Dr. Masters – May 14, 2013

“An Italian Affair”

Who am I supposed to be?  This thirty-something woman who just got divorced?  I really don’t care.  The characters seem flat to me.  I was made to be uncomfortable by the use of you are doing this.  Second person singular creates such distance between the reader and the characters, I don’t understand why it was used for a story about lovers.  I’ve been divorced and the process of getting over the end of a relationship that was important enough to get married is a long and arduous one.  Going out and getting a lover is just a band-aid.  Luckily, she doesn’t expect it to be anything other than a temporary affair. 

The sights and sounds of the setting were just a little bit more interesting because of my proximity to them.  Laura starts in Florence visiting the Boboli Gardens and Ponte Vecchio, but we are told she went there, we are not shown.  Part of the appeal of this kind of romance novel is the setting.  She ends up on an island, Ischia, and meeting this Bob Dylan look-alike.  Why Bob Dylan I don’t know, I’ve never been attracted to him in a romantic way.  But the local colour of the places she visits is just skimmed over, she could have been anywhere. 

I was painful to read this because I really didn’t care about any of the characters.  I kept thinking I wish I could choose another something to read.