One of my favorite books. This is haunting, beautiful, magical and shocking. This is one of those books that is best appreciated by those who are past their 20s. You look back on your life and wonder about the what might have been, what ifs, if onlys. You know that one moment or one event can change the whole course of your entire life. This tells the story of intense love between Linda and Thomas who first meet as high school teenagers then as young adults and much later as adults just past their prime when both have established themselves in similar careers. He's nationally known poet and she too is a poet, but more moderately successful. The story goes backward from the present to the past. It starts when they meet again in their 50s at a literary conference where both are speakers. They meet only about three times in their adult lives, but they have a deep, believable connection to each other. Their respective spouses, the children they love, and other events keep them apart though they never lose their love for each other. I enjoyed the love story. It's not overly sweet or cloying. I've read a lot of love stories over the years, but this one has stayed with me because it's so surprising and so haunting in its longing. I don't know if I believe in soulmates, but this story makes me want to believe in it. Thomas and Linda are truly two halves of a whole. Shreve writes with clarity and sparse prose. This isn't some predictable mass market romance novel. The story comes together at the last page and boy, what a stunner it is.You'll be amazed. What other story ties everything together in the last page and a half. You're either going to love or hate the ending. There's no middle ground. Now I like the ending. I can take a sad ending, after all stories can't all have happy endings, but the ending of this book comes isn't sad. It's a complete shocker. You'll say to yourself, "Wait! Did I read that right?" You go and read the book again to make sense of it. You realize why the book was written in reverse because that's the only way to make sense of the ending. I loved the ending, but it's painful. At first I was shocked then angry then ultimately I realized the beauty of it. That's all I can say without giving it away. I have to give Shreve credit for the ending. Not many writers can pull off such a surprise. You DO NOT SEE the ending coming AT ALL. You think it might end one of two ways, but no..there's a third option you never saw although it's hinted at here and there. Whether you love the ending or hate it, not many authors can surprise you at the very last page of the story. It's the hallmark of a great writer I don't want to go on and on about the ending for I fear I might turn away someone from an otherwise great love story. Please read the book, but don't be tempted to read the ending first no matter how tempted you are. Allow yourself to be transported to the very end the way Shreve intended.
-What do you think of this book?She thought for a moment, tried to remember the last time she had been so annoyed by a style of writing.-I think it sucks.-Well, maybe if you had tried harder when you were younger, or lived your life in a different way, or managed to lower your standards.... He thought he had never seen someone so beautiful, would never again see someone so beautiful. Why was that couple in the corner feeding fried anchovies to their cat?She knew he must be right, at the core of it.What a bunch of crap this book is. I tried, but gave up after about 80 pages. I hated the way Shreve wrote her quotations. A minor point, I know, but for some reason it really aggravated me. It must've been the combination of that and the syrupy, melodramatic story that was probably somewhere in there, but I wasn't able to muster up enough interest to try to look for it. This would have been the third book I'd read by Shreve. While I wouldn't count the other two (Fortune's Rocks and Sea Glass) as masterpieces – in fact, I managed to read one of them halfway through a second time before I realized I had already read it once before – they were at least readable and I thought Shreve was a decent writer. I don't know what happened with this one but I wasn't going to waste any more time trying to find out.
What do You think about The Last Time They Met (2003)?
Spoiler alert-- Waste of time. I was never able to get that into it anyway and then the ending was ridiculous. If anyone understands the ending any better than me let me know. I am assuming that the whole book was "linda's future flashing before her eyes." I read in Anita Shreve's interview at the end that there were supposed to be clues to the ending throughout the book, but I can't think of any. Also why does every book these days have to have some form of child abuse in it? I am kind of sick of it. Maybe I need to read a good cheesy love story from Nicholas Sparks. Does he have anything new out?
—Jessica
I love the writing in this book. I was drawn in to the longing the main characters had for each other as fate, bad timing and bad luck kept them apart. It's in no way a gushy romance, more a tragic tale of love and time lost or at least wasted.The story is told in reverse chronological order beginning when the couple is 52, jumping back to the last time the met at 26 and ending when they are 17. I think I would have liked it more if it was told in chronological order. Perhaps Ms Shreve feared it would be too "normal" that way? I'm not sure. As it was, any "will they or won't they" live HEA was taken off the table since you found out how it ended at the beginning!The actual ending (on the last page of the book, not at the last date written about in the book) is not to my liking - and I can't help but wonder if anyone found it added to the story. Presumably Ms Shreve and her editor at least. But this fault didn't ruin the book for me. The truth is this probably would have been a 5 star read for me with the ending cut and the story told in chronological order - but it was still good enough for me to thoroughly enjoy reading it.
—Laura Rittenhouse
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I feel like I should have known the ending, just from the difference in punctuation from the first two parts of the book compared to the last. I nthe first two sections all converstations are in italics and in the last section, the conversations are puncutated normally, with quotation marks, etc. However, in the first two sections, ALL conversations are in italics, even conversations that don't involve Linda. Does that mean that Thomas imagine
—Lavonne
