Overlook by Elizabeth HeinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was surprised to find that I enjoyed reading this novel about a cosy, upper middle-class, suburban community in North Carolina of the US; together with all of the accompanying gossip, rumour-mongering, competitive cake-making and minor disputes involving children that achieved or failed through sport or academia. The opening few lines were both shocking and compelling, considering the setting and general context of the story as I described previously but, when I thought of past storylines like Peyton Place etc, then I grew to look forward to more incident and neighbourly intrigue. Kitty, the main character, seems to go along with things in order to maintain a reasonably quiet, if at times tedious, domestic life – notwithstanding her duties within the PTA, attending fund-raising events and acting as taxi driver and supporter for her children’s sporting activities. Meanwhile Seth, her spouse, seems to breeze in and out of the family’s life, due to his money-making ability selling golf equipment. When she discovers her husband’s various extra-marital affairs are about to seriously impact upon her own health and probable social standing within the local community, then her bitter and growing resentment looks like it needs to explode.
This is a community that is tightly controlled by Stacia, Kitty’s friend and arch spinner of schemes – schemes that will not allow scandal to spoil the efficient cosiness and smoothly running affairs that appear on the surface of Overlook-land. Elizabeth Hein has written a wonderful tale full of believable characters with real conversations and situations I found just as frustratingly compelling as the book’s beginning. I thought the relationship between Kitty and her sister, Rose, very realistic, combining love, loyalty and sibling rivalry to a beautifully accurate degree! Even though I kept telling myself that this was “not my kind of book” I had to know what happened to Kitty and Seth. When I read to the end and found out I was just as shocked as at the start, although I found the actual incident slightly incredible. As a British reader I found far too many references to various products by their brand names rather than a familiar generic term, making the book feel like a TV-soap with too much product placement. This is a novel to be enjoyed by those that like to read family mini-sagas with a definite edge. I was given a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
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