of losing her grandmother she assumes she will just sell it. She soon receives a phone call in regards to her grandmother’s will and she is told to come alone. When she arrives she is told that her grandmother left her specific instructions to live in the lake house. In the instructions she is told she can do anything she wants with the lake house so long as she goes and gives it a chance. This leaves Chelsea baffled especially knowing that her grandmother had not spoken about her treasured lake house after her accident which left her confined to a wheel chair for the remainder of her days. Chelsea’s first day on Lake Evergreen was anything but boring. Within her grandmother’s instructions, Chelsea was directed to crack open a floorboard in the cottage where she would find Brooke’s journal. We discover Brooke lived there during World War II where she waited for her husband Bill to return home from France. Soon enough Chelsea meets Jacque and Mariam the people who took care of the house after Brooke had left. Both fluent in French, they summon Dr. Brandon Yale from the cottage to the left of Chelsea’s to help with her bags. Burning with anticipation she is desperate to read the journal Brooke had led her to posthumously. After a small confrontation between Brandon and Chelsea’s dogs they quickly find an interest in each other. As they begin to trust each other Chelsea decides to ask him to help her read Brooke’s journal with her. From then on, Chelsea cooks a dinner every night from Brooke’s cookbook and sits by a fire and reads through the long past secrets of Brooke Bartlett. Much like Chelsea, Brooke fell in love on Lake Evergreen. Told in Brooke’s voice through her journal we discover she meets a man she tried to deny she loved even though she was married. With many twists and turns we find that love, of course prevails. As Chelsea and Brandon fall in love Brooke’s past intertwines them to a life of love and happiness. Though there is a “surprise” ending, the conclusion will leave you fulfilled and happy with its use of cliché love format. As wrong as it is you almost root for Brooke to be with the man she met that summer at the lake. This history filled love story will leave you heartbroken but also filled with a sense that everything happens for a reason even if it’s not what we want. In general, this book was a good read. I really liked the use of Brooke’s personal journal entries and even putting the story in that time period so we can relive exactly what Brooke had gone through. Though the love stories of both Brooke and Chelsea were a bit cliché I could not help but overlook the familiarity of the story with its use deep inter-personal meaning. One thing I did not like about this book was the tone. It was corny and the use of punctuation marks made the dialogue juvenile. I am normally not a fan of male writers and Robert Barclay has not changed my mind. He tried a bit too hard to incorporate the emotional factors of women characters and made the females to be feeble and desperate for love. I enjoyed the flashbacks and the story having to do with World War II but this definitely is not a favorite of mine. Overall, I do not regret reading this book mainly because of the posthumous instructions of Brooke which made the book much more interesting. It is a little hard to get into in the beginning but if you are looking for a sappy, similar writing style as Nicolas Sparks, More Than Words can say may be your book. Chelsea's grandmother, Brooke has died but she left her granddaughter, a beautiful cabin by a lake. Neither Chelsea nor her mother have never seen the cabin and her grandmother had never made a return visit since the WWII years. Her will stipulates Chelsea is to visit the cabin and look for some journals Brooke wrote during the early years of her marriage. Chelsea visits the cabin with the intent of putting it up for sale but when she arrives, she falls in love with the cabin and the surroundings. She also discovers her next door neighbor is a handsome local physician. She befriends him and ask him to share the reading of her grandmother's journals. The main character, Chelsea is extremely emotional. Every time a passage in the journal is written she resolves in tears even though the journal was written over 70 years previously. This was disappointing and a little unbelieveable. There is tragedy in Brandon's (the neighbor) past but it all becomes resolved in the end. I like a happy ending but found this story just too 'pretty' and really not much of a plot for me.
What do You think about More Than Words Can Say: A Novel (2011)?
LOVE both of the books of his I have read!! Touching. Beautiful. WONDERFUL. LOVE!
—MaliahErin
I started out loving this book but as it went on it just got way TOO sappy.
—juliiii
Poorly written with an incredibly predictable plot. Bummer.
—akuna1234
