Off Season - A Haunting Tale of Love

Off Season Audio Book, by Anne Rivers Siddons, 2008

Narrated by Jane Alexander

I love to read, but I also love to listen to books. I found this audio book at the Public Library.

Anne Rivers Siddons is from the South, and loves to write about people from that part of America. Her love for them really shines through her stories.

Off Season is a story of the main character, Lilly, from childhood to old age. Her relationships with her mother, father, brother, and childhood friends capture your interest right away, and her picturesque descriptions of the beach, mountains, and countryside of her summer home on the coast of Maine draw you right in.

Siddons knows how to develop characters and make them very believable. Her storyline in this book, however, became a bit fantastical as the story progressed, and wasnt really my cup of tea for that reason.

The story encompasses three of Lillys loves: The beach, her first love, and her husband. These all intertwine throughout the tale, together with great characterizations and a bit of .... magic? ... all the way to the abrupt ending that kind of left me hanging. I was still thinking about the ending a few days later, which I guess is a good thing in some cases, but this time, the ending seemed rushed somehow.

I think that because of Siddons' writing ability, I would have enjoyed this book more in print form than audio because it would have allowed me to reread particularly beautiful phrases (of which there are myriad!). I did actually rewind several times in order to hear again a particularly beautiful passage.

I did not care for the narrator, Jane Alexander, at all. It was almost painful at times to listen to her slow, expressionless telling.

As an audio presentation, I do not recommend this book, but in print, I believe it would be worth your time because Siddons is a master at word crafting, and fellow authors will appreciate that, if nothing else.