At The Water’s Edge
by Sarah
Gruen
Gruen’s latest novel, set during
WWII tells the story of three vacuous socialites who travel from Philadelphia
to Scotland in search of proof of the Loch Ness monster.
Madeline (Maddie) Hyde, her husband Ellis and their friend
Hank embark on an ill-advised voyage to Scotland despite the danger from Nazi
submarines. Why? Well, apparently a night of drunken revelry by the trio embarrasses
Ellis’s father, who then cuts off all of Ellis’s money. Since Ellis is a vapid
twit with no income, no job, and therefore no hope of obtaining money other
than from his father, he’s in trouble. He needs to get back into daddy’s good
graces. What to do, what to do.
Many years previously Ellis’s father discovered and
photographed the Loch Ness monster but was accused of faking the photos. Ellis
decides, in a eureka, moment to prove his father was correct. Surely this will redeem
him in daddy’s eyes and thus restore his funds. All will be right with the
world and the trio can go back to leading their insipid, wasteful lives.
Are you confused or simply don’t care at this point? I
slogged through this book thinking that surely, surely it would get better. It
did not. Billed as an historical novel, it has very little history in it. WW II
was not even a backdrop to the novel. At several points in the novel the
narrative would come to a screeching halt while Gruen threw in a paragraph or
two about the war. It was as if the author thought, ‘oh, haven’t written
anything about the war, better put something in here.’
None of the main characters in this novel are likable. None. Maddie
is a pathetic lapdog to both her husband and Hank. Ellis is just a whiney
brute. Hank is the best of the lot, and he’s a drunken womanizer. There is a
hint that the relationship between Ellis and Hank is more than just friendship.
The only redeeming thing in this novel are a few of the minor characters.
Pass on this book. There are too many great books out there
to waste time reading this one.
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