Mandy Reviews: The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw

ISBN #: 978-0307474445

Page Count: 307

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Anchor Books (First Anchor Books edition: April 2011)

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

Marcella Atkinson was a married woman when she fell in love with Cecil McClatchey, himself a married father of two. On the same night their romance abruptly ended, Cecil's wife was found murdered.

Seven summers later, Marcella is divorced and estranged from her daughter, mired in grief and guilt. But when Cecil's grown son, Jed, returns to the Cape and finds Marcella's bathing suit buried in his father's closet, this relic of the past sets in motion a passionate affair. In this twisting, sensuous novel of devotion and infidelity, mistakes of the past must rise to the surface.

Mandy's Review:

I like to think the cover is a reflection of the story that is about to be read. For instance, the swimming pool on this cover. Literally, there is a swimming pool that is a background character in this story. Symbolically, the swimming pool makes me think that the story will be deep, with bits of shallowness, yet flows easily. Instead, I felt as if I was anchored at the bottom of a deep pool by grief and slowly drowning on all the emotion and drama. The story weighed on my mind like 8 feet of water over my anchored body. I could find no relief.

Marcella is a beautiful, mysterious lady who wallows in grief, guilt and excessive indecisiveness. It wore me out. I know she's Italian, but did she have to be soooo melodramatic?

Jed was young and sexy, but he was so consumed with his want for Marcella he seemed borderline psychotic. I don't know any man, young or old, who is THAT consumed with want of a female. It seemed excessive.

Callie was pleasantly psychotic. She seemed real enough. She possessed a little overly dramatic tendency, but not near as bad as Marcella and Jed's characters.

The premise of the book was well thought out, but the execution was too overbearing. It took me longer than it should have to read the book because I had to give my brain a chance to cheer back up. The book didn't end the way I wanted, with Jed and Marcella together. Instead, it ended sadly, which I guess is a suitable ending to this novel.

I don't know that I would recommend this book to many people. I don't like to pass around anything that would depress people.


*The book was won from a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. A copy of the book was provided by the author's publisher in hopes of receiving an honest review.