Body Surfing
by Anita Shreve
Published by Little Brown & Company
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Reviewed by Laura Langer
Anita Shreve's thirteenth novel brings us again to a house by the sea, where we have met other characters, in other decades and centuries. This is a house with a history, and the place where we meet Sydney Feldman, once divorced and once widowed, and now tutoring the daughter of this house, Julie Edwards.
In the opening scene, Sydney is body surfing--riding the ocean waves into shore with only her body to balance her and propel her back to safety. She loves the combination of exhilaration and danger, the sense of the unpredictable and uncontrollable. This day, as she emerges from the surf, she meets one of Julie's brothers, Jeff, and the action is set in motion.
Unlike most of Shreve's earlier novels, the language of this one does not flow in a seemingly effortless stream. It is broken up into paragraphs with space between, giving you the sense of thoughts that are not disconnected so much as spaced for emphasis and a subtle sense of distance. Even so, the action flows, and as it does the arc of the novel takes the shape of Sydney's desire--to be connected, to have a family, to be loved and adored by a husband and by that husband's family, to rescue something beautiful from a young life of endings.
Nothing is inevitable about any of Shreve's plots--except perhaps in retrospect. This story takes place over a period of years, and while Sydney embarks on a path toward the love and security she wants, Shreve doesn't take a predictable route to the end of the novel. You can anticipate the twists, the surprises just out of sight, but not always be able to see the shape they will take. And that is the loveliest aspect of Shreve's writing--just when everything seems to be falling into a familiar, know-able pattern, she sends her characters and her story off at a different angle. It's the angles, the surprises, the breathtaking moments of wonder that set her apart from other writers.
Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for luminous writing and characters you will wish to meet in your own life, then try Body Surfing.