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Three Stages Of Amazement (2011)

by Carol Edgarian(Favorite Author)

3.15 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1439198306 (ISBN13: 9781439198308)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Scribner

review 1: I read Three Stages of Amazement by Carol Edgarian for my book club discussion. I don't think I would have finished this novel otherwise. Initially, I found the story difficult to follow. The author starts and starts sentences, assumes the reader knows what the characters are about to say or mean and flashes back at times that cause confusion.The story takes place from President Obama's Inauguration and during his Administration. It is a time of great economic crisis, businesses are failing, the stock market is crashing and unemployment is rampant. Charlie Pepper, a surgeon, is part of a team who has invented a robotic surgeon, and it is his dream to acquire investors to manufacture and sell it to hospitals, globally, and I would imagine, internationally, eventually. Lena,... more Charlie's wife, supports her husband's pursuit of his dream. Charlie quits being a surgeon, and travels constantly demonstrating the promise of this robotic device. However, due to the economy no one wants to risk investing in his project that has no guarantees of paying off in the next few years.Lena stays at home and cares for her two children. Theo is an adorable, oddly intelligent child, and Willa is the surviving premature twin suffering with multiple health issues but with a cute personality as well. Lena also works part-time from home.Both Charlie and Lena are exhausted. They are running out of money and they have mounting bills. They both are under enormous stress. They are rarely together, and their marriage is deteriorating.Lena has a very wealthy, estranged Uncle. He wants his company to invest in Charlie's project. Although this would alleviate many of Charlie's problems, both financially and accomplishing his dream, it would be at the expense of his wife's intense hatred for this Uncle who hurt her family. Additionally, Lena's former lover works for her Uncle which adds another layer of anxiety for Lena.None of the characters are very likable, with the exception of when Lena talks and mothers her children. Those were the few scenes in the book that I really enjoyed.I am an avid reader, and I read all kinds of genres, but I was looking forward to this book ending. What amazes me the most about this novel is that it received so many 4-5 star reviews.
review 2: I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I think Carol Edgarian is a prima donna and did not buy the book, but when a friend passed it on to me, I picked it up and raced through it in 2 days. A fast-paced, contemporary, and utterly believable plot that is still resurfacing with me a week after I finished the book. Lena and Charlie are victims of a permanent state of turbulance that hit as they struggle to build the American Dream in the midst of an economy that is fast going south. Fighting to support each other through a crises that turned into a string-of-crises, the couple gets distracted by their dreams and vulnerabilities, and the novel follows them as they attempt to recalibrate their dreams and their love for each other. less

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