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To Be Sung Underwater (2011)

by Tom McNeal(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0316127396 (ISBN13: 9780316127394)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: This was a well written coming of age story and a story of love, marriage, and roads not taken. The central question seems to be how one would be able to identify the love of one's life. The author's characters are unforgettable, especially Willy - with his simple but honest take on life. He's a hard-working man of his word, with expectations that others would be of like character, and those high expectations of others that do not come to pass leave him disappointed and dissembled at times. Judith, the heroine and also a well developed character, was to me not quite as lovable as Willy. I thoroughly liked Judith's father - a good man, with straightforward views, good values, and a classic work ethic. The book started off slowly, but as I got into it I was unable to pu... moret it down. As wonderful a read as this was, it eventually broke my heart. One thing is for certain - if a good book is one that you continually revisit, then this is a very good book.
review 2: 2.5 starsBetter than his first novel. (One setting and the romance and a couple of lines are nearly identical, but this is more of a coherent novel.)Still, the adult protagonist (I just closed the book and can't remember her name--never a good sign) is unlikeable. She's rich, married to a man who adores her, thin and pretty though in her forties, all Mary Sue outside and yet she's making herself miserable, forsaking her responsibilities to her job and child and husband. This is a hard character to like, particularly for any reader who isn't married to a man who dotes on her after 20 years, is not rich, is not pretty and still skinny in middle age, who would give all their teeth to have a child, and so on. In short, you want to smack her, and if an iron bar happened to be in your hand while you did, no biggie.What makes it readable through to the end is the teenage (character I can't remember the name of), who is interesting enough.All in all, it's pretty meh, and apparently it took him seven years to write. I suspect novels generally turn out better if they are completed within six months to a year, and here's another brick of evidence in that wall. less

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