YvonneSo as not to show any spoilers I have not included a synopsis, however, you can find out more about the story and its author by clicking on the book image below.
If you don’t really want to read any major spoilers, then you can tease yourself a little more, by reading the first few lines of the story … here
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Helen Audrey Partridge. There, the girl is so under my skin that I can even remember her middle name. I can remember some moment from the juniors, years ago, when we all had to tell our middle names, and God help you if yours was something weird, something old-fashioned, named after a grandmother or something awful. God help you then and God help Heddy. Hers wasn’t the worst by any means, but it got the loudest laugh, the longest laugh.
I didn’t want her at ballet or Brownies. I didn’t want her always there, following behind me like a lost dog. It was embarrassing. People might start thinking I was her friend. Just to make sure they didn’t, I’d leap out of the car before Heddy, leaving her to say goodbye to my dad and shut the door, and I’d run on in to the Brownie hut or the village hall where we did ballet, and I’d ignore her for the whole time we were there. Pointedly. One hour at ballet on Saturday afternoons. One and a half hours at Brownies on Thursday nights. I’d see her standing on her own with her long, dopey face and I’d dismiss her; I was too cross with her to care. And when it was time to go home again she’d annoy me even more, hanging around me when I just wanted to chat with my friends and say goodbye.
Teaser Lines From Paperback Edition Page 138 and 176
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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by … Jenn at ‘A Daily Rhythm’
Anyone can take part, by just doing the following:
Grab your current read.
Open to a random page.
- Share a couple of “teaser” sentences, from somewhere on that page.
- Be careful not to share “spoiler” sentences.
- Remember to share the title and author too.
- Head on over to ‘should be reading’ and leave a link to your post, so that others can share it and you can share other people’s.
It would be great if you then decided to leave a comment for Jenn, as we all like to receive them and are interested in sharing your thoughts.
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Of course I had to check out the synopsis of this book and click on the link to your “first lines” entry (posted before I began here)… these teasers pretty much required me to. I had to know the “history” of the story. Now that i have, I can easily see it getting added to my wish list. It can only be purchased from third party sellers and doesn’t appear to have a Kindle version listed at my Amazon. I’ll just have to wait until your full review and decide from there.
I’m currently reading my next month’s book club selection (I told you that you’d find out soon enough! 😉 )
Here is a snippet from 28% into the Kindle edition of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain:
“For the first few days, I enjoyed my solitude. Ernest was such a big person, metaphorically speaking. He took up all the air in a room and magnetized and drew everyone to him, men and women and children and dogs. For the first time in many months, I could wake to quiet and hear my own thoughts and follow my own impulses. But soon enough there was a shift.”
Hi Kelly,
I went on to Amazon.com from here and there is definitely a kindle version listed at $6.73 – not the cheapest of downoads I have to admit!
This one is definitely worth reading if you get the chance though, although as a child who was bullied mercilessly at school, it doesn’t bring back the most pleasant of memories for me.
I started out feeling very sorry for poor Heddy, however the further into the story I am getting, the more Heddy and her mother are beginning to get on my nerves and I am almost to the point where I think they might be getting nothing more than they deserve!
This is one of those books which hit my shelves a long time ago and has only recently surfaced at the top of my reading pile, hence the long delay between posts. I promise not to make you wait as long for the review 🙂
I can definitely see how ‘The Paris Wife’ would be a great choice for a book club discussion, not least, the concept of a fictionalised biography. The idea of the ‘can’t live with one another, yet can’t live without one another’ scenario, is intriguing and paves the way for so many questions. I’m not too sure that it is a book I would enjoy however and GR ratings and reviews amongst my friends circle, have been very mixed. I shall look forward to your review – meanwhile, your teaser excerpt was very descriptive and says so much about the man, in just a few short words 🙂
Hmmm… well I see paperbacks and Kindle when I look at Amazon.co.uk, but nothing other than third party or (very expensive) audible at the US Amazon. It’s not like I’d get to it any time soon, though, so I’ll just wait and check again later.
How strange,
I access .com on a regular basis, as I post my reviews to both sites. I always assumed that it would be the same site that you would be viewing in the US 🙂
She really doesn’t like the girl!
mine: https://storytreasury.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/teaser-tuesday-the-curse-of-chalion/
Hi Sonia,
Bullying of these proportions certainly wouldn’t be tolerated today and Laura (the narrator in these excerpts) definitely holds a long lasting grudge about Heddy!
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your comment 🙂
Laura isn’t very nice. I want to jump into the quotes and give Heddy a hug. From what I read of the synopsis, this does sound like a good one!
Hi Wendy,
I started out by agreeing with your sentiments and as someone who was bullied herself in childhood, I wanted to stick up for poor Heddy. However, the more of this story I have read, the more I am beginning to see Heddy in a totally different light, also her mother, who appears to be just as bad, if not worse!
That doesn’t mean to say that Laura is a nice person, because she isn’t – but I fervently hope that my own experiences haven’t left me as bitter and twisted as they seem to have left Heddy!
Thanks for stopping by and I can definitely recommend this book if you ever get the chance to review it 🙂
Oh my goodness, my heart goes out to Heddy. I always think it one of the signs of a good read when characters get under your skin like this.
Hi Tracy,
I have been tracking reviews of this book, as I have been progressing through the story and the general concensus of opinion has been pretty much the same as your own – that all the characters really get under your skin and you find yourself trying to think of ways to fix their problems for them, with all the emotions that involves.
The ratings are a little on the low side, given the depth of feeling this story has evoked, although I think that it is because of those deep emotions that many people have been unable to finish reading the book, as for them, the premise brings back too many painful memories of their own!
This is one of those books which would be ideal for a bookclub debate and discussion, as there are so many facets to the storyline and characters, which can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways by the individual reader.
Definitely one you might want to bear in mind for the future 🙂
Poor Heddy. On reading the book blurb, it says she has a mental breakdown. From reading the teasers, I can see why. This Perfect World sounds lie an emotional read, I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Naida,
I have just finished reading this book and although I am not quite sure that ‘enjoy’ would be the word to describe the experience, it was certainly an emotionally challenging subject to write about, dealt with in a realistic and sympathetic way, by a consummate author.
Suzanne Bugler has certainly opened up some emotionally charged discussions about ‘This Perfect World’, on just about every review site I have visited.
I can thoroughly recommend this one, although not if you are already feeling under the weather or depressed, as it isn’t a particularly uplifting story.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope that your summer break is going well 🙂